The Trump family’s foray into the cryptocurrency market is intensifying, with recent developments highlighting their commitment to Bitcoin (BTC). American Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency mining and holding company backed by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. operating as a subsidiary of Hut8, announced on Monday that it successfully raised $220 million. This significant capital injection will reportedly be used to bolster its BTC holdings and expand its mining operations, which involve the use of specialized computer servers to process Bitcoin transactions. American Bitcoin’s Ambitious Plans According to Fortune, approximately $10 million of the funds from the private stock sale was immediately converted into Bitcoin, although specific details about the investors who purchased shares in the Trump sons’ venture remain undisclosed. Earlier this year, Hut 8 revealed that it would transfer the majority of its BTC mining equipment to American Bitcoin in exchange for an 80% stake in the newly formed company. While Eric and Donald Trump Jr. are known investors in American Bitcoin, it has not been clarified whether they hold the remaining 20% exclusively. American Bitcoin’s ambitions include a public listing through a reverse merger with Gryphon Digital Mining, aiming to trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol ABTC by the third quarter of the year. The Trump Family’s Growing Footprint In the Crypto Market The Trump family’s engagement with cryptocurrency extends beyond American Bitcoin. Their publicly traded media company, Truth Social, recently expressed plans to raise $2.5 billion to create its own BTC treasury, drawing inspiration from Michael Saylor’s Strategy. Additionally, the Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) has filed to launch its own BTC exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the US, allowing investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin without directly owning the asset. Other crypto initiatives linked to the Trump family are also gaining traction. Notably, the president has introduced a memecoin with a market capitalization exceeding $1.7 billion called TRUMP. Despite investors’ initial excitement toward the president’s official memecoin, it has failed to perform as expected. Twenty-four hours after its launch back in January of this year, the token surged from $10 to over $70. Since then, however, it has been on a consistent downtrend, amounting to an 88% drop from its all-time high. Furthermore, World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a decentralized finance (DeFi) project, is set to release an app focused on DeFi. World Liberty Financial also has its own stablecoin, USD1, pegged to stable assets like the US dollar, boasting a market capitalization of around $2.2 billion. As of this writing, TRUMP trades at $8.57, registering a major retrace of 23% in the monthly time frame. Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
