A cryptocurrency mining company led by Eric Trump has seen its stock plummet more than 95% since September, erasing more than $600 million from the value of his roughly 6% stake in American Bitcoin Corp., where he serves as chief strategy officer. The collapse came to light in the early hours of Thursday morning, July 9, in a Bloomberg report published less than two hours after Eric Trump posted a tribute celebrating the renaming of Palm Beach International Airport in President Donald Trump’s honor.
The company reported an $81.8 million net loss in the first quarter, driven largely by a decline in the value of its Bitcoin holdings. American Bitcoin holds around 8,000 BTC, worth roughly $504 million as of Wednesday, ranking it as the 16th-largest corporate Bitcoin holder. Yet that stockpile has failed to prevent a devastating selloff that forced the firm to execute a 1-for-15 reverse stock split this week simply to maintain its Nasdaq listing. The stock hit an all-time low on Wednesday and has fallen approximately 77% for the year.
Strategic Bet Goes Awry
At the heart of American Bitcoin’s downfall is a strategic decision that never adjusted to changing market conditions. The company was built on the premise that owning and mining Bitcoin at scale would generate substantial returns, but as Bitcoin entered a bear market and investor enthusiasm pivoted sharply toward artificial intelligence, that thesis came under severe pressure.
Competing mining firms recognized the shift early and moved to capitalize on it. Riot Platforms, MARA Holdings, Cipher Digital, and TeraWulf began leasing their computing infrastructure to AI-focused data centers, repurposing their electricity, land, and hardware for a booming market. Their stocks have gained more than 60% on average this year. American Bitcoin did not follow that path, instead holding firm to its original Bitcoin strategy and continuing to accumulate the coin through the downturn.
Success in the mining sector is no longer simply a matter of producing the most Bitcoin — it increasingly depends on the flexibility to monetize computing infrastructure across multiple markets. The contrast has not been lost on investors watching American Bitcoin’s refusal to pivot leave it exposed at a moment when the broader sector has found a lifeline in AI demand.
Stark Timing
The timing was striking. Eric Trump had spent months spearheading the campaign to rename the Florida airport as President Donald J. Trump International Airport, and he was on hand when Trump Force One touched down on July 9, 2026, to make it official. As he wrote on X, Eric Trump expressed his profound honor at being present when Trump Force One became the inaugural aircraft to arrive at the airport’s 5:01 a.m. unveiling under its new permanent designation honoring his father. The post was celebratory, warm, and conspicuously timed — arriving just before a damaging financial reckoning became public.
No Sign of Retreat
Despite the mounting losses, Eric Trump has shown no indication of backing away from the company’s Bitcoin-first approach. At a Las Vegas crypto conference in April, he said, “Just hold on, guys. Just hold on.” That message — directed at retail investors who have watched their holdings sink alongside the company’s share price — has become an emblem of a strategy that many in the market now view as stubbornly misaligned with where capital is flowing.
Eric Trump’s brother Donald Trump Jr. also serves as an adviser to the firm. The losses at American Bitcoin stand in sharp contrast to the broader crypto gains enjoyed by the wider Trump orbit. President Donald Trump reported cryptocurrency-related income exceeding $1.4 billion during the previous year. The divergence underscores how differently the family’s various crypto ventures have fared — and how much of the downside has concentrated specifically around Eric Trump’s leadership of American Bitcoin.
Retail Investors Bear the Brunt
The damage has not been confined to the Trump family’s balance sheet. Retail investors who bought into American Bitcoin on the strength of its high-profile backers have absorbed significant losses as the stock has cratered. The company’s trajectory — a rapid rise following its public debut, followed by a collapse that forced an emergency reverse stock split — traces a familiar arc for crypto ventures that attracted attention because of celebrity association rather than financial fundamentals.
The $600 million figure reflects the decline in market value of Eric Trump’s stake and does not represent cash losses from selling shares — he has not sold. Whether the company can reverse course by pivoting toward AI infrastructure or finding another path to profitability remains, for now, an open question.