A bitcoin mining firm backed by President Trump’s son Eric will go public this year, the company announced Monday, deepening the Trump family’s interest in cryptocurrency.
American Bitcoin — which lists Eric Trump as its co-founder and has its roots in a company backed by Donald Trump Jr. — is merging with the publicly-traded Gryphon Digital Mining. The all-stock transaction will allow the firm backed by the Trump brothers to be listed on the Nasdaq exchange. The merger is expected to close as early as the third quarter of this year.
The company’s goals, according to an overview posted Monday, are to mine new bitcoin “below market cost” and to build up a reserve of the cryptocurrency.
“Our vision for American Bitcoin is to create the most investable Bitcoin accumulation platform in the market,” Eric Trump said in a statement.
American Bitcoin was launched in March, with crypto mining firm Hut 8 owning a majority stake. At the time, the company said it “aims 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, his older brother Donald Trump Jr. and publicly traded Dominari Holdings.
Crypto mining also has a stamp of approval from Eric and Donald Trump Jr.’s father. The president pledged to make the United States a “bitcoin mining powerhouse” last year.
What is bitcoin mining — and why is it controversial?
Mining is an essential part of how bitcoin operates. The currency isn’t centralized, and instead relies on independent actors — known as miners — who carry out complicated math problems to verify bitcoin transactions and list them on a public ledger known as a blockchain. As a reward for this work, miners earn units of bitcoin for crunching the numbers successfully.
The value of a bitcoin stands at around $102,000, and the reward for mining decreases over time as the number of bitcoin in circulation increases, making mining a lucrative endeavor.
But mining is controversial because it’s extremely energy-intensive, with miners operating gigantic data centers filled with server racks that carry out the mathematical operations necessary to mine. A team from Cambridge University estimates bitcoin uses about 187.9 terawatt-hours of electricity per year, more than the entire country of Egypt.
Trump family’s crypto empire grows
The Trump brothers’ foray into bitcoin mining marks the family’s latest crypto venture. The president and his two eldest sons are backing the crypto exchange World Liberty Financial, which got a multi-billion dollar boost earlier this month from an Abu Dhabi-based firm, and Mr. Trump launched a highly volatile “meme coin” called $TRUMP in January.
Crypto investments make up about $2.9 billion of the family’s net worth, one report estimates.
The Trump family’s interest in cryptocurrency has drawn criticism for conflicts of interest. 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 Mr. Trump of “crypto corruption.”
The White House has pushed back on the criticism. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said last week Mr. Trump’s “assets are in a trust managed by his children, and there are no conflicts of interest.”