American Bitcoin, the newly launched Bitcoin mining company and backed by two of the oldest sons of US President Donald Trump, announces Nasdaq listing

American Bitcoin, the newly launched Bitcoin mining company and backed by two of the oldest sons of US President Donald Trump, announced on Monday May 12 that it will be listed on the Nasdaq exchange

output: American Bitcoin, the newly launched Bitcoin mining company and backed by two of the oldest sons of US President Donald Trump, announced on Monday May 12 that it will be listed on the Nasdaq exchange through a stock-based merger with Gryphon Digital Mining (NASDAQ:GRPH).

Current shareholders in American Bitcoin include co-founder Eric Trump, his brother Donald Trump Jr., and crypto mining firm Hut 8 (TSX: HUT) will retain 98% ownership of the new entity the merger results.

The move is part of a series of Trump's family expansions into the crypto world, including the launch of a meme coin in January 2024 as well as involvement in World Liberty Financial, a crypto company partly owned by President Trump.

Trump himself has committed to making the United States a global leader in the crypto industry, with the promise to provide looser regulations. However, this move sparked criticism from government ethics experts and its political opponents regarding potential conflicts of interest.

Gryphon shares jumped more than three times in pre-market trading, while Hut 8 shares rose 13%. The merger deal is scheduled to be completed in the third quarter.

American Bitcoin, which was officially launched in March, will remain led by Eric Trump as Chief Strategy Officer.

"Our vision for American Bitcoin is to create the most interesting Bitcoin accumulation platform to invest in the market," Eric said in a statement.

In recent weeks, a number of companies have launched a new venture or struck an agreement to become an entity that accumulates Bitcoin in their balance sheet. This model allows investors to gain exposure to crypto assets without having to buy their tokens directly the approach that was first popularized by MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) companies in 2020, and is now increasingly in demand by retail investors.

Buying stocks is a much more familiar form of investment for many people than buying crypto through a special platform, said Allan Marshall, CEO of the e-commerce Upexi platform (UPXI.O), in an interview last week.

Since announcing its plans to keep Solana as a treasury asset last month, Upexi's shares have more than quadrupled.