Hut 8 Expands to Dubai for Crypto Trading Amid Bitcoin Boom

Hut 8, a Bitcoin mining company with ties to the Trump family, is expanding its operations by establishing a new office in Dubai. This move is part of the company's strategy to leverage the city's crypto-friendly environment and enhance its capital strategy. Hut 8, based in Miami, officially registered its expansion through the Dubai International Financial Centre last week and is currently recruiting staff to lead trading and Bitcoin hoarding operations in the UAE. The company's CEO, Asher Genoot, highlighted that the Dubai expansion will improve the precision and efficiency of Hut 8’s capital strategy. Hut 8 has been running mining operations in Texas, New York, and Alberta through 2024, with a team of 220 employees as of December. Genoot emphasized that the capital plan is focused on efficiency, and Dubai's free zones and zero corporate tax offer a significant advantage. The city has been actively courting crypto companies as part of its efforts to transition its economy away from fossil fuels.

While expanding in Dubai, Hut 8 is also involved in a new crypto venture with Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. The Trump brothers have partial ownership of American Bitcoin, a new company that is acquiring most of Hut 8’s existing mining hardware. The plan is to take American Bitcoin public later in 2025 by merging with another listed firm. Once the merger is complete, Hut 8 will hold an 80% stake in the combined company. Genoot and several other executives from Hut 8 will also join the board of directors of American Bitcoin. Despite the overlap, a spokesperson for Hut 8 clarified that the Dubai setup is separate from American Bitcoin and is focused entirely on trading and accumulation, not public listings or family business. However, the connections between the Trump name and Hut 8’s future strategy are evident, with one targeting the Middle East and the other consolidating its position in the US.

This expansion comes at a time when the crypto market is experiencing significant shifts. Bitcoin has surpassed its previous all-time high, driven by a second Trump administration and a bullish legislative outlook. In contrast, more than $300 billion in altcoin value has disappeared. Coins that were once considered the next big thing have been severely impacted. Nick Philpott, co-founder of Zodia Markets, commented that many altcoins are likely to "wither away" and gather dust. Bitcoin’s share of the entire crypto market has increased to 64%, its highest point since early 2021, leaving the rest of the sector in a chokehold. A MarketVector index tracking the lower half of the top 100 coins has collapsed and is now down nearly 50% in 2025. Even Ether, the second-largest token by market cap, is still halfway below its all-time high, despite minor boosts from ETF inflows. The altcoin market is starting to resemble a graveyard of abandoned projects, with many coins going dead and leaving behind ghost chains and token wallets with zero activity.

Regulation is a key factor in 2025, as institutional money is increasingly involved in the crypto market and is primarily going into Bitcoin and stablecoins. The stablecoin market alone has grown by $47 billion in value in the last year. Even major corporations like Amazon are exploring their own stablecoins. This institutional entry has diminished the idea that altcoins are a path to innovation. Developers are considering merging projects and transferring governance to more active chains to survive. Meanwhile, more firms are adopting the Michael Saylor model of hoarding Bitcoin. A new company, Twenty One Capital, launched in April with backing from Cantor Fitzgerald, Tether, and SoftBank, seeded with $4 billion in Bitcoin. Trump Media has also raised $2.3 billion to create a Bitcoin treasury of its own. Smaller attempts are being made with coins like Solana, BNB, and Ether, but none are matching Bitcoin’s volume. Bitcoin has emerged as the clear winner in 2025, with major players like Hut 8, the Trumps, and institutional whales focusing on it. Dubai, with its lax laws and no taxes, has become the next base of operations for these entities.