Trump Family’s American Bitcoin Set to Go Public Through Gryphon Digital Mining Merger

American Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency mining venture backed by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., is set to go public through an all-stock merger with Nasdaq-listed Gryphon Digital Mining. The deal, announced on Monday, represents the latest expansion of the Trump family’s growing cryptocurrency portfolio amid the current administration’s pro-crypto stance.

JUST IN: 🇺🇸 Trump Family backed BTC miner American Bitcoin to go public via merger with Gryphon Digital. pic.twitter.com/ZuGUMd6aUs

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) May 12, 2025

Deal Structure and Ownership

The merger will allow American Bitcoin to list on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol ABTC. Existing shareholders of American Bitcoin, including co-founder Eric Trump, his brother Donald Trump Jr., and crypto miner Hut 8, will retain approximately 98% ownership of the newly formed entity. Eric Trump, who currently serves as the company’s chief strategy officer, will maintain this role after the transaction completes.

The all-stock transaction is expected to close as early as the third quarter of 2025. Once finalized, the combined company will operate under the American Bitcoin brand. According to the announcement, the company will be led by American Bitcoin’s board, including Mike Ho, Justin Mateen, Michael Broukhim, and Asher Genoot, the CEO of Hut 8. The management team will consist of Mike Ho, Matt Prusak, and Eric Trump.

Market Response

The announcement triggered significant market movements. Gryphon shares rose more than three-fold to $2.19, while Hut 8 shares gained over 11% to reach $15.45 following the news. According to Bloomberg, shares of Gryphon jumped by 280 percent to $2.04 in premarket trading after the announcement.

Company Background and Vision

American Bitcoin was launched in March 2025 with the stated aim to “become the world’s largest, most efficient pure-play Bitcoin miner.” It’s the successor to American Data Centers, a venture backed by Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and publicly traded Dominari Holdings.

The company was established with an exclusive focus on Bitcoin mining and strategic Bitcoin reserve development. In a statement, Eric Trump explained that the vision “is to create the most investable bitcoin accumulation platform in the market” with the goal to “build the world’s largest pure play bitcoin mining operation along with a strategic reserve for cryptocurrency.”

Asher Gennot, CEO of Hut 8, added that the deal “marks the next step in scaling American Bitcoin as a purpose-built vehicle for low-cost Bitcoin accumulation at scale. By taking American Bitcoin public, we expect to unlock direct access to dedicated growth capital independent of Hut 8’s balance sheet, while preserving long-term exposure to Bitcoin upside for our shareholders.“

Trump Family’s Expanding Crypto Portfolio

This Bitcoin mining venture is just one piece of the Trump family’s growing cryptocurrency interests. The move is the latest in a series of crypto ventures by the Trump family, including a meme coin launched in January and World Liberty Financial, a crypto company partly owned by President Trump.

Beyond bitcoin mining, the Trump brothers and their father are backing the crypto exchange World Liberty Financial, which recently received a multi-billion dollar investment from an Abu Dhabi-based firm. President Trump also launched a highly volatile “meme coin” called $TRUMP in January. According to one report, crypto investments now make up about $2.9 billion of the family’s net worth.

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Presidential Policy and Controversy

President Trump has pledged to make the U.S. a global leader in the crypto space and has promised a lighter regulatory touch. The president has also endorsed crypto mining specifically, pledging to make the United States a “bitcoin mining powerhouse” last year.

However, these business interests have raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest. The president has drawn criticism from government ethics experts and political opponents over potential conflicts of interest related to his family’s crypto ventures.

The Trump family’s interest in cryptocurrency has drawn specific criticism. Last week, Senate Democrats blocked a crypto regulation bill from moving forward and pushed for it to include new limits on elected officials participating in some types of crypto ventures, with Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts accusing President Trump of “crypto corruption.“

In response to such criticisms, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said last week that President Trump’s “assets are in a trust managed by his children, and there are no conflicts of interest.”

Bitcoin Mining Context

For those unfamiliar with the industry, mining is a critical part of how bitcoin operates. The cryptocurrency isn’t centralized and relies on independent actors—known as miners—who solve complicated mathematical problems to verify bitcoin transactions and list them on a public ledger called a blockchain. Miners earn units of bitcoin as rewards for successfully completing these calculations.

As explained by crypto exchange Coinbase, “Bitcoin mining is a lot like running a big data center. Companies purchase the mining hardware and pay for the electricity required to keep it running (and cool).” For this activity to be profitable, the value of the earned coins must exceed the cost to mine them.

With Bitcoin currently trading around $103,000, mining remains a potentially lucrative venture despite its energy-intensive nature and the increasing computational difficulty of the mining process.