Now the Trumps are getting into bitcoin mining
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- Eric and Donald Trump Jr. are launching American Bitcoin with Florida company Hut 8.
- The venture aims to be an efficient bitcoin miner and plans to build a strategic bitcoin reserve.
- World Liberty Financial, backed by the Trumps, said last week it was launching a stablecoin.
Members of the Trump family are further cozying up to cryptocurrencies.
Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. said on Monday they were investing in a new bitcoin mining venture.
President Donald Trump's two eldest sons, together with Florida-based computer software company Hut 8, announced the launch of American Bitcoin.
The venture aimed to become the "most efficient pure-play bitcoin miner while building a robust strategic bitcoin reserve," they said in a press release.
"From the start, we've backed our conviction in bitcoin — personally and through our businesses," Donald Trump Jr. said. "But simply buying bitcoin is only half the story. Mining it on favorable economics opens an even bigger opportunity."
Hut 8 will own a 80% stake in American Bitcoin, with American Data Centers holding the remainer. The new venture will be led by Matt Prusak as CEO, with Eric Trump as chief strategy officer.
The move comes after Eric Trump announced the launch of a stablecoin last week. World Liberty Financial, the decentralized finance crypto backed by Trump and his two sons, said it would introduce a coin redeemable for the US dollar.
The press release said USD1 would be backed by US government Treasurys, US dollar deposits, and other cash equivalents.
World Liberty Financial said of the coin in the post retweeted by Eric Trump: "No games. No gimmicks. Just real stability."
Donald Trump has become a major supporter of the crypto industry. Before his inauguration, he and his wife both launched their own meme coins — $Trump and $Melania.
Last month, he signed an executive order for a strategic bitcoin reserve and a digital asset stockpile.
"Because there is a fixed supply of BTC, there is a strategic advantage to being among the first nations to create a strategic bitcoin reserve," the executive order stated.
Rather than buying bitcoin from an online exchange, bitcoin miners compete to solve highly complex mathematical equations — with the reward being newly created bitcoins. Mining is controversial because it consumes vast amounts of electricity, while the computers used can be very noisy.