Trump brothers-backed American Bitcoin swings to profit on margin expansion

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By Manya Saini

(Reuters) -American Bitcoin, backed by two of U.S. President Donald Trump’s sons, swung to third-quarter profit on Friday as the miner and buyer of the world’s largest digital asset benefited from wider margins.

Crypto has drawn strong interest this year, with investors betting on looser oversight under the new Trump administration and bitcoin trading at record levels, even though the token’s rally has slowed in recent weeks.

Eric Trump is American Bitcoin’s co-founder and chief strategy officer, while Donald Trump Jr. is a stockholder in the company.

“Since our Nasdaq debut, we’ve added over 3,000 bitcoin to our reserves, steadily advancing among the world’s leading public bitcoin treasuries,” Eric Trump said in a post-earnings conference call.

The company, a majority-owned subsidiary of Hut 8 Corp, is the latest in a series of crypto ventures by the Trump family, including a meme coin and World Liberty Financial, a crypto company partly owned by the president.

Bitcoin mining uses specialized computers to solve complex calculations that secure the network and generate new bitcoins.

“While conventional vehicles accumulate bitcoin at spots, we mine at less than half the cost,” CEO Mike Ho said in a conference call.

CRYPTO TREASURY PUSH

American Bitcoin’s shares, which initially rose after the results, fell 1.3% in morning trading as bitcoin slipped 2.6%.

Stocks of crypto treasury companies typically move in line with the token’s price as shifts in prices directly affect the value of reserves.

Crypto prices have tumbled in recent weeks amid a broad pullback in risk assets, with bitcoin going deeper into the red on Friday.

Still, digital asset treasuries have grown at a swift pace this year as firms added sizable token positions to their balance sheets to capture the rally.

It held 4,004 bitcoins as of November 5. Based on the digital asset’s previous close, the holding is worth roughly $400 million.

The push has been spurred by the Trump administration’s pledge to make the U.S. a global leader in the crypto space and promise of a lighter regulatory approach.

President Trump has faced criticism from government ethics experts and political opponents who say his stance raises concerns about potential conflicts of interest.

American Bitcoin reported revenue of $64.2 million in the three months ended September 30, compared with $11.6 million in the prior-year period. Its gross margin expanded to 56% from 49% in the prior quarter.

The company posted a net income of $3.5 million in the third quarter, compared with a loss of $0.6 million for the prior-year period.

(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)