Trump Brothers and Hut 8 Launch American Bitcoin Mining Venture with Plans to Go Public

TLDR

• Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have partnered with Hut 8 to launch American Bitcoin Corp., aiming to create one of America’s largest Bitcoin mining operations
• Hut 8 will contribute most of its ASIC miners for an 80% ownership stake, while the Trump brothers’ American Data Centers holds 20%
• Eric Trump cites being “debanked” as his motivation for entering crypto, calling Bitcoin “cheaper, faster, more transparent, uncancelable, global”
• The venture plans to eventually go public and can reportedly mine Bitcoin at nearly half its current trading price
• The announcement comes amid the Trump family’s expanding crypto footprint, following World Liberty Financial and USD1 stablecoin launches

The Trump family is making another significant move into cryptocurrency with a new Bitcoin mining operation backed by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. The brothers have partnered with Miami-based mining and energy infrastructure firm Hut 8 to launch American Bitcoin Corp., according to reports this week.

The venture aims to become one of the largest Bitcoin mining operations in the United States. It also plans to go public in the future, expanding the Trump family’s growing cryptocurrency portfolio.

On Monday, Hut 8 announced it would merge with American Data Centers Inc., a company formed by investors including Eric and Donald Trump Jr. The deal gives Hut 8 an 80% ownership stake in the newly renamed American Bitcoin, with the Trump brothers’ firm holding the remaining 20%.

Under the agreement, Hut 8 will contribute most of its Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) miners to American Bitcoin. Hut 8 will serve as American Bitcoin’s exclusive infrastructure and operations partner going forward.

Leadership and Strategy

The leadership team includes several key figures from both organizations. Mike Ho, chief strategy officer for Hut 8, will serve as executive chairman for American Bitcoin. Matt Prusak, former chief commercial officer for Hut 8, will become chief executive. Eric Trump will take on the role of chief strategy officer.

“From the start, we’ve backed our conviction in bitcoin — personally and through our businesses,” Donald Trump Jr. said in a statement. “But simply buying bitcoin is only half the story. Mining it on favorable economics opens an even bigger opportunity.”

Hut 8 CEO Asher Genoot described the merger as creating two “focused yet complementary businesses.” He told Bloomberg TV the new structure combines one company focused on energy and infrastructure with another focused on Bitcoin mining and reserves.

“The vision here is to give shareholders a pure play mining company that has the ability to produce Bitcoin cheaper than just buying it,” Genoot explained. “For Hut 8, this made sense because we have investors investing in the infrastructure, AI, and Bitcoin sides of the business.”

Trump Family’s Crypto Expansion

The mining venture marks another step in the Trump family’s broader crypto strategy. In October, they launched World Liberty Financial, followed by the USD1 stablecoin in March.

For Eric Trump, the move into cryptocurrency was spurred by personal experience with traditional banking. In an interview with Fox Business, he explained how his family faced banking challenges due to his father’s political career.

“I never thought I’d fall into the world of crypto—until every bank started canceling us for no reason other than my father being in politics,” Trump told host Maria Bartiromo. “We got canceled by everybody. They came after us viciously.”

Banking Concerns and Crypto Adoption

This experience led to what Eric Trump calls an “epiphany” about the value of cryptocurrency. “That’s when I realized how important crypto is—cheaper, faster, more transparent, uncancelable, global. That’s what made me fall in love with Bitcoin, with DeFi, CeFi, and stablecoins,” he added.

Eric Trump also emphasized the need for regulatory clarity in the cryptocurrency industry. “Everybody in the industry does—I think everybody wants guidelines,” he said. “That’s part of the problem in the crypto industry. It’s always been so murky that people didn’t know what guidelines to follow.”

The Bitcoin mining venture appears well-positioned from an economic standpoint. Eric Trump told Bloomberg TV that the company can mine Bitcoin at “nearly half its current trading price while scaling rapidly.”

He also pointed to Bitcoin’s long-term performance as a key factor in the decision. “Combine that with an asset that’s appreciated 60% year-over-year for the past decade… it’s a dynamite combination,” he said.

Market Reaction

Market reaction to the announcement has been mixed. Hut 8 stock initially rose in early trading on Monday but later reversed course to close down 0.9%. Bitcoin was trading at approximately $84,900 on Tuesday, a more than 2.5% gain over 24 hours.

The announcement comes as the broader cryptocurrency market watches for potential impacts from President Donald Trump’s tariff policies. Bitcoin miners at industry events have expressed optimism about opportunities under the Trump administration despite these concerns.

The American Bitcoin venture adds to Eric Trump’s recent cryptocurrency moves. In March, Japanese investment firm Metaplanet named him to its newly formed Strategic Advisory board, citing his “business expertise and passion for Bitcoin.”

For the Trump family, cryptocurrency appears to be a long-term strategy. “Crypto is here to stay. It’s solving so many financial problems,” Eric Trump told Fox Business. “When we look out 10 years, the nature of finance and banking in this country will be very different.”