Editor's Note: The Trump family has a hereditary skill: bluffing and exaggerating things.
This time, Eric Trump brought this method into the cryptocurrency circle. He packaged his Bitcoin company as a "money-printing machine," claiming that the company could mine Bitcoin at nearly half the market price.
But when Forbes reporter Dan Alexander opened the books, the story revealed another side: most of the Bitcoin held by this company was not mined but purchased through stock issuance; the actual all-in cost was far higher than Eric's claimed number; and the financing structure that made the balance sheet look better might also imply that all the Bitcoin mined by the company so far would have to be used in bulk to pay off future mining machine bills.
The numbers ultimately point to a more direct conclusion: Eric's personal wealth increased by around $90 million, while ordinary investors collectively lost about $500 million.
After the report was released, Eric Trump quickly fought back on Twitter, accusing Forbes of being acquired by China, claiming that the report was politically motivated propaganda, and presenting a string of operating data in rebuttal: 7,000 Bitcoins, nearly 90,000 mining machines, Q4 revenue of $78.3 million. Additionally, he brought up an old story from twenty years ago about fundraising for a children's hospital, trying to prove that Forbes has always been targeting such a "good person" like him.
There was only one thing he never directly addressed: where did that $500 million go.
Below is the original text:
The ability to incite a crowd is not only effective in politics. Just ask Eric Trump: his Bitcoin company attracted a large following and then dumped a bunch of overpriced stock on them.
In February this year, Eric Trump appeared energetically on an earnings conference call, ready to do what the Trump family does best—promote.
His company, "American Bitcoin," went public exactly a year ago and has been listed on Nasdaq. "We are quickly becoming a leader in the Bitcoin world, and I truly believe we have the most powerful brand," Eric said. "I want to thank Mike Ho, Asher Genoot, Matt Prusak, and every colleague at American Bitcoin."
The ending of this story is quite intriguing. Saying "every colleague" because there are hardly any others left at American Bitcoin.
According to the annual report submitted a month after the earnings call, the company officially has only two full-time employees, presumably CEO Mike Ho and President Matt Prusak. Perhaps a few more - Ho is also an executive at another company; someone held a role in investor relations at Ho's for less than a year and now lists themself as the "Chief of Staff" of American Bitcoin on LinkedIn; another lady claims to have been the company's social media manager since January of this year. (Chairman Asher Genoot, along with Ho and three independent directors, forms a five-member board.)
The Trump family long understood a rule: exaggerating things pays off.
It is said that Donald's father, Fred Trump, profited by overinflating project costs to deceive regulatory agencies. Donald Trump himself inflated asset values to banks and media outlets like Forbes, eventually being ruled by a New York judge as engaging in fraud. Eric was also caught up in that lawsuit, prohibited from serving as an executive or director in any New York-registered company for two years. Nevertheless, he set up his own company, registered in Delaware, based in Florida, and marketed it in a way that impressed even his forebears.
Eric Trump's latest Bitcoin venture may be more of a story than a business. According to him, American Bitcoin can mine Bitcoin at about half the market price, acting as a real-life "money printer." However, upon closer examination of the numbers, it inevitably raises questions: can this company truly achieve profitable mining, let alone maintain such a staggering profit margin? Eric Trump, the Trump Organization, and representatives of American Bitcoin did not respond to Forbes' repeated requests for comments. There are many who trust the President's son, and real money has already been wagered. On September 3, 2025, American Bitcoin entered the public market with around $270 million worth of Bitcoin on its balance sheet, with investors valuing it as high as $13.2 billion.
Over the past eight months, American Bitcoin has continually used this wildly inflated valuation to sell stocks and buy more Bitcoin. The heavily diluted stock price has now plummeted 92% from its peak. Eric Trump seemingly entered the game with minimal upfront costs and still finds himself in a comfortable position. Through some financial alchemy, his estimated personal wealth has ballooned from about $190 million to $280 million. Other insiders have also profited handsomely. In contrast, ordinary investors who believed the sales story and invested real money are estimated to have collectively lost $500 million.
Eric Trump's first truly independent project in life was not an apartment building, but a charity.
In 2006, he graduated from Georgetown University with a major in Finance and Management, full of enthusiasm to change the world. At that time, his brother Don Jr. and sister Ivanka had already joined the Trump Tower, engaging in real estate projects. Driving on a toll road in New Jersey one day, Eric later recalled in an interview with Forbes that another idea suddenly popped into his head: how to truly make a difference in the world. Thus, his earliest entrepreneurial endeavor in life began – a nonprofit organization named the "Eric Trump Foundation."
This organization did many good deeds. It was more of a fundraising platform than an operational charity, and it channeled over $16 million to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. However, as the years went by, this organization and even Eric himself began to become more "Trumpified."
Documents obtained by Forbes through a public information request (despite objections from the nonprofit's legal team) revealed that this organization exhibited dishonest fundraising rhetoric, weak governance structure, and chaotic financial condition. Eric had told donors that he kept expenses to a minimum, directing almost all funds directly to St. Jude. Part of the reason was that his father provided Trump clubs' venues for free, and celebrities agreed to perform "for free." However, checks and invoices obtained by Forbes show: over $500,000 flowed to other charities, over $500,000 went to properties under the Trump name, at least $90,000 was paid to various performers, and over $35,000 went to a luxury car service company – passengers included Eric's mother, a cast member of "Real Housewives," and a van full of people heading to Hooters.
In his early years within the parent company, Eric was primarily in charge of the hotel business, where he learned many lessons, including a key insight: making money by branding a business is much easier than actually building it.
In 2008, the Trump Organization defaulted on the loan for its Chicago hotel, sent the Atlantic City asset portfolio into bankruptcy protection in 2009, and saw continuous losses at the Washington D.C. hotel. Eventually, the Trump family shifted the hotel empire's expansion strategy towards what the industry calls a "light asset" model, focusing on management and brand licensing rather than development.
Another training ground for Eric was his father's golf course investment portfolio, where he witnessed the art of unconventional financing structures. In the '80s and '90s, golf clubs typically collected a deposit from members upon joining, promising a zero-interest return thirty years later. These liabilities hung on the books, causing many investors to hesitate when it came to property sales. However, Donald Trump went ahead without fear, eventually taking on about $250 million of such liabilities, thus acquiring over a dozen golf properties across the U.S. and carrying these liabilities on his personal balance sheet for years as if they were zero-interest. By the time the repayment period approached, the value of these properties far exceeded the amount owed.
In January 2017, Donald Trump took office in the White House, and Eric, along with his younger brother Don Jr., took over their father's asset portfolio. Eric seemed to have no grand plans of his own, merely hoping to follow the status quo. "We're not a company that sells assets," he said in an interview with Forbes on the 25th floor of the Trump Tower in February 2017, "We buy, we fix it up—beautifully." The Trump brothers attempted to explore new businesses, including launching two mid-range hotel brands, but with little success. Facing operational challenges and a cash-strapped father, they did a lot of things over the next seven years that Eric said they wouldn't do: selling assets, estimated to have cashed out about $411.4 million in total.
Then, a new money-making opportunity arose: the 2024 election.
Just two weeks after Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris, the company, later evolved into the American Bitcoin, was quietly registered in Delaware. It didn't start as a cryptocurrency firm. Dubai developer Hussain Sajwani, who had worked with the Trump family on a Dubai golf project, appeared at the Bedminster Club and announced a $20 billion investment in building a data center in the U.S., leveraging the artificial intelligence trend. "That man knows what he's doing," the incoming president praised. Within weeks, Trump's two sons disclosed plans to follow this strategy and named the company "American Data Center," which Eric Trump said was "vital to the development of American artificial intelligence infrastructure."
A month later, he changed course. Through a mutual friend's introduction, Eric met two entrepreneurs: Asher Genot and Mike Ho. These two individuals already owned a company similar to the Trump brothers' vision—an AI business-exposed data center giant, Hut 8, which not only had an AI business exposure but also controlled a significant amount of Bitcoin mining power. Shortly after the AI boom, as the Bitcoin reward for solving each mathematical problem halved, the cost of mining surged. At an industry level, a large amount of computing power shifted towards artificial intelligence, and Hut 8's institutional shareholders also pressured Genot to follow suit.
However, leveraging their background in brand operations and arbitrage trading, Genot and Ho came up with a more creative solution: using 20% ownership of their Bitcoin mining equipment as bait, they convinced the Trump brothers to abandon the data center plan. Then, with the involvement of the first family, they placed this batch of hardware into a publicly listed company, igniting a publicity machine driven by the Trump aura.
This tailored transaction structure seemed to be designed specifically for someone familiar with the hotel business. While the machines roared day and night, the operation of American Bitcoin was more akin to a light asset hotel brand: Hut 8 owned the property, operated the data center, managed backend transactions, and even the executives were sent by Hut 8—Prusak had previously worked at Hut 8, while Ho still serves there, concurrently as the CEO of American Bitcoin and the Chief Strategy Officer of Hut 8. This way, the Trump brothers only needed to focus on their forte: sales.
"I'll never forget telling them, 'Listen, it has to be a two-word name,'" Eric Trump later recalled in a CoinDesk video interview, "'It has to have 'America'—it has to have 'Bitcoin.' One guy was like, 'Eric, call it America Bitcoin, that's the name.'"
Since Eric Trump entered the cryptocurrency space, he has been telling a myth about why he got involved. "Every bank in this country has blacklisted me," he said at a conference in Wyoming last August. "Because my father is a political figure, we have experienced de-banking," he added about a week later in Hong Kong. "Every major bank started shutting down our accounts," he claimed earlier this year in Palm Beach, "You know what we did? We went out, we entered decentralized finance because we realized that's the future of finance."
But that's not the whole story.
Indeed, both Capital One and JPMorgan Chase closed some of Trump's accounts in 2021, six years after Donald Trump entered politics. At that time, the former president's reputation was tarnished by the Capitol Hill incident and a wide-ranging investigation by the New York State Attorney General, ultimately leading to a court ruling that the Trump Organization had engaged in fraud and was highly likely to do so again.
Nevertheless, many banks were still willing to work with the Trump family—even JPMorgan Chase, shortly after closing some accounts, participated in the refinancing of the two largest loans in the Trump asset portfolio. Exiting the White House cash-strapped and highly leveraged, Trump needed the support of major lending institutions, and he indeed got it: from January 2021 to mid-2022, the former president, with the assistance of his sons Eric and Don Jr., completed nearly $700 million in debt refinancing as part of a comprehensive balance sheet restructuring.
So, why did Trump really venture into the cryptocurrency arena? A more plausible explanation is that he smelled an opportunity to extend his brand, hawking non-fungible tokens (NFTs) much like selling sneakers and guitars. He started with NFT trading cards, releasing digital images that portrayed Trump as a superhero. The product sold out within a day, ultimately bringing in over $7 million in cash and cryptocurrency profits for the former president—a crucial sum for someone facing a nearly $500 million fraud judgment. (Later, an appellate judge overturned the ruling on the fine amount, citing objections, but did not dispute the finding of Trump's fraudulent behavior.) Subsequent cryptocurrency projects brought in billions in additional liquidity, driving the First Family's scale of bets higher and higher, including an independent plan announced last May: a roughly $2 billion investment in cryptocurrency through the Trump Media and Technology Group.
By 2025, hoarding Bitcoin had become the hottest trend of the year. Over 200 publicly traded companies rushed to replicate Michael Saylor's strategy—his company had accumulated over $50 billion in Bitcoin holdings, soaring in value during the price surge but seeing a sharp decline more recently. American Bitcoin was particularly in the spotlight during this frenzy, for an obvious reason: the aura of the First Family. However, on the day American Bitcoin debuted on the public market on September 3, 2025, Eric Trump presented a more data-driven argument in a Spaces conversation on the X platform. "The actual cost for us to mine a Bitcoin every day is approximately $57,000 to $58,000," he said, noting that at the time, a Bitcoin was priced at about twice that amount, "Our fundamentals couldn't be better."
This argument is quite compelling, even though the speaker has a habit of selectively ignoring unfavorable expenses when hosting charity fundraising events. The over $50,000 indeed covers the operational costs of the U.S. Bitcoin mining equipment. However, when considering other expenses together—such as equipment purchase, marketing, and capital allocation—the comprehensive cost would skyrocket to a much higher figure, around $92,000 per Bitcoin at the time, only profitable if the cryptocurrency price remains high.
Including depreciation in the calculation is particularly crucial in the U.S. Bitcoin's case, as it adopted Hut 8's unconventional financing strategy. Between August and September 2025, U.S. Bitcoin invested around $330 million to upgrade its mining fleet. However, the company did not pay cash upfront but instead pledged a batch of Bitcoin and obtained an option on the final payment method: if the Bitcoin price rises, the company can pay around $330 million in cash and redeem the pledged Bitcoin; if the price drops, the company can directly offset with the pledged cryptocurrency.
Since this significant purchase, Bitcoin has dropped by about 30%. This means that, as it stands now, U.S. Bitcoin is likely to use the pledged crypto assets to pay for the equipment. However, the issue is this: the total amount of Bitcoin pledged by U.S. Bitcoin is 3,090 coins (as of March 25), while the company has estimated to have mined only about 1,800 coins so far. In other words, if the price does not recover, all Bitcoin mined by the company so far will be fully offset against the equipment cost when the options mature around August 2027, with nothing left as profit.
Investors may not necessarily grasp this point. The company has about 15 months to decide whether to pay for the equipment in cryptocurrency or cash, during which the mined Bitcoin remains on the balance sheet. The result is that U.S. Bitcoin appears much more robust than it actually is. The company has used this batch of Bitcoin reserves as a core selling point in its communications with investors, deliberately downplaying one fact: most, if not all, will eventually be used to pay for the price of the machine that mined them.
Aside from the marketing appeal, it is not difficult to understand why the Trump family is interested in this payment method—they once built a portfolio of golf courses through similar unconventional financing. That time they bet and won, as the assets' value did increase.
Approximately 70% of the cryptocurrency held by U.S. Bitcoin is not from mining rewards at all but acquired through selling shares and directly purchasing Bitcoin on the open market. This is the true secret of U.S. Bitcoin.
Why is Hut 8 willing to give up 20% of its Bitcoin mining equipment to a newly established data center company? The reason may lie here: in an era of meme stock frenzy and MAGA enthusiasm, a single Trump's name is enough to attract sufficient "dumb money" inflow, driving the stock price to the sky. When the stock price is irrationally high, the company can sell its own stock, reinvest the proceeds in Bitcoin, accumulating a mountain of cryptocurrency.
This is a hype-driven arbitrage game: convince investors that the company is invaluable, and then sell off shares when the stock price is outrageously high. As long as the profits from this arbitrage game exceed the value of that 20% stake in mining machines, it is a profitable deal for the insiders orchestrating the scheme—while for the retail investors buying the stock outside the scheme, it's a different story.
The sell-off started almost immediately after going public. Within 27 days of its IPO, during the peak of the hype, the company sold a total of 11 million shares, cashing out $90 million at an average price of around $8 per share. After deducting the intermediary's cut (which was $2 million this time), the US Bitcoin acquired approximately 725 Bitcoin. Subsequently, as the stock price gradually declined, the sell-off continued. From early October to mid-November, the company once again liquidated 7 million shares, cashing out $44 million at an average slightly above $6 per share. By late November, following a major Bitcoin price drop, the company aggressively sold off 47 million shares before the year-end, cashing out around $106 million at an average of approximately $2.25 per share.
The sell-off extended beyond the company itself. In early December, the lock-up period for early investors was lifted successively, causing a 48% price plunge over two trading days. Prominent supporters came forward to boost confidence. Cryptocurrency evangelists Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss—known for their close ties to the Trump family, having actively engaged with the First Family through donations to Trump-related super PACs and supporting White House events—publicly voiced their support.
Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci also joined the endorsement lineup. Emcee Grant Cardone called himself a "long-term investor, not a day trader," followed by a disclaimer that his tweet was "not investment advice." The official social media account of the US Bitcoin retweeted all of this content to its followers. Both Cardone and the Winklevoss brothers did not respond to requests for comment, while Scaramucci's representative declined to provide a response.
The price of Bitcoin remains under pressure, especially after the Federal Reserve's pause on interest rate cuts in January. The company adhered to its original strategy, and according to Forbes' estimates, from January 1 to March 25, the American Bitcoin sold a total of 84 million shares, cashed out $111 million, and used this to repurchase approximately 1430 Bitcoin. Calculated cumulatively, from the company's founding to the end of March this year, American Bitcoin's total investment in cryptocurrency is approximately $525 million. However, this batch of coins is currently valued at around $390 million, resulting in a cumulative loss of shareholder funds of approximately $135 million.
American Bitcoin's mining operation continues. However, with the Bitcoin price falling 31% since the company went public, the economic calculus is becoming increasingly challenging. By optimizing the new mining machine configuration, the equipment operating cost has been reduced to approximately $47,000 per Bitcoin. Nevertheless, the comprehensive cost, including management fees, amortization, and depreciation, is still estimated at around $90,000 per Bitcoin, which is about $13,000 higher than Bitcoin's current market price. The stock price has once again fallen by 29% year-to-date.
If investors no longer believe in the "money-printing machine" narrative, where will Eric Trump's company go from here? This presidential son can only hope for a significant rebound in Bitcoin's price – after all, it is an extremely volatile asset. According to Forbes' calculations, if the price were to increase by 35%, American Bitcoin could pay off the equipment costs in cash, retain the collateralized cryptocurrency, and turn the $135 million transaction loss into a slight profit. At that point, Eric could easily claim that everything was part of the plan.
Of course, if he does not want to risk the company's fate entirely on luck, perhaps there is another path: finding a few overseas benefactors eager to help. Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the UAE has established a connection with another Trump cryptocurrency project, funneling an estimated $375 million to the President and his son. This investment has been mediocre in financial returns so far, but the UAE has indeed gained President Trump's support in advancing its AI initiatives. Reportedly, this Gulf country is currently seeking some form of relief from the economic pressures resulting from the Iran war.
The last recorded residency of Mike Hutt, CEO of American Bitcoin, was in the UAE in November 2023, although company representatives did not respond to inquiries about his current whereabouts. Nonetheless, Hutt was in the Gulf nation last October, giving an interview to an Arabian Gulf Business Insight reporter, during which he mentioned interactions with the ADQ investment group and TAQA Energy - both associated with Sheikh Tahnoon. An American Bitcoin spokesperson had informed Forbes in October that Hutt was referring to early communications before American Bitcoin was founded. However, a recent interview recording obtained by Forbes indicates that American Bitcoin is open to international collaboration.
"I have met many sovereign wealth funds here through Hut 8 and also on behalf of American Bitcoin," Hutt said in the recording, "and discussions are ongoing." When asked if he is considering Bitcoin mining operations in the region, Hutt responded, "We are always looking at this area. I have had conversations with ADQ, TAQA. We have looked at their asset bases. The UAE has a lot of surplus power, and Bitcoin mining is a great way to monetize that excess generation."
These words come from someone well aware of a readily available arbitrage opportunity.
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