Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
The Trump family's crypto empire has gained another strong player. On September 3, through a stock swap merger with the U.S. publicly listed company Gryphon Digital Mining, the Bitcoin mining company American Bitcoin (NASDAQ: ABTC), associated with the Trump family, was listed on NASDAQ. On its first day of trading, it triggered the limit-up three times, with an intraday stock price reaching a high of $14.52. Trump's two sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, are shareholders in the company. According to a Reuters report, the two brothers hold about 20% of the shares, currently valued at $1.5 billion.
American Bitcoin Aims to Surpass Strategy
After the listing of American Bitcoin, Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of Trump, expressed ambitious goals, stating that “American Bitcoin will establish the largest Bitcoin reserve in the United States”, implying a desire to surpass the current largest Bitcoin reserve held by the U.S. listed company Strategy. According to data from BitcoinTreasuries.net, American Bitcoin currently holds 2,443 Bitcoins, ranking 25th among U.S. publicly listed companies, and needs to purchase over 634,000 Bitcoins (worth over $70 billion) to catch up with Strategy.
According to the official website, American Bitcoin is a company focused on low-cost mining and accumulating Bitcoin. Matt Pruask, the president of American Bitcoin, stated that to achieve this goal, the company will implement a three-tier strategy:
- Build an engine to operate a cost-effective mining platform for Bitcoin mining below market costs;
- Expand reserves by leveraging capital market access to develop and manage strategic Bitcoin reserves;
- Lead the ecosystem by expanding influence in the Bitcoin economy through accelerated adoption products, partnerships, and other initiatives.
American Bitcoin is primarily a mining company, with Bitcoin mining company Hut 8 providing advanced ASIC technology and customized data centers to help American Bitcoin achieve rapid and cost-effective expansion. With Hut 8's technical support, American Bitcoin only needs to procure mining machines. In August, American Bitcoin purchased 16,299 Antminer S19 XP machines from Bitmain, with a total hash rate of 14.02 EH/s, totaling approximately $314 million. On September 3, American Bitcoin also planned to apply for a public offering to raise up to $2.1 billion for purchasing mining machines.
“Currently, our cost of mining Bitcoin is about half of the actual price of Bitcoin. We have fixed assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars, along with data centers as a backup… When others have to buy Bitcoin at market prices, we can mine Bitcoin at significantly lower prices,” Eric Trump stated on September 3, highlighting American Bitcoin's advantages in mining here.
Essentially, American Bitcoin's position in Bitcoin mining is similar to that of Cango, the second-largest publicly listed Bitcoin mining company, which also focuses on low-cost Bitcoin mining and holding _ (Related reading: Finding Potential Crypto Stocks: How Can Cango Leap from an Auto Company to the World's Second Largest Bitcoin Mining Company?). However, American Bitcoin is more aggressive; in addition to mining and holding Bitcoin, it will also expand its reserves through purchases. In August, the Financial Times reported that American Bitcoin is planning to acquire a listed company in Japan to establish a Bitcoin treasury. Given co-founder Eric Trump's recent frequent activities in Hong Kong and Japan, the credibility of this rumor is quite high.
The Great Spokesperson—Eric Trump
Eric Trump is not only the co-founder and chief strategy officer of American Bitcoin but also its spokesperson. Although Eric Trump's exact words were “I have become one of the great advocates for cryptocurrency,” it is evident that he incorporates personal interests into every public speech, and the effects are significant. After American Bitcoin's successful listing, Eric Trump retweeted American Bitcoin's company tweet and stated that he had invested tremendous passion and energy into this project over the past 12 months.
How did American Bitcoin come to be associated with Eric Trump? It all started with a "Pizza Night." Early in Trump's presidency, he hosted a pizza night at his golf club in Jupiter, Florida, where Hut 8's CEO Asher Genoot met with Eric Trump and talked for hours. The outcome of this conversation was that Asher Genoot persuaded Eric Trump to co-found a Bitcoin mining company, leading to the establishment of American Bitcoin on April 1, 2025.
After the company was founded, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump together held 98% of American Bitcoin's shares. However, according to documents filed by American Bitcoin with the SEC showing, American Bitcoin is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hut 8, which holds 585,779,924 Class B common shares, accounting for 80% of the voting rights.
Clearly, in this resource arrangement, Hut 8 is responsible for technology and company operations, while Eric Trump plays the role of a spokesperson for attracting investment.
“In the fiercely competitive Bitcoin mining industry, there are few ways to stand out. Involving the president's son in founding the company is one of them,” Blockspace Media co-founder Will Foxley pointed out. However, it has been proven that Eric Trump is doing quite well.
Eric Trump has brought many connections in the capital markets to American Bitcoin, with “Eric being able to reach numerous potential partners with just one phone call,” emphasized American Bitcoin CEO Matt Prusak regarding Eric's close relationships with large family offices and institutions. Additionally, the Trump family's name provides American Bitcoin with significant narrative value and free exposure, as evidenced by the stock price performance on its first day of trading.
In an interview at the blockchain conference Consensus held in May, Eric stated, “Like all of the Trump family's ventures, American Bitcoin's goal is to become an industry giant.” Having a presidential father means success in whatever one does.
What Does the Trump Family Want from U.S. Energy?
The Trump family's crypto empire now includes DeFi, stablecoins, meme coins, crypto reserves, and stock coins, and the addition of American Bitcoin extends its reach into the U.S. energy sector.
For a long time, the Trump administration has been promoting the “America First Energy” policy, which prioritizes the development of domestic energy (especially fossil fuels and nuclear energy) and encourages the development of private and state-level energy projects through taxes, subsidies, and other means. This policy indirectly reduces the resistance and costs for Bitcoin mining companies in the U.S. to expand and operate. In fact, in June 2024, Trump met with several of the largest miners in the U.S. during a campaign event at Mar-a-Lago to discuss how the U.S. can become the world's leading Bitcoin mining country. In other words, it was also to gain their political support.
This is an era of dividends for the mining industry, and “the fat water does not flow to outsiders' fields,” so the Trump family can certainly enter this industry to reap profits. Moreover, if the Trump family establishes a foothold in the energy sector through Bitcoin mining companies, it will also provide crucial support for Trump himself.
Eric has repeatedly stated that the establishment of the WLFI project stemmed from traditional banks' unfriendliness towards the family. After Trump's first term ended, hundreds of the family's bank accounts in the U.S. were closed overnight, and Trump himself has stated that banks like JPMorgan and Bank of America discriminated against him. If WLFI can secure a place in the U.S. financial system through crypto, similar situations will not occur even if Trump loses the next election.
It is evident that during this term, the entire Trump family is intensively cashing in on the presidential aura, strategically positioning themselves in key areas (especially in basic resources, finance, technology, social media, energy, real estate, etc.) to maintain control. Thus, even if one day the political aura fades, the business foundations, resources, and legacies laid down will continue to protect the family's prominence.
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