As their father positions himself as the “Bitcoin President,” Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have plunged headfirst into the cryptocurrency arena. The brothers have established American Bitcoin Corporation in partnership with Hut 8, one of the largest public Bitcoin mining firms out there. Not exactly small potatoes.
The deal happened after Hut 8 bought a majority stake in American Data Centers, which the Trump brothers owned. Hut 8 didn’t come empty-handed – they transferred a whopping 61,000 ASIC mining rigs to the new venture. That’s a lot of computing power.
Eric Trump isn’t just lending his name. He’s stepped in as Chief Strategy Officer while the brothers secured a 20% equity stake in the company. Hut 8 keeps the lion’s share at 80%, maintaining control of both infrastructure and operations. The brothers clearly know when to be junior partners.
American Bitcoin has ambitious goals. They’re gunning to become the largest Bitcoin miner in the U.S., maybe even globally. Bold. They’re also planning to build a strategic Bitcoin reserve, because why mine it if you’re just going to sell it all?
American Bitcoin isn’t playing small ball—they want to dominate U.S. mining and stockpile Bitcoin for the long haul.
The company isn’t stopping there. They’re eyeing public markets too. An IPO would boost transparency and attract institutional investors who might be skittish about crypto. It would also cement the Trump family’s growing crypto empire.
The technical backbone isn’t trivial. Those 61,000 mining rigs form the core of a vertically integrated business combining energy, data centers, and mining operations. The operation will employ Proof of Work validation, the same energy-intensive method currently used by Bitcoin. Hut 8’s share price rose 5% following the announcement despite being down 39% year-to-date. Efficiency is the name of the game.
This Bitcoin venture isn’t the family’s first crypto rodeo. The Trumps have already dabbled in DeFi apps, NFTs, memecoins, and even stablecoins through various projects. They’re building quite the portfolio. Their venture comes after President Trump pardoned BitMEX co-founders who faced regulatory issues, showing the family’s broader engagement with the crypto world.
American Bitcoin seems determined to capitalize on the cryptocurrency boom while enhancing public trust in mining operations. Whether they succeed is anyone’s guess. But one thing’s certain – the Trumps are all in on Bitcoin.
