Through a stock swap merger with peers, American Bitcoin went public on Nasdaq, with Donald Trump’s eldest and second sons, along with another Bitcoin miner, Hut 8, collectively holding 98% of the company's shares.
Written by: Li Dan
Source: Wall Street Insights
Through a stock swap merger with peers, American Bitcoin went public on Nasdaq, with Donald Trump’s eldest and second sons, along with another Bitcoin miner, Hut 8, collectively holding 98% of the company's shares.
Following the "core token" supported by the Trump family, the Trump family is once again using the cryptocurrency sector to "raise funds" in the financial market.
On Wednesday, Eastern Time on the 3rd, through a merger with Gryphon Digital Mining, the Bitcoin mining and accumulation platform American Bitcoin was listed on Nasdaq under the stock trading code ABTC, with its stock price soaring on the first day of trading.
During the early trading hours, American Bitcoin's stock price briefly rose to $14.52, with an intraday increase of over 100%. It later retraced most of its gains, closing at $8.04, up about 16.5% at the end of the day. Due to significant price fluctuations, trading was temporarily halted during the session.
American Bitcoin is owned by Donald Trump’s eldest and second sons—Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. After completing the stock swap merger with Gryphon Digital Mining, the Trump sons and another Bitcoin miner, Hut 8 Corp., collectively hold 98% of the company's shares, with Gryphon's previous investors holding the remaining shares.
Following the listing of the cryptocurrency project World Liberty Financial's token WLTI on several exchanges on Monday, American Bitcoin represents the second significant event this week in which the Trump family is pushing cryptocurrency assets into mainstream capital markets. Its listing is seen as the latest test of investor interest in cryptocurrency enterprises related to the Trump family.
A Platform Focused on Bitcoin Accumulation
American Bitcoin claims to be a Bitcoin accumulation platform focused on building major Bitcoin infrastructure in the United States. It is a subsidiary primarily controlled by Hut 8, positioned as a dedicated Bitcoin accumulation platform that employs a differentiated dual accumulation strategy. The company aims to maximize the Bitcoin holdings per share through a combination of self-mining operations and opportunistic Bitcoin acquisitions.
Before going public, American Bitcoin had accumulated approximately 2,443 Bitcoins, following the so-called "corporate finance" strategy. This strategy was promoted by Michael Saylor, co-founder of MicroStrategy, the publicly traded company with the largest Bitcoin holdings globally.
American Bitcoin states that through its partnership with Hut 8, it gains access to next-generation ASIC technology and utilizes Hut 8's large-scale hosting infrastructure platform for Bitcoin mining, without the need to invest heavily in building and operating proprietary data centers. American Bitcoin has mining equipment located in New York, Alberta, and Texas.
In June of this year, American Bitcoin raised $220 million in cash and Bitcoin through private equity from investors including Winklevoss brothers, co-founders of Gemini, to purchase more digital tokens and mining equipment.
Asher Genoot, the executive director of American Bitcoin and CEO of Hut 8, stated that by integrating Bitcoin mining, opportunistic market acquisitions, and Hut 8's energy and digital infrastructure support, the company has created an investment tool aimed at driving rapid and efficient growth in Bitcoin holdings per share.
A Warmer Policy Environment Boosts the Crypto Market
Trump became a high-profile supporter of cryptocurrency during his campaign and became one of the most influential advocates for the industry after taking office. He signed legislation that helped legalize certain types of cryptocurrencies, created a national reserve for virtual assets, and appointed a more industry-friendly regulatory body, ending investigations into large cryptocurrency companies.
With the support of the Trump administration, Bitcoin trading prices have 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, praising this asset class. Last week, Eric Trump stated before a Bitcoin conference in Hong Kong that cryptocurrency is "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 has been achieved against this backdrop.
Eric Trump, who co-founded American Bitcoin and serves as the company's Chief Strategy Officer, stated this week, "We have become a prominent name in the cryptocurrency space. American Bitcoin will become the greatest financial company in history."
Eric also mentioned that American Bitcoin's debut on Nasdaq is "a historic milestone for Bitcoin entering the core of the U.S. capital markets and advances our mission to make the U.S. the undisputed leader of the global Bitcoin economy."
The Trump Family's Cryptocurrency Empire Continues to Expand
The listing of American Bitcoin marks the latest expansion of the Trump family's cryptocurrency empire. The family's cryptocurrency business now covers various fields, from mining operations to meme coins and stablecoins.
On Monday, the token WLFI issued by World Liberty Financial, supported by the Trump family, was launched on major cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance, Bybit, and OKX.
WLFI opened at $0.20 and quickly surged to about $0.40 within the first five minutes of trading, before turning downward, dropping over 30% from its intraday high at one point on Monday. It is currently up about 1% from its issuance price, ranking as the 27th largest cryptocurrency globally by market capitalization.
The official website of World Liberty shows that Trump himself and his three sons are listed as the initial co-founders of the project, although Trump has stepped back from related positions since taking office.
The Trump family controls just under a quarter of WLFI, 22.5 billion tokens, through a shell company named DT Marks DEFI LLC, which, based on Monday's closing price, has a book value of $5 billion, making the token one of the family's most valuable assets, far exceeding traditional real estate investments such as hotels and golf courses.
Wall Street Insights previously mentioned that the Trump family reached a special agreement with the publicly traded company Alt5, profiting not from the fluctuations of WLFI in the secondary market. Alt5 invested $1.5 billion to buy WLFI, with 75% of the sales proceeds going to the Trump family, instantly locking in hundreds of millions of dollars in cash.
However, ethical lawyers and government regulators have expressed concerns about Trump's business interests and the family's involvement in the cryptocurrency business, especially as he relaxed regulations on the cryptocurrency or currency industry.
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