The Trump Family Advances Its All-Out Crypto Blitz, This Time With Bitcoin Mining

The president’s two oldest sons are investing in a bitcoin-mining company, adding to the Trump family’s expanding portfolio of cryptocurrency businesses.

Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.’s American Data Centers will merge with and take a 20% stake in American Bitcoin, a mining operation majority-owned by Hut 8 , the publicly traded crypto-infrastructure company. Together, they aim to create the world’s largest miner of the digital currency, with designs on building its own “bitcoin reserve.”

In a matter of months, the Trumps started a decentralized-finance, or DeFi, project called World Liberty Financial , said their social-media company would invest in bitcoin and other digital assets, launched meme coins to capitalize on the popularity of the president and his wife and announced plans to issue a World Liberty dollar-backed stablecoin . And in his return to the White House, President Trump has said he aims to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the world.”

The digital networks that comprise the cryptocurrency markets have offered the Trumps an ideal complement to their other family business: real estate, Eric Trump told The Wall Street Journal.

“We are a hard-asset family. I’m a hard-asset guy,” said Eric Trump, who will serve as American Bitcoin’s chief strategy officer. “My entire life has been spent building things, and I don’t think there is ever a better hedge against all of that than the true digital assets.”

American Data Centers was launched in February by Eric Trump, his brother Donald Jr. and Dominari , a small investment firm that recently appointed the Trump brothers as advisers.

As part of the deal, Hut 8 will shift nearly 61,000 of its specialized bitcoin-mining machines to American Bitcoin in exchange for an 80% ownership in the new entity. The companies said no cash changed hands in the deal.

Eric Trump said American Bitcoin, which aims to go public, will remain a separate venture from the Trump Organization, the family real-estate empire he runs. But World Liberty, the DeFi platform Eric Trump called his “whole heart and soul” might collaborate with the bitcoin-mining operation in the future, he said.

American Bitcoin’s executives said their plans to mine and stockpile bitcoin for their own reserve are unrelated to the U.S. strategic crypto reserve that President Trump established earlier this month with an executive order.

Bitcoin, the world’s most-popular digital asset, is created by computer servers that solve complex equations, unlocking, or “mining” new tokens.

The business of mining new bitcoin has grown more challenging as new companies have sprung up to capitalize on rising prices and the number of unmined tokens has dwindled. Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto , capped the digital currency’s supply at 21 million, and more than 90% of those tokens have already been released. Critics also raised concerns about the environmental impact of bitcoin mining , pointing to the massive amounts of energy required to run mining operations.

Some critics also said they were concerned that the Trumps’ recent investments in crypto pose conflicts of interest, given Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

“At least in the last term, it was all golf courses and hotels, whereas now he’s getting into crypto, which could have a systemic effect on the economy,” said Richard Painter , a former ethics attorney for President George W. Bush . “This is an area where conflicts of interest, whether the Trump family or anybody else, could have devastating consequences.”

Hut 8, based in Miami, will host American Bitcoin’s mining machines at its data centers and include the new company’s results in its financial statements.

Asher Genoot , Hut 8’s chief executive, said the company’s ability to secure cheap energy, build low-cost data centers and mine bitcoin at a low cost will help differentiate American Bitcoin from competitors. Hut 8 owns 11 data centers.

“There is still 100-plus years of bitcoin mining left, and bitcoin continues to appreciate,” Genoot said. “Being the lowest-cost bitcoin miner is how you will continue to manage through that volatility and being able to be at scale.”

Eric Trump said American Bitcoin and other U.S.-based miners will benefit from the recent decline in energy prices.

“That is what puts bitcoiners in this country,” he said. “It is going to put them ahead of everybody because we actually have a government that wants to see low-cost energy.”

Mike Ho, chief strategy officer of Hut 8, will serve as executive chairman of American Bitcoin. Matt Prusak, former chief commercial officer of Hut 8, will become the company’s CEO.

Venture-capital investors Justin Mateen , co-founder of Tinder, and Michael Broukhim , co-founder of FabFitFun, an e-commerce startup, will join Hut 8’s Ho and Genoot as the board of directors for American Bitcoin.

Market downdrafts tempt people to adjust their investments, but that’s not always a wise choice

If you logged on to your brokerage account today and wish you hadn’t, you’re not alone.

BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink said Monday the asset manager hasn’t received this many client calls since March 2020, when the pandemic was beginning.

Retail brokerages including Fidelity Investments had technical glitches Monday morning as traffic surged from people trying to check their portfolios and place trades.

Studies have found that the more people look at their 401(k)s, the lower their long-term returns are likely to be.

The S&P 500 drops on almost half of trading days, so checking your portfolio more often means you are more likely to see losses. And there have been lots of losses since President Trump rolled out a series of tariffs last week.

In just two trading days last week, the average 401(k) lost 7% of its value, according to Alight Solutions , which tracks employer retirement plans. Individual investors moved money out of stock-heavy target-date funds and into the relative safety of bonds and cash.

That’s understandable, but not necessarily wise. Here are some things financial advisers say to keep in mind right now:

Be realistic

Now that the S&P 500 is down almost 20% from its peak, many people are realizing that their risk tolerance isn’t as high as they thought it was when markets were up 20%, said Chelsea Ransom-Cooper, chief financial planning officer at Zenith Wealth Partners in New York.

“It’s a great time to level-set and reflect on what you’re comfortable with,” she said. However, if you decide to make changes, you should tweak a little at a time to avoid making emotional decisions you regret later, she said.

Sell strategically

In general, you should avoid the impulse to sell when the value of your investments falls, said Martin Lowenthal, financial adviser in Needham, Mass.

He has been telling his clients to stay the course and advising that they pull money from alternative sources such as life insurance plans if they need liquidity in the short-term.

“You shouldn’t be drawing from depressed assets if you have other places to go for income,” he said.

However, falling stock prices can create opportunities to save on taxes. If you find yourself with stocks or funds that are worth less than what you paid for them, you may be able to recognize the losses for tax purposes. Selling at a loss and reinvesting the money can help offset taxes on future capital gains while remaining invested in the market.

Buy cautiously

There may be reasons to add to investments, financial advisers say, especially if you have been sitting on cash. Cash losses value to inflation, which is expected to rise as companies digest new tariffs.

With markets starting to price in rate cuts , now might be a good time to lock in returns with fixed-rate products such as certificates of deposits or bonds, Ransom-Cooper said.

If you are younger and have a longer investment horizon, you can consider making small investments into the stock market at regular time intervals to take advantage of a potential rebound while managing risk.

“If you are concerned about inflation, you want to make sure that your money is at least trying to keep up,” she said.

Do nothing

This isn’t the first time the market has tested investors’ stomach for risk, and history says it won’t be the last. There was the financial crisis, then there was the pandemic, and “this time, it’s the tariff tantrum,” Lowenthal said.

“I’ve got full faith in the American economy to ride this out,” he said.

The Trump Family Advances Its All-Out Crypto Blitz, This Time With Bitcoin Mining

A business led by two of the president’s sons will invest in American Bitcoin, a new mining company controlled by Hut 8.

Market downdrafts tempt people to adjust their investments, but that’s not always a wise choice.

Be realistic

Sell strategically

Buy cautiously

Do nothing