Trump family launches American Bitcoin mining venture with Hut 8 Corp

The Trump family's growing involvement in the crypto landscape highlights the industry's push toward mainstream acceptance.

American-based Bitcoin miner Hut 8 Corp (NASDAQ: HUT) (TSE: HUT) and President Donald Trump’s son, Donald Jr and Eric Trump, have launched a bitcoin mining enterprise together called American Bitcoin.

The Trump family members are investing in the venture, which will commence operations with a substantial hash rate of greater than 8 exahashs per second (EH/s) and plans to expand to at least 15 EH/s by year's end.

American Bitcoin is launching with a fleet of advanced ASIC miners deployed at optimal energy sources, aiming to generate optimal bitcoin yield. The company is also assembling a diverse leadership team with experience in technology, finance, and cryptocurrency.

The initiative follows an earlier announcement of a strategic partnership between the Trump family and American Data Centers, in which they formed a joint venture to develop large-scale bitcoin mining operations.

As part of the partnership, Hut 8 is transferring most of its ASIC miners and related assets to American Data Centers in exchange for an 80 per cent equity stake in the company, which will now be renamed and relaunched as American Bitcoin.

The Trump family members are taking a direct investment stake in American Bitcoin.

"From the start, we’ve backed our conviction in Bitcoin -personally and through our businesses," said Donald Trump Jr.

"But simply buying Bitcoin is only half the story. Mining it on favourable economics opens an even bigger opportunity."

At the same time, the company announced that it will keep all Bitcoin mining operations previously reported under its Compute segment within the same segment, but they will operate under the American Bitcoin brand.

Initially, the company will consolidate American Bitcoin’s results within its financial statements for reporting purposes. Additionally, through a series of long-term commercial agreements, Hut 8 will act as American Bitcoin’s exclusive infrastructure and operations partner, generating stable, contracted revenue streams in its Power and Digital Infrastructure segments.

American Bitcoin’s initial leadership team will include Mike Ho as Executive Chairman, Matt Prusak will serve as Chief Strategy Officer.

The company’s Board of Directors will also initially feature four members: Mike Ho, Asher Genoot, Justin Mateen, and Michael Broukhim.

After the company is created, Hut 8 will subsequently provide ASIC colocation and managed services to American Bitcoin. It will also handle American Bitcoin’s day-to-day operations through a shared services agreement.

Asher Genoot, CEO of Hut 8, described the launch of American Bitcoin as a milestone in the company’s platform strategy.

"Spinning off the mining business allows each segment to sharpen its focus and align with its respective cost structure, ultimately creating two specialized yet complementary businesses," he explained.

"The first, and core to our existing operations, is a more stable and highly financeable enterprise focused on lower capital costs, which will continue to be realised by Hut 8 and its optimal allocation of resources in the U.S.

"The second is a dedicated mining platform, known as American Bitcoin, which will operate with a singular focus on exahash growth and optimal bitcoin production at the forefront of its strategy."