American Bitcoin's stock plummeted 95%, wiping out $600 million from Eric Trump's holdings

American Bitcoin Corp has seen its stock price plummet more than 95% from its peak of $139.65 in September 2025, wiping out over $600 million in market value from Eric Trump's approximately 6% stake.

7/14/20264 min read

From the AI data center concept to the gamble of Bitcoin mining.

The origin story of American Bitcoin contains a turning point that the company later refused to repeat at a strategic level. Launched in early 2025, the project presented itself as an AI data center company, entering the most highly valued sector of the technology market at a time when institutional investment was pouring into AI infrastructure.

Within a month, the founding team reversed course, reaching an agreement with Hut 8 Corp. to receive mining equipment in exchange for equity and an exclusive service agreement, repositioning the company as a Bitcoin mining and treasury management operation. Hut 8 remains the majority owner of American Bitcoin and runs the company's day-to-day operations.

To go public, American Bitcoin subsequently merged back with Gryphon Digital Mining Inc., an already listed mining company, and began trading on Nasdaq in early September 2025. The stock peaked five trading days after listing, closing at $139.65 on September 9, 2025 – a high that proved both a landmark moment for the company's launch and a ceiling it has never reached since.

Over the next ten months, as Bitcoin's price plummeted more than 40% from its late 2025 peak and institutional investment shifted toward artificial intelligence (AI) stocks instead of pure cryptocurrency stocks, American Bitcoin's stock lost almost all of its post-listing value without any strategic adjustments by the company to adapt to the depressing market environment.

Eric Trump's stock holdings and paper losses.

Eric Trump holds approximately 6% of American Bitcoin and serves as its chief strategy officer, while his younger brother, Donald Trump Jr., holds an undisclosed stake and serves as an advisor. At its peak in September 2025, the company's market capitalization, valuing Eric Trump's 6% stake at over $600 million, reached a level exceeding $600 million. After plummeting 95% from its peak to an all-time low on July 1st and then recovering modestly, the market value of his stake has fallen to approximately $28 million, according to available reports, representing a paper loss exceeding $600 million as calculated by Bloomberg over a ten-month period.

This loss is considered a paper loss because Eric Trump has not sold his shares; he has clearly stated that he would only sell for reasons "beyond catastrophic levels" and publicly celebrated the company surpassing 8,000 BTC in total holdings on July 7, posting, "Excited to announce American Bitcoin has surpassed 8,000 BTC! Accumulation continues." This steadfast stance amidst the crash reflects the belief-based Bitcoin accumulation argument that Strategy's Michael Saylor also maintains, although Strategy's access to capital markets, issuance of preferred stock, and balance sheet size offer significantly different financial resilience than American Bitcoin's current position.

Financial results for the first quarter of 2026

American Bitcoin's first-quarter 2026 results clearly demonstrated the financial consequences of the company's strategy. The company reported an operating loss of $118.2 million for the quarter, almost entirely due to the devaluation of its $117.2 million Bitcoin holdings as the drop in BTC price reduced the book value of its accumulated Bitcoin. While mining operations generated revenue and the company achieved its advertised Bitcoin mining output, the combination of mining costs, operating expenses, and the Bitcoin holdings devaluation resulted in a net operating loss, leaving the company's financial sustainability dependent on a Bitcoin price recovery or access to additional funding.

The first-quarter loss, coinciding with a continued decline in stock price, created increasing pressure on Nasdaq's regulatory compliance position, where a drop in stock price below the minimum offer price would force the company to perform a reverse stock split or delist. The 1-for-15 reverse stock split on July 2nd was a technical response to regulatory pressure, which technically immediately raised the price per share above the minimum threshold but operationally did not alter the company's fundamental business performance, Bitcoin fund value, or strategic direction.

Assessment and Conclusion

The collapse of Bitcoin in the US illustrates a lesson about the structure of individual Bitcoin mining companies as public equity vehicles that the 2026 market has empirically demonstrated: during periods of Bitcoin price decline, the market valuation of pure mining companies is almost entirely determined by the direction of Bitcoin's price, and shareholders receive no benefit from mining performance, hashrate size, or the rate of BTC accumulation as the underlying asset price falls faster than the rate of improvement of performance indicators. The only way for stock prices to outperform in a Bitcoin bear market is either to hold Bitcoin for future price increases, or to redirect infrastructure to revenue-generating applications – AI data centers are currently the highest-value option, generating cash flow independent of Bitcoin's price direction.

Eric Trump's appearance at the Bitcoin 2026 conference, where he told attendees to "be patient" while stocks hit all-time lows that same week, encapsulated the conflict between belief-based Bitcoin maximalism and the quarterly financial reality of running a publicly traded company whose core asset is depreciating. Whether Bitcoin's price will eventually recover to prove the accumulation argument as Saylor's Bitcoin treasury model once demonstrated remains a crucial open question for US Bitcoin investors, many of whom bought their holdings at prices well above the current record lows.

Disclaimer: The information presented in this article is the author's personal opinion in the field of cryptocurrencies. This is not financial or investment advice at all. Every investment decision should be based on careful consideration of your personal portfolio and risk tolerance. The opinion in the article does not represent the official position of the platform. We recommend that readers do their own research and consult experts before making any investment decisions.

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