Trump-Backed American Bitcoin to Go Public, Merging with Gryphon

American Bitcoin, a mining firm backed by the Trump family, has announced plans to go public through a merger with Gryphon Digital Mining. This move marks the Trump family's continued diversification into the cryptocurrency industry, following the launch of their eponymous meme coin. The merger is expected to close in the third quarter of this year, with the new company retaining the American Bitcoin name and trading under the ABTC stock ticker.

Eric Trump will be part of the management team, although the press release downplayed the brothers' involvement. The merged firm's leadership will consist entirely of American Bitcoin's leaders, with Hut 8, a subsidiary of American Bitcoin, managing the infrastructure and operations.

The merger announcement was light on specific details regarding the mining business. Asher Genoot, Hut 8’s CEO, stated that the transaction marks the next step in scaling American Bitcoin as a purpose-built vehicle for low-cost Bitcoin accumulation at scale. He also mentioned that taking American Bitcoin public would unlock direct access to dedicated growth capital independent of Hut 8’s balance sheet, while preserving long-term exposure to Bitcoin upside for shareholders.

Hut 8 has faced challenges recently, with miner profits dwindling in the US. Despite receiving substantial investment and upgrading technical capabilities last year, it posted massive Q1 2025 losses. Hut 8’s revenue fell by 58.1%, with a net loss of $134 million. Genoot called this a “deliberate and necessary phase of investment.”

With the Trump brothers investing in American Bitcoin, Hut 8 may have new opportunities. Nearly 98% of the merged company’s stock will go to holders of the preexisting subsidiary. Hut 8 actually owns 80% of American Bitcoin’s current shares. The firm could leverage the Trump family’s brand to benefit from new investors by going public.

It remains unclear what Gryphon is contributing to the proposed merger. Gryphon “will acquire American Bitcoin in a stock-for-stock merger transaction,” but its own press release claims that its current stockholders “are expected to own approximately 2% of the combined company.” Despite this, the merger news caused Gryphon’s own stock price to rally over 200%.

The announcement attracted community skepticism regarding American Bitcoin and the Trump connection. There are still many unanswered questions about the new company and its mining operations. Hopefully, more details will emerge as the merger deal nears completion.