American Bitcoin with Eric Trump as Chief Strategy Officer trades 29 million shares, valuing Trump's ownership at over $500 million.
American Bitcoin (ABTC) , a bitcoin mining and investment company backed by President Donald Trump’s two sons, made a splash on the Nasdaq, rising nearly 17% to $8.04 a share on its first day of trading. The stock hit an intraday high of around $14, reflecting strong investor interest in the Trump family-linked business.
Volume on the debut reached over 29 million shares on Nasdaq, a remarkable number when compared to recent crypto-asset IPOs. Circle and Bullish – two publicly listed crypto-asset companies with higher share prices – recorded 46 million and 58 million shares traded on their debuts, respectively, indicating that American Bitcoin has attracted significant attention from the investment community.
Eric Trump, the President’s second son and Chief Strategy Officer of American Bitcoin, highlighted the company’s competitive advantage in an interview with Bloomberg: “At the core, we have a very good mining operation. We mine bitcoins at a cost of about $0.50 per $1 of the actual price of bitcoin right now.” Eric said the company owns “hundreds of millions of dollars of physical assets, data centers behind them,” giving it a significant advantage over buying bitcoins on the open market.
The successful launch has significant financial implications for the Trump family. According to Bloomberg, Eric Trump’s stake in American Bitcoin is now valued at over $500 million, marking a major step forward in the Trump brothers’ journey to expand their crypto portfolio.
Business model and ownership structure
American Bitcoin was founded in March by Eric Trump and backed by Donald Trump Jr., combining a strategy of both mining and buying bitcoin. Last month, Gryphon Digital Mining shareholders formally voted to merge with American Bitcoin to form a new crypto-asset mining venture.
In June, the company successfully raised $220 million through the sale of about 11 million new shares in a private placement, providing the necessary Capital to expand its mining operations. The current ownership structure shows that Hut 8 owns 80% of American Bitcoin, while the remaining 20% belongs to American Data Centers – an entity backed by the Trump sons.
Asher Genoot, CEO of Hut 8 and Executive Chairman of American Bitcoin, explained the business strategy: “By combining our Bitcoin mining operations, opportunistic market purchases, and Hut 8’s energy and digital infrastructure support, we have created a vehicle designed to accelerate Bitcoin per share growth rapidly and efficiently.”
American Bitcoin isn’t the only crypto project the Trump family is involved in. Brothers Eric and Donald Jr. are also involved in World Liberty Financial , a decentralized finance (DeFi) project inspired by President Trump. Donald Trump Jr. has also invested in Polymarket, a crypto prediction market platform, and joined the board and is a shareholder in Thumzup, a social media company turned crypto treasury.
