American Bitcoin steadies after share lock-up expiry sparks near 40% plunge

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Dec 3 (Reuters) – Shares of American Bitcoin, a bitcoin miner backed by two of U.S. President Donald Trump’s sons, steadied in premarket trading on Wednesday, a day after slumping nearly 40% following the expiry of a share lock-up.

The stock rose 9% to $2.39 after a wave of selling wiped out a large chunk of its value on Tuesday following the first unlock of pre-merger shares, the company said on X.com.

American Bitcoin, a majority-owned subsidiary of Hut 8 Corp, is one of the several crypto ventures linked to the Trump family that began trading on the Nasdaq in September following a reverse merger with Gryphon Digital Mining.

Eric Trump serves as the company’s co-founder and chief strategy officer, while Donald Trump Jr. is a shareholder.

“We expected next few days to be choppy as those shares find new homes,” American Bitcoin President Matt Prusak wrote on X.com.

Hut 8 CEO and American Bitcoin’s Executive Chairman Asher Genoot said in a separate post on X.com that Hut 8, along with Eric and Donald Trump Jr. and other founding partners, did not participate in the unlock and continue to hold their shares.

American Bitcoin did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for a comment.

The selloff comes as global risk aversion heavily pressures digital assets, impacting crypto ventures associated with the Trump family.

The memecoins $TRUMP and $MELANIA, launched earlier this year, have plunged 92% and 99%, respectively, from their peaks. Trump Media & Technology Group, which has raised billions of dollars to buy bitcoin, is down 67% year to date.

(Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)