- US President Trump’s sons announced a deal involving one of the largest Bitcoin miners.
- Eric Trump will be the new company’s chief strategy officer.
The Trump family just deepened its engagement with crypto.
On Monday, US President Donald Trump’s sons, Donald Jr and Eric, announced they will form a company, American Bitcoin Corp, in partnership with Hut 8, one of the largest publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies.
The company will operate as a subsidiary of Hut 8.
The plan adds to the Trump family’s crypto empire even as Trump’s administration plans a regulatory and legislative overhaul of the industry.
While experts say the unprecedented situation raises clear conflict of interest concerns, the Trump suite of businesses includes memecoins, a DeFi app, NFTs, and Truth.Fi, which plans to manage crypto in accounts for clients with the help of brokerage Charles Schwab.
Complex deal
American Bitcoin was formed in a roundabout way.
First, there was the establishment of American Data Centers by Eric and Donald Jr Trump, established as a subsidiary of the wealth management firm Dominari Holdings.
Hut 8 then donated all of its mining hardware to American Data Centers in order to acquire a majority interest in American Data Centers.
At which point, American Data Centers became American Bitcoin, replacing the “Compute” segment of Hut 8’s business.
The unusual structure confused some market watchers.
“I don’t fully understand the rationale of selling 61,000 miners in exchange for an 80% stake in a subsidiary that they previously owned 100% of,” Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research for Van Eck, wrote on X.
American Bitcoin will mainly focus on bitcoin mining while building a strategic bitcoin reserve.
Commercial acumen
The company will be led by CEO Matt Prusak, with Eric Trump serving as the chief strategy officer. Donald Trump Jr does not have a listed executive role.
The company wrote that Hut 8 is combining its expertise in computation with “Eric Trump’s commercial acumen, capital markets expertise, and commitment to the advancement of decentralised financial systems.”
“This transaction represents substantive progress in Dominari’s effort to create shareholder value,” wrote Dominari CEO Anthony Hayes.
Hut 8 stock rose 1.6% on the news. Dominari Holdings fell amid a broader stock market selloff on Monday.
Hut 8 did not respond to a DL News request for comment about why it would carve out the mining segment of its business in order to partner with Eric and Donald Jr on American Bitcoin.
American Bitcoin’s main competitors in the Bitcoin mining space remain Marathon Digital, Riot Platforms, and CleanSpark.
Andrew Flanagan is a markets correspondent for DL News. Have a tip? Reach out to aflanagan@dlnews.com.
