Original title: How Eric Trump Got Rich From Bitcoin While Losing Investors A Fortune

Original author: Dan Alexnder, Forbes

Compiled by: Peggy, BlockBeats

Editor's Note: The Trump family has a family skill: bluffing, exaggerating the magnitude of an event.

This time, Eric Trump brought this approach to the cryptocurrency world. He packaged his Bitcoin company as a "money printing machine," claiming that the company could mine Bitcoin at nearly half the market price.

But when Forbes reporter Dan Alexander examined the books, another side of the story emerged: 70% of the company's Bitcoin holdings were not mined, but purchased through issuing new shares; the true total cost was far higher than the figure Eric mentioned; and the financing structure that made the balance sheet look better may also mean that all the Bitcoin the company has mined so far will have to be used to pay for mining equipment bills in the future.

The figures ultimately point to a more direct conclusion: Eric's personal wealth increased by approximately $90 million, while ordinary investors collectively lost approximately $500 million.

Following the report's release, Eric Trump swiftly retaliated on X, accusing Forbes of being acquired by China and claiming the report was politically motivated propaganda. He countered with a string of operational figures: 7,000 Bitcoins, nearly 90,000 mining rigs, and $78.3 million in revenue in the fourth quarter. He also brought up an old story from twenty years ago about fundraising for a children's hospital, attempting to prove that Forbes had been targeting a "good guy" like him.

There was only one thing he never directly addressed: where did the $500 million go?

The following is the original text:

 Eric Trump incites the crowd. Photo: Daniel Ceng/Anadolu via Getty Images

The ability to incite crowds isn't limited to politics. Just ask Eric Trump: his Bitcoin company attracted a huge following, then dumped a bunch of overpriced stocks on them.

In February of this year, Eric Trump appeared in high spirits during an earnings call, ready to do what the Trump family does best—salesmanship.

His company, American Bitcoin, has been listed on Nasdaq for just over a year. "We are rapidly becoming a leader in the Bitcoin world, and I truly believe we have the strongest brand," Eric said. "I want to thank Mike Ho, Asher Genoot, Matt Prusak, and everyone at American Bitcoin."

Note: Mike Ho is the CEO of Bitcoin USA and also serves as the Chief Strategy Officer of Hut 8. Asher Genoot is the Executive Chairman of Bitcoin USA and a co-founder of Hut 8, who spearheaded the deal with the Trump family. Matt Prusak is the President of Bitcoin USA, a former Hut 8 employee, and was seconded from Hut 8.

This ending is quite intriguing. The phrase "every colleague" is used because there are practically no other Bitcoin enthusiasts left in the US.

The annual report, filed a month after the earnings call, revealed that the company has only two full-time employees: CEO Mike Ho and President Matt Prusak. There may be a few more—Ho also holds an executive position at another company; someone who worked in investor relations at that company for less than a year now lists himself as the "Chief Chief of Staff" for Bitcoin USA on LinkedIn; and another woman stated that she has served as the company's social media manager since January. (Executive Chairman Asher Genoot forms a five-person board with Ho and three independent directors.)

The Trump family figured out a pattern early on: exaggerating things to make more money.

Donald Trump's father, Fred Trump, allegedly profited by deceiving regulators by overstating project costs. Donald Trump, in turn, overstated asset values ​​to banks and media outlets like Forbes, ultimately being found guilty of fraud by a New York judge. Eric was also implicated in that case and banned for two years from serving as an executive or director of any New York-registered company. Despite this, he started anew, registering his company in Delaware and based in Florida, marketing it in a way that impressed his predecessors.

Note: Fred Trump, father of Donald Trump, is a New York real estate developer who was suspected of overstating construction costs to obtain higher profits.

Eric Trump's latest Bitcoin deal may be selling more of a story than a real business. According to him, U.S. Bitcoin can mine Bitcoin at about half the market price, making it a veritable "money printing machine." However, a closer look at the numbers raises questions: can this company actually mine profitablely, let alone maintain such an astonishing profit margin? Representatives from Eric Trump, the Trump Organization, and U.S. Bitcoin have not responded to Forbes' repeated requests for comment. Many people trust the president's son, and have already placed their bets. On September 3, 2025, U.S. Bitcoin will be listed on the public market, with approximately $270 million worth of Bitcoin on its balance sheet, while investors have valued it at a staggering $13.2 billion.

Over the past eight months, the US Bitcoin market has consistently used its ridiculously high valuations to sell stocks and buy more Bitcoin. The heavily diluted stock price has now fallen 92% from its peak. Eric Trump, who seemingly entered the market at almost no cost, is still thriving, his personal wealth estimated to have ballooned from approximately $190 million to $280 million through financial alchemy. Other insiders have also profited handsomely. In contrast, ordinary investors who believed the sales pitch and bought in with real money have lost an estimated $500 million in total.

 Eric Trump (left) cultivated a philanthropic image early in his career, launching a fundraising campaign at his father's golf course shortly after graduating from college to raise funds for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Photo: Bobby Bank/WireImage

Eric Trump's first truly independent project was not an apartment building, but a charity.

In 2006, he graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in finance and management, brimming with a passion for changing the world. At that time, his older brother, Don Jr., and sister, Ivanka, were already working on real estate projects at Trump Tower. One day, while driving on a New Jersey toll road, Eric later recalled in an interview with Forbes that another thought suddenly popped into his head: how could he truly do something for the world? Thus began his earliest entrepreneurial endeavor—a non-profit organization called the Eric Trump Foundation.

This organization has done a lot of good. It's less of an operational charity and more of a fundraising platform, having donated over $16 million to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. But as time went on, the organization, and even Eric himself, began to become increasingly "Trump-like."

Documents obtained by Forbes through a public disclosure request (despite objections from the nonprofit's legal team) reveal dishonest fundraising rhetoric, weak governance, and disorganized finances. Eric claimed to donors that he kept expenses to a minimum, allocating almost all funds directly to St. Jude University, partly because his father provided venues at Trump-owned clubs free of charge, and celebrities agreed to perform "for free." However, checks and invoices obtained by Forbes show that over $500,000 went to other charities, over $500,000 to Trump-owned properties, at least $90,000 to various performers, and over $35,000 to a ride-hailing service—passengers including Eric's mother, a reality TV show hostess, and a van full of people heading to Hutts' restaurant.

In his early years working at his father's company, Eric was primarily responsible for the hotel business, from which he learned a great deal, including a key insight: making money by branding a business is far easier than actually building a building.

The Trump Organization defaulted on loans to its Chicago hotels in 2008, filed for bankruptcy protection for its Atlantic City portfolio in 2009, and its Washington, D.C. hotels suffered losses year after year. Ultimately, the Trump family shifted the expansion strategy of its hotel empire to what the industry calls an "asset-light" model, focusing on management and brand licensing rather than development.

Eric's other training ground was his father's golf course portfolio, where he witnessed the brilliance of unconventional financing structures. In the 1980s and 90s, golf clubs typically collected deposits from members upon enrollment, promising to return them interest-free after 30 years. These liabilities, hanging on the books, deterred many investors when the properties were up for sale. But Donald Trump was undeterred, ultimately assuming approximately $250 million of such liabilities, thereby acquiring more than a dozen golf course properties scattered across the United States, while simultaneously recording these liabilities as zero on his personal balance sheet for many years. By the time the repayment period approached, the value of these properties far exceeded the amount owed.

In January 2017, Donald Trump entered the White House, and Eric Trump and his brother Donald Trump Jr. took over their father's portfolio. Eric seemed to have few of his own plans, simply hoping to follow the established order. "We're not the kind of company that sells assets," he told Forbes in a February 2017 interview from his office on the 25th floor of Trump Tower. "We buy, and we make them look good." The Trump brothers tried to expand into new businesses, including launching two mid-range hotel brands, but with little success. Facing financial difficulties and their father's dwindling cash reserves, they did much of what Eric said he wouldn't do over the next seven years: sell assets, raising an estimated $411 million.

Then, a new money-making opportunity arose: the 2024 election.

 A return to the White House means business opportunities. President Trump's children attend his second inauguration on January 20, 2025. Photo: Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images

Just two weeks after Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris, the company that would later become Bitcoin America quietly registered in Delaware. It wasn't initially a cryptocurrency venture. Dubai developer Hussain Sajwani, who had partnered with the Trump family on golf projects in Dubai, appeared at Mar-a-Lago to announce a $20 billion data center project in the US, riding the wave of artificial intelligence. "That guy knows what he's doing," the president-elect praised. Within weeks, Trump's two sons unveiled plans to follow this strategy, naming their company "Data Center America," which Eric Trump called "crucial for the development of America's AI infrastructure."

A month later, he changed direction. Through a mutual friend, Eric and Tang met two entrepreneurs: Asher Ginott and Mike Ho. These two already owned a company similar to the Trump brothers' vision—the data center giant Hut 8, which not only had exposure to AI but also controlled considerable Bitcoin mining power. Shortly after the AI ​​revolution began, the Bitcoin reward for solving a mathematical problem halved, causing mining costs to skyrocket. At the industry level, a large amount of computing power migrated to AI, and Hut 8's institutional shareholders pressured Ginott to follow suit.

However, Ginott and Ho, leveraging their backgrounds in brand management and arbitrage trading, devised a more creative solution: using a 20% stake in their Bitcoin mining equipment as bait, they persuaded the Trump brothers to abandon their data center plans. Then, with the First Family's involvement, they packaged the hardware into a publicly traded company, igniting a publicity machine driven by Trump's aura.

This transaction structure was tailor-made, almost as if designed specifically for someone familiar with the hotel business. While the machines hummed day and night, the operation of US Bitcoin resembled a lean hotel brand: Hut 8 owned the property, operated the data center, handled back-office affairs, and even its executives were Hut 8's own—Prusak had previously worked at Hut 8, and Hoff still works there, serving as both CEO of US Bitcoin and Chief Strategy Officer of Hut 8. This allowed the Trump brothers to focus solely on their strength: sales.

"I'll always remember telling them, 'Listen, there have to be two words in the name,'" Eric Trump later recalled in a CoinDesk video interview. "It has to be 'America,' it has to be 'Bitcoin.' One of them said, 'Eric, let's call it American Bitcoin, that's the name.'"

 On the day Bitcoin was listed in the United States, investors enthusiastically embraced it, and Eric Trump's personal wealth was estimated to have exceeded $1 billion at one point. (Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Ever since Eric Trump entered the cryptocurrency world, he has been telling a myth about why he got into it. "Every bank in this country blacklisted me," he said at a conference in Wyoming last August. "Because my father was a politician, we experienced debanking," he added about a week later in Hong Kong. "Every big bank started closing our accounts," he claimed earlier this year in Palm Beach. "You know what we did? We went out and got into decentralized finance because we realized that's the future of finance."

But that's not the case.

Indeed, Capital One and JPMorgan Chase closed some of Trump's accounts in 2021, six years after Donald Trump entered politics. At that time, the president's reputation was severely damaged by the Capitol Hill affair and a broad investigation by the New York Attorney General, with the court ultimately finding the Trump Organization guilty of fraud and highly likely to repeat it.

Even so, numerous banks remained willing to work with the Trump family—even JPMorgan Chase, shortly after closing some accounts, participated in the refinancing of two of the largest loans in Trump's portfolio. When Trump left the White House, he was short of cash and heavily leveraged, urgently needing support from large lenders, and he certainly did: from January 2021 to mid-2022, the former president, with the assistance of his sons Eric and Donald, completed nearly $700 million in debt refinancing as part of a comprehensive balance sheet restructuring.

So why did Trump actually enter the cryptocurrency space? A more plausible explanation is that he sensed an opportunity to extend his licensing business, selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs) like he sold sneakers and guitars. He started with NFT trading cards, launching digital images that portrayed Trump as a superhero. The product sold out within a day, ultimately earning the former president over $7 million in cash and cryptocurrency—every penny is crucial for someone facing a nearly $500 million fraud verdict. (Later, an appeals judge overturned the verdict, disagreeing with the amount of the fine but not denying the finding of fraud against Trump.) Subsequent cryptocurrency projects brought in hundreds of millions more in liquidity, fueling the First Family's ever-increasing bets, including a separate plan announced last May: to invest approximately $2 billion in cryptocurrency through the Trump Media and Technology Group.

In 2025, accumulating Bitcoin became the hottest trade of the year. Over 200 publicly traded companies rushed to replicate the strategy of Michael Saylor's Strategy—which accumulated over $50 billion in Bitcoin positions, its market capitalization soaring during the price surge, only to subsequently plummet. U.S. Bitcoin stood out in this frenzy, for obvious reasons: the prestige of the First Family. However, on September 3, 2025, the very day Bitcoin officially launched on the U.S. market, Eric Trump, in a Spaces conversation on the X platform, offered a more data-driven narrative. "The actual cost of mining Bitcoin every day is about $57,000, $58,000 per coin," he said, noting that the market price of one Bitcoin at the time was about twice that amount. "Our fundamentals couldn't be better."

This argument is quite persuasive, even though the speaker is accustomed to selectively ignoring unfavorable expenses when hosting charity fundraising events. The $50,000 did indeed cover the equipment and operating costs for Bitcoin in the US. However, if other expenses are included—including equipment purchases, marketing, and capital allocation—the total cost would climb to a much higher figure, approximately $92,000 per Bitcoin at the time, making profitability only possible if cryptocurrency prices remained consistently high.

Incorporating depreciation into the calculations is particularly crucial in the case of US Bitcoin, as it adopted an unconventional financing strategy similar to Hut 8. Between August and September 2025, US Bitcoin invested approximately $330 million to upgrade its mining fleet. However, the company did not immediately pay in cash; instead, it pledged a tranche of Bitcoin and obtained an option regarding the final payment method: if the price of Bitcoin rose, the company could pay approximately $330 million in cash and redeem the pledged Bitcoin; if the price fell, the company could directly repay the debt with the pledged cryptocurrency.

Since this large purchase, Bitcoin has fallen by about 30%. This means that, currently, it's highly likely that US Bitcoin will use staked crypto assets to pay for the equipment. However, the problem is that US Bitcoin has a total of 3,090 staked Bitcoins (as of March 25th), while the company estimates it has only mined about 1,800 so far. In other words, if prices fail to recover, all the Bitcoins the company has mined so far will be used to offset equipment costs when the options expire around August 2027, leaving them with nothing.

Investors may not understand this. The company has about 15 months to decide whether to pay for the equipment in cryptocurrency or cash, during which time the mined Bitcoin remains on the balance sheet. As a result, Bitcoin in the US appears far more robust than it actually is. The company promotes this Bitcoin reserve as a key selling point to investors, while deliberately downplaying the fact that all or most of it will ultimately be used to pay for the machine that mined it.

Beyond the marketing appeal, it's easy to understand why the Trump family is interested in this payment method—they built their portfolio of golf courses using similar unconventional financing. They won that gamble because the intrinsic value of the assets increased.

 Eric Trump has become a regular at major global cryptocurrency conferences; the photo shows him attending an event in Hong Kong. Photo: Daniel Ceng/Anadolu via Getty Images

About 70% of the cryptocurrency held by Bitcoin in the United States was not obtained through mining, but rather through selling stocks and directly purchasing Bitcoin on the open market. This is the core secret of Bitcoin in the United States.

Why would Hut 8 willingly relinquish 20% of its Bitcoin mining equipment stake to a newly established data center company? The reason might lie here: in an era of meme stocks and MAGA frenzy, the name Trump is enough to attract a flood of "dumb money," driving the stock price sky-high. Once the stock price reaches an illogical level, the company can sell its own stock and reinvest the proceeds in Bitcoin, accumulating a mountain of cryptocurrency.

This is a hype-driven arbitrage game: convincing investors that the company is incredibly valuable, then selling shares when they realize the stock price is absurdly high. As long as the profits generated by this arbitrage game exceed the value of the 20% mining machine equity, it's a profitable deal for the insiders who set up the scheme—but for retail investors buying shares off-exchange, it's a different story.

The sell-off began almost immediately after the IPO. Within 27 days of its listing, at the height of its hype, U.S. Bitcoin sold 11 million shares, realizing $90 million at an average price of approximately $8 per share. After deducting intermediary commissions ($2 million in this instance), U.S. Bitcoin purchased approximately 725 bitcoins. Subsequently, as the stock price gradually declined, the sell-off continued. From early October to mid-November, the company again liquidated 7 million shares, realizing $44 million at an average price slightly above $6 per share. In late November, after a sharp drop in bitcoin prices, the company went all out, selling 47 million shares before the end of the year, realizing approximately $106 million at an average price of approximately $2.25 per share.

It wasn't just the company itself that was being sold off. In early December, as early investors' lock-up periods expired, the stock price plummeted 48% within two trading days. Prominent supporters stepped in to boost confidence. Cryptocurrency evangelists Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss—who actively cultivated relationships with the First Family through donations to Trump-related super PACs and support for White House banquet hall events—publicly pledged their support.

Note: Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss are twin brothers, well-known American cryptocurrency investors with close ties to the Trump family, and have publicly endorsed Bitcoin in the United States.

Former White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci also joined the endorsement. Moderator Grant Cardone described himself as a "long-term investor, not a short-term trader," later adding that his tweet "does not constitute investment advice." The official social media accounts of Bitcoin America retweeted all of this to their followers. Neither Cardone nor the Winklevoss brothers responded to requests for comment, and Scaramucci's representative declined to comment.

Note: Anthony Scaramucci briefly served as White House Communications Director in the Trump administration for only 11 days before transitioning to a cryptocurrency investor and endorsing Bitcoin in the US. Grant Cardone, a well-known American sales trainer and motivational speaker, publicly expressed his support for Bitcoin in the US on social media, but also stated that his statements "do not constitute investment advice."

Bitcoin prices continued to be under pressure, especially after the Federal Reserve paused interest rate cuts in January. The company stuck to its original strategy; according to Forbes estimates, from January 1st to March 25th, US Bitcoin sold 84 million shares, cashing out $111 million, and used the proceeds to purchase approximately 1,430 more Bitcoins. In total, from the company's founding to the end of March this year, US Bitcoin's total investment in cryptocurrencies was approximately $525 million, while the current market value of these coins is approximately $390 million, resulting in a cumulative loss of approximately $135 million in shareholder funds.

 Eric Trump praised the United Arab Emirates at a cryptocurrency conference in Dubai last year. "The rest of the world must be wary of the UAE for one reason only," he told the audience, "They will always give you a 'yes'." (Photo: Giuseppe Cacace/AFP via Getty Images)

Bitcoin mining operations in the US continue. However, with the price of Bitcoin falling 31% since the company's IPO, the economics are becoming increasingly difficult to calculate. Optimizing the new mining rig portfolio has reduced equipment operating costs to approximately $47,000 per Bitcoin. However, the total cost—including administrative fees, amortization, and depreciation—is still estimated at approximately $90,000 per Bitcoin, about $13,000 higher than the current market price of Bitcoin. The stock price has already fallen another 29% this year.

What will become of Eric Trump's company if investors no longer believe in the "printing money" story? The president's son can pray for a significant rebound in Bitcoin's price—after all, it's an extremely volatile asset. According to Forbes' calculations, a 35% increase would allow U.S. Bitcoin to pay for equipment in cash, retain its pledged cryptocurrency, and turn its $135 million trading loss into a small profit. At that point, Eric could easily claim that everything was going according to plan.

Of course, if he doesn't want to gamble the company's success or failure entirely on luck, there might be another way: finding a few overseas investors eager to provide timely assistance. Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the UAE has linked up with another Trump cryptocurrency project, channeling an estimated $375 million to the president and his son. This investment has so far yielded modest financial returns, but the UAE has indeed secured President Trump's support in advancing his artificial intelligence strategy. The Gulf state is reportedly currently seeking some form of relief from the economic pressure stemming from the US war with Iran.

Mike Ho, CEO of U.S. Bitcoin, was last recorded as residing in the United Arab Emirates in November 2023, although company representatives did not respond to inquiries about his current address. Regardless, Ho appeared in the Gulf nation last October, giving an interview to a reporter from Arabian Gulf Business Insight, during which he mentioned contacts with ADQ Investment Group and TAQA Energy—both linked to Sheikh Tahnouun. A U.S. Bitcoin spokesperson told Forbes in October that Ho was referring to early communications prior to the company's founding. However, recently obtained interview recordings by Forbes indicate that U.S. Bitcoin is open to international collaborations.

"I've met with many sovereign wealth funds here through Hut 8, and also on behalf of U.S. Bitcoin," Hut said in the recording. "The conversations are ongoing." When pressed about whether he was considering launching a Bitcoin mining operation in the region, Hut responded, "We're always looking at this area. I've had conversations with ADQ and TAQA. We've studied their asset portfolios. The UAE has a lot of surplus electricity, and Bitcoin mining is a good way to monetize that surplus power."

These words came from someone who was well aware of the readily available arbitrage opportunities.