American Bitcoin Corp. was conceived with a straightforward premise: that owning and mining bitcoin would be a lucrative venture.
However, the company, co-founded by Eric Trump, is facing significant challenges. As bitcoin has entered a bear market and the demand for artificial intelligence has skyrocketed, investors have increasingly favored miners that can adapt their infrastructure for AI-driven data centers.
In contrast, American Bitcoin has remained committed to its original crypto strategy, leading to a staggering 95% drop in its stock value from its peak. This decline has wiped out over $600 million from the market value tied to Eric Trump’s holdings in the past ten months, according to calculations from Bloomberg. To maintain its Nasdaq listing, the company recently implemented a 1-for-15 reverse stock split, with its share price hitting an all-time low on Wednesday.
This situation exemplifies how swiftly investor sentiment has turned against companies focused exclusively on cryptocurrency. Success is now dictated not by the volume of bitcoin mined but by the ability to efficiently monetize resources like electricity, land, and computing capabilities.
For the Trump family, the current struggles of American Bitcoin reflect the volatile nature of its digital asset investments. While former President Donald Trump reported crypto earnings of at least $1.4 billion last year in his recent financial disclosure, many retail investors are facing losses as Trump-associated tokens and American Bitcoin shares plummet.
Eric Trump holds approximately 6% of American Bitcoin and serves as its chief strategy officer, while the stake held by advisor Donald Trump Jr. remains undisclosed.
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Neither Eric Trump, the Trump Organization, nor American Bitcoin responded to inquiries for comment.
Interestingly, when the company’s predecessor was launched, it outlined a strategy to build a network of data centers. American Data Centers Inc., a project backed by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., was established by the Trump-connected investment bank Dominari Holdings Inc. in February 2025. At that time, Eric Trump emphasized its importance for developing AI infrastructure in the U.S.
However, just a month later, the company shifted its focus, agreeing to receive mining equipment from Hut 8 Corp. in return for equity and an exclusive service contract. Subsequently, the renamed American Bitcoin reverse-merged with the publicly listed mining firm Gryphon Digital Mining Inc. and began trading on Nasdaq in early September, peaking five trading days later at $139.65.
Over the past nine months, as cryptocurrency values fell sharply, other U.S. miners that monetized their computing power through AI were rewarded by investors. Companies like Riot Platforms Inc., Cipher Digital Inc., MARA Holdings Inc., and TeraWulf Inc. announced expansions into data centers, with their stock prices averaging over 60% growth this year, contrasting sharply with a 77% decline for American Bitcoin.
“All companies in my coverage are trending towards high-performance computing,” stated John Todaro, an analyst from Needham & Co.
Despite these trends, American Bitcoin remains focused on its bitcoin mining strategy, possibly due to limited options.
The company’s core assets are its mining rigs and bitcoin reserves. Hut 8, which owns the majority stake in American Bitcoin, provides the power, locations, hosting infrastructure, and daily mining operations under exclusive agreements. As a result, much of the potential for AI data center growth remains with Hut 8, which has embraced this direction by rebranding around power infrastructure and securing multibillion-dollar AI data center leases. Hut 8’s stock has more than doubled this year.
Rather than viewing bitcoin mining as a pathway to AI infrastructure, American Bitcoin’s executives contend that the cryptocurrency will eventually yield the best returns, and that accumulating more during downturns will be more beneficial than diversifying their investments.
The firm also argues that the industry’s shift towards AI might strengthen its position over time. As competitors channel resources into data centers, fewer machines will be devoted to securing the bitcoin network, potentially decreasing mining difficulty and increasing the bitcoin supply for those who remain in the game. Thus, the AI boom could offer American Bitcoin an opportunity to capture a larger share of bitcoin rewards.
“We’re witnessing hundreds of megawatts from leading public miners being redirected towards AI,” said CEO Mike Ho during the company’s first-quarter earnings call. “This led to a network difficulty decrease of about 6% this quarter.”
Numerous companies began accumulating bitcoin in their treasuries last year, but saw their stocks plummet alongside the cryptocurrency’s price. The largest holder, Michael Saylor’s Strategy Inc., recently announced intentions to sell some bitcoin for the first time after pledging not to do so for years.
Eric Trump stated on a recent podcast that American Bitcoin has no plans to liquidate its holdings, asserting that any reasons for doing so would need to be “extremely catastrophic.”
Indeed, the company has continued to buy bitcoin on the market, acquiring an additional 500 coins recently.
In the first quarter, American Bitcoin reported an operating loss of $118.2 million after marking down its bitcoin treasury by $117.2 million.
Many investors believe that bitcoin’s price is approaching the bottom of this cycle. If it rebounds, American Bitcoin’s dedication to the cryptocurrency may eventually bear fruit, especially as competitors who have shifted focus find it challenging to re-enter the market.
“From the perspective of fleet efficiency, size, and bitcoin production capability, the company is very well positioned,” stated Mark Palmer, an analyst at Benchmark Co. “The critical factor, of course, is that bitcoin prices need to trend upward for the business model to succeed.”
This is the message Eric Trump conveyed at the Bitcoin Conference 2026 in Las Vegas last April.
“We are experiencing the most extraordinary period in the history of cryptocurrency,” he remarked. “Just hold tight, everyone, just hold tight.”
With contributions from David Pan.