Original Article Title: "Trump Family's Another Money Grab: American Bitcoin Miner's Nasdaq Debut Sends Shockwaves, Doubling in Value Before Giving Back Most Gains"

Original Article Author: Dan Li, Wall Street News

Following the "core token" supported by the Trump family, the Trump family once again used the guise of the crypto community to conduct a "money grab" in the financial market.

On Wednesday, March 3, American Bitcoin, a Bitcoin mining and accumulation platform, made its Nasdaq debut under the stock ticker ABTC through a merger with peer Gryphon Digital Mining. The stock price soared on its first day of trading.

During early trading hours, American Bitcoin surged to $14.52, more than doubling in value intraday by over 100%. It later gave back most of the gains, closing at $8.04, with a final gain of approximately 16.5%. Due to extreme price volatility, trading of the stock was temporarily halted during the day.

American Bitcoin is held by US President Trump's eldest and second son—Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. Following the completion of the equity swap merger with Gryphon Digital Mining, Trump's sons and another Bitcoin miner, Hut 8 Corp., collectively hold 98% of the company's shares, while Gryphon's previous investors hold the remaining shares.

After the cryptocurrency project World Liberty Financial's token WLTI was listed on several crypto exchanges on Monday, American Bitcoin marks the second major event this week where the Trump family has driven crypto assets into the mainstream capital market. Its listing is seen as the latest test of investor interest in Trump's family-related cryptocurrency ventures.

Bitcoin Accumulation-Focused Platform

American Bitcoin claims to be a Bitcoin accumulation platform focused on building the primary Bitcoin infrastructure in the US. It is a subsidiary primarily controlled by Hut 8, positioned as a dedicated Bitcoin accumulation platform employing a differentiated dual accumulation strategy. By combining proprietary mining operations with opportunistic Bitcoin acquisitions, the company aims to maximize the amount of Bitcoin held per share.

Prior to going public, American Bitcoin had accumulated approximately 2443 Bitcoins, following the so-called "corporate treasury" strategy. This strategy is popularized by Michael Saylor, co-founder of MicroStrategy, the company with the largest global Bitcoin holdings.

American Bitcoin Introduction: The company, through its partnership with Hut 8, has acquired next-generation ASIC technology and leverages Hut 8's large-scale hosting infrastructure platform for Bitcoin mining, eliminating the need for significant capital investment in building and operating proprietary data centers. American Bitcoin has mining facilities in New York, Alberta, and Texas.

In June of this year, American Bitcoin raised $220 million in cash and Bitcoin through a private placement to investors including Gemini co-founders the Winklevoss brothers, to purchase more digital assets and mining equipment.

Asher Genoot, Executive Director of American Bitcoin and CEO of Hut 8, stated that by integrating Bitcoin mining, opportunistic market acquisitions, and Hut 8's energy and digital infrastructure support, the company has created an investment vehicle designed to drive rapid and efficient per-Bitcoin growth.

Improving Policy Environment Boosts Crypto Market

During his campaign, Trump emerged as a high-profile supporter of cryptocurrency and became the most influential advocate for the industry after taking office. He signed legislation that helped legalize a certain type of cryptocurrency, established a national reserve for virtual assets, and appointed regulatory bodies friendlier to the industry, ending investigations into large cryptocurrency companies.

With the support of the Trump administration, the price of Bitcoin has fluctuated between $1.08 million and $123,000 over the past two months. Trump's two sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, have been present at cryptocurrency conferences around the world, praising this asset class. Last week, Eric Trump stated before a Bitcoin conference in Hong Kong that cryptocurrency is "the most rewarding business of my lifetime."

The shift in government regulatory policy has created a favorable environment for cryptocurrency companies to go public, and American Bitcoin's successful listing has been achieved against this backdrop.

Eric Trump, who co-founded American Bitcoin and serves as the company's Chief Strategy Officer, said this week, "We have become a prominent name in the cryptocurrency space. American Bitcoin will be the greatest financial company in history."

Eric also stated that American Bitcoin's debut on NASDAQ is "a historic milestone for Bitcoin's entry into the core of the U.S. capital market and advances our mission to make the U.S. the undisputed global leader in the Bitcoin economy."

Trump Family Crypto Empire Continues to Expand

The listing of American Bitcoin marks the latest expansion of the Trump family's crypto empire. The family's crypto business now encompasses various areas including mining operations, meme coins, and stablecoins.

On Monday, World Liberty Financial, backed by the Trump family, issued the WLFI token, which started trading on major crypto exchanges such as Binance, Bybit, and OKX.

WLFI opened at $0.20, quickly surged to around $0.40 within the first five minutes of trading, then retreated. During Monday's trading session, it fell over 30% from its intraday high but is currently up about 1% from the issuance price. By market capitalization, it has become the world's 27th largest cryptocurrency.

According to the World Liberty website, both Trump himself and his three sons are listed as the original co-founders of the project. However, Trump has stepped down from any related roles since taking office as president.

The Trump family controls slightly less than a quarter of WLFI, totaling 22.5 billion tokens through a shell company named DT Marks DEFI LLC. Based on Monday's closing price, this stake is valued at $5 billion, making the token one of the Trump family's most valuable assets, surpassing their traditional real estate investments like hotels and golf courses.

Previously, The Wall Street Journal mentioned that the Trump family had reached a special agreement with the publicly traded company Alt5, not to profit from the price fluctuations of the WLFI token on the secondary market. Alt5 invested $1.5 billion to acquire WLFI, with 75% of the sales revenue going to the Trump family, instantly locking in hundreds of millions of dollars in cash.

However, ethical lawyers and government regulatory agencies have expressed concerns about Trump's business interests and the family's involvement in the cryptocurrency business, especially as he relaxed regulations on the crypto or currency industry.

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