American Bitcoin, backed by Trump sons, aims to start trading in September

Donald Trump Jr., right, and Eric Trump. Photographer: David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

American Bitcoin, the bitcoin miner backed by two of U.S. President Donald Trump’s sons, has locked in crypto and traditional investors to back an all-stock merger that will allow the firm to soon start trading on the Nasdaq, the company’s largest investor said.

The unlisted firm’s merger with Gryphon Digital Mining GRYP.O is set to be finalized shortly, and the goal is to start trading in early September, according to Asher Genoot, the CEO of Hut 8 HUT.O, which holds 80 per cent of American Bitcoin.

Anchor shareholders in the listing have been finalized, he said, adding crypto exchange Gemini’s co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss had invested in the new firm.

Gemini did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

American Bitcoin’s co-founder, Eric Trump, his brother Donald Trump Jr. and Hut 8 HUT.O, will own a combined 98 per cent of the newly formed entity, which will retain the name American Bitcoin and trade under the stock code ABTC.

“Instead of going public directly via IPO, we thought that there was a lot more advantages to financing if we had an existing company that already had access to different financing too,” Genoot told Reuters at the Bitcoin Asia conference in Hong Kong.

Eric Trump is also in Hong Kong and will travel to Tokyo at the weekend for an event for Metaplanet, a Japanese bitcoin treasury firm, Genoot said.

American Bitcoin is hunting for crypto assets to buy in Hong Kong and Japan to build out its global business, the Financial Times reported two weeks ago.

Genoot said American Bitcoin could take stakes in companies outside the U.S. to give people access to publicly listed bitcoin assets, as some investors were prevented from buying Nasdaq-listed stocks.

“Right now it’s very early. So we haven’t been committed to anything,” he said.

Launched in March 2025 by Hut 8, together with Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., American Bitcoin has vowed to become “the world’s largest, most efficient pure-play bitcoin miner.”

The creation of the firm comes as the U.S. accelerates crypto-related legislation to support the growth of the industry under President Trump.

Genoot said the new firm would accumulate the cryptocurrency through both mining and buying.

“Instead of just a treasury strategy where companies raise money to buy bitcoin or just a mining company... we ebb and flow between which one is the best return at different times,” he said.

Miami-based Hut 8 was also a crypto miner but has shifted its focus to energy infrastructure and data centers after launching American Bitcoin with the Trump sons.

Hut 8 will lease data centers to American Bitcoin, Genoot said.

President Trump’s critics have accused him of conflicts of interest in promoting the crypto industry at a time when his family is involved in the sector, allegations which the White House has brushed aside.

Genoot said American Bitcoin’s business had nothing to do with government, and Eric Trump was mainly involved in strategy, such as in relation to bitcoin mining, new site development and treasury strategy.

Separately, at the same conference, Nakamoto Holdings, a bitcoin treasury company led by crypto advocate David Bailey, said it was looking across Asia’s crypto startup scene and planned to support early-stage companies to grow the crypto ecosystem.

“We’re also going to be looking at other opportunities where we can incubate and do M&As,” said Kevin Zhang, head of Asia at Nakamoto.