The bitcoin mining company 'American Bitcoin Corp.', co-founded by Donald Trump Jr. and his younger brother Eric Trump, officially went public on Nasdaq on Wednesday, with a strong stock price on the first day, raising the value of their holdings to over $1.5 billion.
American Bitcoin (stock symbol: ABTC) peaked at $14.52 on its first day of trading, closing at $8.04, an increase of 16.5%. The total trading volume exceeded 29 million shares, slightly lower than the recent cryptocurrency-related IPOs — such as Circle and Bullish, which reached trading levels of 46 million and 58 million shares on their first day, respectively — but still showed that market demand is significant.
According to documents submitted by American Bitcoin on Wednesday, the company is concurrently selling new shares to raise $2.1 billion, which will be used to purchase bitcoin or mining machines. So far, the company has accumulated 2,443 bitcoins (valued at approximately $270 million) as reserve assets.
Asher Genoot, co-founder and Executive Chairman of American Bitcoin, revealed that Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump together hold about 20% of the shares.
According to documents submitted on September 2, American Bitcoin has 908.6 million shares outstanding. Based on Wednesday's closing price, the value of the Trump brothers' holdings reached $1.5 billion; if estimated at the intraday high, it nearly approached $2.6 billion.
The Trump family has historically focused on real estate and golf course operations, but now cryptocurrency has become a key growth driver for the family's new business. Eric Trump stated in an interview: 'Cryptocurrency is exploding; it currently accounts for at least half of my business landscape.'
However, the Trump family's aggressive positioning has also drawn scrutiny from Democratic lawmakers and ethical watchdog groups, who believe that while the president relaxes industry regulations, his family profits from it, potentially creating a conflict of interest.
In response, Eric Trump firmly stated that such claims are 'utterly absurd' and emphasized that his father has no connection to this matter:
My father has absolutely no connection to this company; he is governing the country. He has not been involved in our business in any way.
As the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of American Bitcoin, Eric Trump describes his role more as a 'spokesperson.'
It is worth noting that the Canadian-listed energy infrastructure and bitcoin mining company Hut 8 Corp (HUT) currently holds approximately 80% equity in American Bitcoin.
American Bitcoin reported revenue of $30.3 million and a net profit of $3.4 million in the second quarter of this year, with a market capitalization of $7.2 billion after its first day of listing. The company will focus on 'low-cost mining and scalable accumulation of bitcoin' as its core strategy to solidify its position in the cryptocurrency mining industry.
"The mining company American Bitcoin surged over 16% on its first day of listing, with the Trump brothers' holdings valued at $1.5 billion" was first published by (BlockBeat).
