Eric Trump Becomes Paper Multi-Billionaire After His New Company American Bitcoin Roars Onto The NASDAQ

Eric Trump woke up this morning as the richest he has ever been,  but exactly how rich depends on who you ask and how you run the math. The president's second son is the largest individual shareholder of American Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency mining firm that made its Nasdaq debut this morning.

According to a July SEC filing, Eric Trump owns about 7.5% of the company, a stake disclosed as 367 million shares. At Wednesday's opening trade of $8.81 per share, Forbes estimated his holdings at $3.2 billion, instantly making him a multi-billionaire. Bloomberg, however, pegged the value closer to $600 million, calculating his ownership against the company's reported $8.2 billion market capitalization.

Either way, the stake dwarfs the value of Trump Organization golf courses, hotels, or licensing deals. It also represents the fastest wealth creation ever achieved by a member of the Trump family — and cements crypto, not real estate, as the family's most lucrative business frontier.

Elsa/Getty Images

The Road to American Bitcoin

American Bitcoin came together at lightning speed. The venture was spun up in 2024 by American Data Centers, an entity co-founded by Donald Trump Jr. with backing from boutique investment firm Dominari Holdings. Within months, American Data Centers merged its assets with Hut 8, a Canadian crypto mining company that supplied thousands of machines across facilities in New York, Alberta, and Texas. The combined venture rebranded as American Bitcoin and set its sights on a Nasdaq listing.

The structure was designed to keep the Trump brothers at the center of the action. Public filings show that Eric Trump emerged with the largest individual equity position, while Donald Trump Jr. retained a sizable but undisclosed stake. Together with Hut 8's Class B super-voting shares, the Trumps and their allies control nearly all of the company's 909 million outstanding shares, leaving only a sliver of stock available to retail investors in the float.

$600 Million or $3.2 Billion?

One of the most confusing parts of Eric Trump's new fortune is how much his American Bitcoin stake is really worth. Depending on which math you use — and what exact stock price you pick — the answer ranges from the hundreds of millions to the multi-billions.

Forbes based its calculation on Eric's reported 367 million shares multiplied by American Bitcoin's opening trade of $8.81. That produced a headline-grabbing valuation of $3.2 billion, enough to crown Eric a multi-billionaire overnight. As I type this article, American Bitcoin ("ABTC) is trading at $7.14 per share, so by that math, his paper fortune works out to $2.62 billion.

Bloomberg took a different approach, valuing Eric's stake as a percentage of the company's total market capitalization. With American Bitcoin's market cap at about $8 billion during its first trading session, Eric's 7.5% slice came to roughly $600 million. Re-running that formula at the current $7.14 price, which implies a market cap of about $6.7 billion, his stake now comes out closer to $505 million.

The gap reflects American Bitcoin's complicated share structure. Only a tiny fraction of stock trades publicly, while most voting power sits with Hut 8's Class B shares. The "Forbes math" treats every one of Eric's shares as if they could be sold at the quoted Nasdaq price. The "Bloomberg math" values his position against the company's entire capitalization. In reality, Eric's true net worth lies somewhere in between.

What About Don Jr?

While Eric Trump's stake is laid out clearly in SEC filings, the picture is much murkier when it comes to his older brother. Donald Trump Jr. was a co-founder of American Data Centers, the vehicle that merged into American Bitcoin earlier this year. He has been repeatedly described in filings and media coverage as a "major owner" of the business, yet the company's prospectus and the merger 8-K stop short of disclosing an exact number of shares in his name.

That vagueness is unusual. Public companies are required to list anyone who owns more than 5% of the stock, and Eric's 7.5% was disclosed in black and white. Don Jr., however, does not appear with a corresponding line item. The most logical explanation is that his shares are held through a different entity or pooled with other insiders in a way that muddies the reporting. Another possibility is that his stake sits just under the disclosure threshold, though given his role as co-founder, that seems unlikely.

What's clear is that Don Jr. must own a meaningful chunk of American Bitcoin. Filings indicate that the Trump brothers and Hut 8 together control roughly 98% of the company, leaving little doubt that Don's stake runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars at a minimum. The exact figure, however, remains hidden behind corporate structuring and SEC language that leaves investors guessing.

What About Donald Sr.?

President Donald Trump is not listed as a shareholder of American Bitcoin, but that hardly means he's been left out of the family's latest financial boom. His wealth remains anchored in a mix of real estate, brand licensing, and his publicly traded media company. According to our most recent math, Trump's net worth sits around $6 billion. The backbone of that fortune is his long-standing portfolio of towers, golf courses, and resorts, along with cash flow from branding deals that continue to monetize the Trump name worldwide.

But the most eye-catching piece of his empire today is his stake in Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT), the parent company of Truth Social. After taking the company public through a SPAC merger in 2024, Trump emerged with 114 million shares. With DJT trading at about $17 per share, that position is worth roughly $1.9 billion on paper.

Tiffany Trump and Ivanka Trump do not appear to be directly involved in any of these ventures.