(March 31): The Trump family is set to launch a bitcoin mining-focused venture with Hut 8 Corp, the latest expansion of the US president’s ties to the cryptocurrency sector.

Hut 8 is launching American Bitcoin Corp as a majority-owned subsidiary, focused exclusively on bitcoin mining and “strategic bitcoin reserve development”, the Miami-based company said in a statement on Monday. 

During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump vowed to ensure that all remaining bitcoin is “made in the USA”, and to establish a bitcoin reserve. Trump used to be a skeptic about digital assets but pivoted to embracing the sector on the campaign trail, in part as the industry ramped up its involvement in the election through sizeable political donations.

The launch of the mining venture follows Hut 8’s acquisition of a majority interest in American Data Centers Inc, a company formed by a group of investors including Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. Following that transaction, American Data Centers has been renamed and relaunched as American Bitcoin Corp, Hut 8 said.

The president’s previous forays into crypto include issuing collections of non-fungible tokens, digital collectibles that show him in a variety of poses and costumes. Along with his sons, he’s also endorsed the World Liberty Financial decentralised finance project. Last week, World Liberty said it plans to launch a stablecoin.

Hut 8 has transferred substantially all of its ASIC mining equipment to the new American bitcoin entity in exchange for an 80% stake in that business, it said. Eric Trump will serve as American bitcoin’s chief strategy officer.

Shares of Hut 8 rose about 5.8% in pre-market trading. The stock had slumped about 43% so far this year.

Donald Trump made the mining pledge in a post on his Truth Social account in June after meeting at Mar-a-Lago with a group of executives from crypto miners, the companies whose massive, high-tech data centers do the work that facilitates transactions on the blockchain in exchange for compensation paid in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.

The bitcoin mining sector in the US has morphed into a multibillion-dollar industry over the last several years as the token saw exponential increases in prices. The total computing power generated from US-based miners was below 50% as of the end of last year.   

Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee