Trump's family makes money again: Bitcoin miner American Bitcoin's first appearance shocked, and most of the gains were given after doubling intraday

# American Bitcoin Lists on Nasdaq via Stock Swap Merger with Trump Family Ties; Trump Sons and Hut 8 Hold 98% Stakes

Written by: Li Dan  

Source: Wall Street News  

Through a stock swap merger with a peer company, American Bitcoin has listed on the Nasdaq. Donald Trump’s eldest son, second son, and another Bitcoin mining firm Hut 8 collectively hold 98% of the company’s shares.  

Following the "core token" backed by the Trump family, the family has once again entered the financial market to "raise funds" under the banner of the cryptocurrency sector.  

On Wednesday, the 3rd (Eastern Time), through a merger with peer company Gryphon Digital Mining, American Bitcoin—a Bitcoin mining and accumulation platform—listed on the Nasdaq under the stock ticker "ABTC", with its stock price surging on its debut trading day.  

During the morning session of U.S. stocks, American Bitcoin’s price rose to $14.52 at one point, marking an intraday gain of over 100%. Later, it gave back most of the gains and closed at $8.04, with a closing gain of approximately 16.5%. Due to excessive price volatility, trading of the stock was temporarily halted intraday.  

American Bitcoin is owned by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, the eldest and second sons of U.S. President Donald Trump. After completing the stock swap merger with Gryphon Digital Mining, the Trump brothers and Hut 8 Corp.—another Bitcoin mining company—collectively hold 98% of American Bitcoin’s shares, while Gryphon’s former investors hold the remaining shares.  

American Bitcoin’s listing is the second major event this week where the Trump family has pushed crypto assets into mainstream capital markets, following the listing of WLTI (the token of crypto project World Liberty Financial) on multiple cryptocurrency exchanges on Monday. Its listing is seen as the latest test of investor interest in cryptocurrency enterprises associated with the Trump family.  

## A Platform Focused on Bitcoin Accumulation  

American Bitcoin describes itself as a Bitcoin accumulation platform dedicated to building key U.S.-based Bitcoin infrastructure. It is a majority-owned subsidiary of Hut 8, positioned as a specialized Bitcoin accumulation platform that adopts a differentiated dual accumulation strategy. The company aims to maximize Bitcoin holdings per share by combining in-house mining operations with opportunistic Bitcoin purchases.  

Prior to its public listing, American Bitcoin had accumulated approximately 2,443 Bitcoins, following the so-called "corporate treasury" strategy promoted by Michael Saylor—co-founder of MicroStrategy, a business intelligence software company and the public firm with the largest Bitcoin holdings globally.  

American Bitcoin stated that through its partnership with Hut 8, it gains access to next-generation ASIC technology and leverages Hut 8’s large-scale colocation infrastructure platform for Bitcoin mining, eliminating the need for massive capital investment in building and operating proprietary data centers. American Bitcoin has mining equipment located in New York, Alberta, and Texas.  

In June this year, American Bitcoin raised $220 million in cash and Bitcoin through a private stock offering from investors including the Winklevoss brothers (co-founders of Gemini), with the funds intended for purchasing additional digital tokens and mining equipment.  

Asher Genoot, Executive Director of American Bitcoin and CEO of Hut 8, said, "By integrating Bitcoin mining, opportunistic market acquisitions, and support from Hut 8’s energy and digital infrastructure, we have created an investment vehicle designed to drive fast and efficient growth in Bitcoin holdings per share."  

## Warming Policy Environment Boosts the Crypto Market  

Trump became a high-profile supporter of cryptocurrencies during his campaign and emerged as the most influential advocate for the industry after taking office. He signed legislation to help legalize certain types of cryptocurrencies, established a national reserve of virtual assets, appointed regulators more friendly to the industry, and ended investigations into major cryptocurrency companies.  

With the support of the Trump administration, Bitcoin’s trading price has fluctuated between $1.08 million and $123,000 over the past two months. Trump’s two sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, have appeared at cryptocurrency conferences around the world to praise this asset class. Last week, ahead of a Bitcoin conference held in Hong Kong, Eric Trump stated that cryptocurrencies are "the most rewarding venture of my life."  

The shift in government regulatory policies has created a favorable environment for cryptocurrency companies to go public, and American Bitcoin’s successful listing was achieved against this backdrop.  

Eric Trump, who co-founded American Bitcoin and serves as the company’s Chief Strategy Officer, said this week, "We have become a well-known name in the cryptocurrency space. American Bitcoin will be the greatest financial company in history."  

Eric also noted that American Bitcoin’s Nasdaq debut is "a historic milestone for Bitcoin to enter the core of U.S. capital markets and advances our mission to make the U.S. the undisputed leader in the global Bitcoin economy."  

## The Trump Family’s Crypto Empire Continues to Expand  

American Bitcoin’s listing marks the latest expansion of the Trump family’s crypto empire. The family’s crypto business now covers various areas, from mining operations and meme coins to stablecoins.  

On Monday, WLFI—the token issued by World Liberty Financial (backed by the Trump family)—launched trading on major cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance, Bybit, and OKX.  

WLFI opened at $0.20 and quickly surged to a high of approximately $0.40 within five minutes of trading. It then turned lower, falling by over 30% from its intraday high at one point on Monday. Currently, it is up about 1% from its issue price and ranks as the 27th largest cryptocurrency globally by market capitalization.  

According to World Liberty’s official website, Donald Trump himself and his three sons are listed as the original co-founders of the project. However, Trump stepped down from his role after taking office as president.  

The Trump family controls just under a quarter of WLFI (22.5 billion tokens) through a shell company named DT Marks DEFI LLC. Based on Monday’s closing price, this holding has a book value of $5 billion, making the token one of the Trump family’s most valuable assets—far exceeding its traditional real estate investments such as hotels and golf courses.  

As previously reported by Wall Street News, the Trump family has reached a special agreement with public company Alt5, under which it does not profit from the ups and downs of WLFI’s price in the secondary market. Alt5 spent $1.5 billion to purchase WLFI, with 75% of the sales proceeds going to the Trump family, allowing them to lock in hundreds of millions of dollars in cash instantly.  

However, ethics lawyers and government regulators have expressed concerns about Trump’s business interests and his family’s involvement in the cryptocurrency business—especially as he eases regulations on the cryptocurrency industry.  

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