Trump Family Takes 20% Stake in New Bitcoin Mining Venture as Crypto Portfolio Expands
Mining digital gold has become the latest Trump family enterprise. Eric and Donald Trump Jr. have partnered with crypto infrastructure company Hut 8HUT to create a new Bitcoin mining venture called American Bitcoin. This arrangement gives the Trumps a 20% ownership stake while Hut 8 maintains 80% control. The venture aims to become the world’s largest bitcoin mining operation, capitalizing on favorable energy economics to build a substantial bitcoin reserve separate from the government stockpile.
- This project is the Trump family’s third major crypto venture, following World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin launch and the release of Trump-themed memecoins before the inauguration.
- Hut 8 will contribute nearly 61K specialized mining machines to American Bitcoin, which plans to go public and may collaborate with the Trumps’ World Liberty Financial in the future.
Mining the conflicts: Since taking office, President Trump has eased crypto industry enforcement and established a government stockpile of digital currencies through executive order. But, experts have expressed concerns about potential ethical issues arising from the overlap between the President’s business activities and his policy choices. President George W. Bush’s former ethics attorney, Richard Painter, noted that, unlike Trump’s previous businesses, “This is an area where conflicts of interest, whether the Trump family or anybody else, could have devastating consequences.” However, American Bitcoin executives maintain that their plans to mine and stockpile their own reserves are entirely separate from the President’s strategic crypto initiatives.