Eric Trump, son of US President Donald Trump, declared that a global rush to accumulate Bitcoin is underway.
At the Consensus 2025 conference in Toronto on May 15, he emphasized the widespread interest in Bitcoin, stating, “Everybody in the world is trying to hoard Bitcoin right now.”
“I’m traveling. I’m on a plane. Everybody in the world is trying to hoard Bitcoin right now. Everybody. I hear it from sovereign wealth funds. I hear it from the wealthiest families. I hear from the biggest companies.”
The comments came from a panel featuring Trump and Asher Genoot, CEO of Bitcoin mining company Hut 8. His more immediate future outlook is in the form of two races he sees currently taking place in the Bitcoin space: the race to buy Bitcoin and mine.
Trump’s Bitcoin venture joins Gryphon in pre-listing deal
Eric Trump is not only talking about Bitcoin; he’s building a business empire around it. His company, American Bitcoin, entered a deal to merge with Gryphon Digital Mining on May 12. The deal, structured as an all-stock exchange offer, will merge two powerful mining companies into a combined entity that the two companies said will be publicly listed on the Nasdaq later this year.
American Bitcoin is a unit of Hut 8, one of North America’s largest cryptocurrency mining companies. The merged company will become one of the biggest Bitcoin miners in the United States.
Trump, who co-launched American Bitcoin alongside his brother, is bullish on the space. They aim to make American Bitcoin a conduit for people and institutions to invest in Bitcoin, largely through the US-regulated stock markets.
After the news, Gryphon shares rose over 200%, while Hut 8 shares also went up. Analysts observe that this is a smart play leading up to the next Bitcoin halving cycle and follows a continuing surge in corporate interest in crypto mining.
The deal is scheduled to close in the third quarter of 2025.
Lawmakers slam Trump’s growing crypto ventures
But not everyone is cheering. The uncloaked investment of the Trumps in the crypto world has raised the government’s scrutiny — particularly among Democrats on Capitol Hill. Critics are concerned about conflicts of interest and potential political power over the digital asset market.
A few Democrats have demanded that the family’s crypto bets be investigated. They include meme coins, such as $TRUMP and NFT collections, mining companies, and even stablecoin projects that are said to have the fingerprints of companies with ties to the Trump family.
House Democrats stormed out of a bipartisan hearing on digital assets earlier this month, complaining that Republicans ignored allegations of possible ethics lapses by the President’s inner circle.
A group of Senate Democrats issued a plea to President Trump on May 13, asking him to divest himself of all assets in cryptocurrency, even including a stablecoin project backed by hard assets. They maintained that such links involve leveraging his presidency for personal gain, potentially opening himself up to foreign influence, and operating in an industry he has immense power to deregulate.
It marries Trump’s unscrupulous business tendencies with an industry that is notorious for fraud, scams, and a lack of transparency. It may also become the most lucrative business he’s ever been involved in.
The group State Democracy Defenders Action estimated in a new report that the president’s crypto holdings now represent nearly 40% of his net worth — or approximately $2.9 billion.
Lawmakers also forced the postponement of a bipartisan bill on stablecoins, with a second vote likely to be pushed for the case before the end of May.
President Trump recently ordered the establishment of a US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, an order that shocked the world of politics at home and abroad. Some welcomed it as forward-looking, but critics derided it as little more than a thinly veiled attempt to promote family investments.
Even in the face of this pushback, the administration has still attempted to position itself as crypto-friendly. The family’s direct influence on the sector indicates that Bitcoin may also play a central role in future economic and political discussions.
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