Trump-backed Bitcoin company soars in Nasdaq debut as president's sons expand crypto fortunes

President Donald Trump's two eldest sons notched a win on Wednesday as the Bitcoin company they partly own surged in its Nasdaq debut.

American Bitcoin (ticker ABTC), which is blending a strategy of both buying and mining BTC, saw its stock rise nearly 17% to $8.04 per share on its first day of trading, according to Yahoo Finance . Shares hit an intraday high at around $14.

The stock saw more than 29 million shares traded during its first day of activity on the Nasdaq. Circle and Bullish, recent crypto IPOs to launch publicly at higher prices per share, had 46 million and 58 million shares traded, respectively, in their debuts.

"At its core, we have a great mining business. Right no,w we are mining bitcoin at roughly $0.50 on the dollar to the actual price of bitcoin," Eric Trump told Bloomberg on Wednesday. "We've got hundreds of millions of dollars of hard assets, data centers behind us ... while everybody has to accumulate at par, for us, we are able to mine at a substantial discount to par."

With their decision to lean into crypto several months ago, Trump's sons have managed to significantly expand their public profiles as entrepreneurs. American Bitcoin's successful debut means that Eric Trump's stake in the company is valued at over $500 million, according to Bloomberg .

Besides American Bitcoin, the Trump brothers are also both linked to the DeFi project inspired by their father, World Liberty Financial. Additionally, Donald Trump Jr. has both invested in the crypto-based prediction markets platform Polymarket and joined its board. He is also a shareholder in Thumzup , a social media firm turned crypto treasury.

American Bitcoin's formation

American Bitcoin, which launched in March, is a crypto mining and holding company co-founded by Eric Trump and backed by Donald Trump Jr. Last month, Gryphon Digital Mining shareholders voted to merge with American Bitcoin to form a new crypto mining venture.

In June, American Bitcoin raised $220 million by selling around 11 million new shares in a private placement.

Hut 8 maintains an 80% stake in American Bitcoin, with the remaining 20% controlled by American Data Centers, an entity backed by the Trump sons. Eric Trump serves as American Bitcoin's chief strategy officer.

"By combining Bitcoin mining, opportunistic market purchases, and the backing of Hut 8's energy and digital infrastructure, we have created a vehicle designed to drive rapid, efficient Bitcoin-per-share growth," Hut 8 CEO Asher Genoot said in a statement.

Genoot also serves as executive chairman at American Bitcoin.