Trump-backed bitcoin mining company has cratered amid BTC slump
While many bitcoin miners have been pivoting and redirecting their high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure toward powering AI data centers, a sector with stronger margins and more consistent demand than crypto, American Bitcoin Mining Corp. (ABTC) doubled down on BTC.
The company, which was co-founded by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., was launched as a digital asset treasury (DAT) firm and adopted a mining-and-hoarding strategy. American Bitcoin now holds more than 6,000 BTC, the company said in its fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday.
The company went public in September, about a month before bitcoin hit its all-time high price of more than $126,000 on Oct. 6, seemingly proving the Trumps' conviction in going all-in on mining to be a sound strategy.
But as bitcoin has dropped about 50% from those highs, American Bitcoin has not surprisingly gotten pummeled. The company reported a $59 million loss in the fourth quarter and a $227 million unrealized loss for the full year 2025.
American Bitcoin has lost about 90% of its market value since September.
However, Eric Trump sounded undeterred by the company's massive loss, calling American Bitcoin's performance in 2025 "an amazing story" in a post on X.
“We INCREASED the Bitcoin on our balance sheet 58% quarter over quarter, and mined at 53% DISCOUNT to the market price of BTC,” he said. “Decreased difficulty became our friend allowing for substantial additional mining while most other competitors went quiet.”
The "decreased difficulty" that Trump was referring to was the fact that the company runs industrial-scale mining operations that mostly relies on infrastructure provided by bitcoin miner Hut 8 Corp. (HUT), producing BTC at costs below the current market price. Hut 8 is the majority owner in American Bitcoin.
Despite the losses, the company's revenue did increase 22% from the third quarter.
Trump family's crypto empire takes a hit
But not everyone is buying Trump's optimistic view of the company's performance, with one person responding to his post on X by arguing that American Bitcoin's balance sheet expansion is coming at the expense of investors.
"'Increasing your balance sheet' by 58% while the stock has cratered 88% in 5 months isn’t a 'success story,' it’s a masterclass in shareholder dilution," she said. "You’re literally bragging about burning investor cash to buy BTC while $ABTC trades like a penny stock heading for delisting."
Shares of ABTC were trading just above $1.00 on Thursday. Nasdaq, where the stock is listed, requires a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 to stay in compliance.
While American Bitcoin has suffered the steepest decline, the Trump family's entire crypto empire has been tanking during the market downturn. World Liberty Financial, the family's decentralized platform, has seen its native token (WLFI) plummet 65% since it was launched in September.
President Trump's own memecoin, which was launched in March, has plunged 72%.
There was a rapid growth in DAT companies in 2025 which was likely due in large part to the Trump administration's full embrace of crypto.
In 2021, fewer than 10 companies held bitcoin (BTC) in their treasuries, according to data from DLA Piper. Four years later, there are now 190 companies with BTC in their treasuries, with another 10 to 20 companies that have alternative digital assets on their balance sheets.
Not surprisingly, 2025 turned out to not be a great year for companies that were hoarding bitcoin and other digital assets.