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A US cryptocurrency miner backed by Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump is on the hunt for companies in Asia to load up with bitcoin, according to people familiar with the matter.
American Bitcoin, which is already developing a “strategic” bitcoin reserve of its own, has begun sounding out investors about the potential acquisitions.
The company is aiming to buy a listed company in Japan and potentially also Hong Kong, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
It hopes to use these companies to hoard crypto, following the example of Michael Saylor’s Strategy.
The Trump family has piled into crypto in recent months, encouraging a surge in the price of bitcoin and an explosion of so-called crypto treasury companies — which sell shares or debt and use the proceeds to buy tokens — as investors exploit a newly benign US regulatory environment for digital assets.
Treasury companies allow investors to bet indirectly on crypto prices through the stock market, which is simpler for many traders than owning the tokens directly.
The market value of Strategy, which pioneered the tactic, has surged to almost $110bn despite the company holding about 629,000 bitcoin, worth $76bn.
American Bitcoin said in a statement that its “ambition is to build the strongest and most efficient Bitcoin accumulation platform in the world, with a focus on efficient operations, active treasury management, and long-term shareholder value creation.
“From that position of strength, we selectively explore accretive opportunities in other markets where we believe US leadership in Bitcoin can drive strong local demand. While we are evaluating possibilities in certain regions, we have not made any binding commitments.”
Eric and Donald Trump Jr did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Asia has long had an enthusiastic cohort of amateur traders with an interest in crypto and Hong Kong has attempted to position itself as a digital assets hub.
New treasury companies in these local markets could unlock a fresh pool of demand.
Unlike Strategy, American Bitcoin already creates new bitcoin through the computational process known as “mining”.
American Bitcoin is set to go public in the US in September through a reverse merger with Nasdaq-listed miner Gryphon Digital Mining.
Eric Trump is American Bitcoin’s co-founder and chief strategy officer.
American Bitcoin was originally called American Data Centers (ADC) — a wholly owned subsidiary of Dominari Holdings, a securities and fintech group headquartered in New York’s Trump Tower — but rebranded in late March in a joint venture with Hut 8, another crypto miner.
As part of the deal, Hut 8 agreed to hand over all of its mining equipment in exchange for a majority interest in ADC, where Eric and Donald Trump Jr were early investors.
On Tuesday, Dominari Holdings — which added Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump to its board of advisers in February — reported an unaudited 520 per cent year-on-year revenue increase.
American Bitcoin is just one of the Trump family’s crypto ventures.
President Donald Trump in June reported income of $57mn derived from his involvement with crypto group World Liberty Financial, which this week said it would buy $1.5bn of its own tokens in partnership with Las Vegas-based blockchain company ALT5 Sigma Corporation.
Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which runs the Truth Social app and is controlled by the president’s family, has said it plans to raise $1.5bn in fresh equity and another $1bn through convertible bonds to create a “bitcoin treasury”.
Additional reporting by Arjun Neil Alim
