How Eric Trump Got Rich From Bitcoin While Losing Investors A Fortune
The president’s second son pitches his bitcoin company as a money-printing machine. It’s actually an arbitrage vehicle that preys on MAGA-minded investors.
Senior Editor. Dan Alexander covers Trump’s business.Follow Author
Apr 28, 2026, 07:00am EDTUpdated Apr 28, 2026, 07:34am EDT
Eric Trump jumped on an earnings call in February ready to do what Trumps do best—sell. His company, American Bitcoin, had debuted just a year earlier and was already trading on the Nasdaq. “We are fast becoming the leader in the bitcoin world, and I truly think we have the greatest brand of all,” Eric said. “I want to recognize Mike, Asher, Matt and everybody at American Bitcoin.”
It was a noteworthy closing—“and everybody at American Bitcoin”—given that there is hardly anyone else at American Bitcoin. An annual report filed one month after the earnings call stated that the company has just two full-time employees, presumably chief executive Mike Ho and president Matt Prusak. Maybe there are a couple of others—Ho also serves as an executive at another company. Someone who worked in investor relations at Ho’s other company for less than a year now calls herself “chief of staff” at American Bitcoin on her LinkedIn page. Another person says she started as American Bitcoin’s social-media manager in January. (Asher Genoot, the executive chairman, sits on a five-person board with Ho and three independent directors.)
The Trump family learned long ago that there is money to be made in acting like things are bigger than they actually are. Fred Trump, Donald’s father, allegedly juiced his profits by duping authorities into thinking his projects cost more than they actually did. Donald Trump lied to banks (and media outlets like Forbes) about the value of his assets, leading a New York judge to conclude that he committed fraud. Eric Trump got caught up in that case, too, and was banned from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation for two years. He created his own company anyway, incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in Florida, then marketed it in a way that would make his forefathers proud.
Eric Trump’s newest bitcoin venture may be selling a story more than a business. As he tells it, American Bitcoin can print money by mining bitcoin for roughly half of what it is worth. But a closer look at the numbers calls into question whether the company can mine bitcoin profitably at all, let alone with such massive margins. Representatives of Eric Trump, the Trump Organization and American Bitcoin did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Plenty of people trust in the president’s son, putting real money at stake. When American Bitcoin hit the public markets on Sept. 3, investors valued Eric Trump’s company—with an estimated $270 million of bitcoin on its balance sheet—at $13.2 billion.
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Dan Alexander is a senior editor at Forbes, overseeing money-in-politics coverage, as well as the author of White House, Inc.: How Donald Trump Turned the Presidency into a Business. Alexander joined Forbes in 2012 and has investigated the personal finances of Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Wilbur Ross, and others. His work has sparked state and federal investigations, came up repeatedly in Trump’s fraud trial and helped send longtime Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg to jail. The New York City Society of Professional Journalists honored Alexander with back-to-back awards for best business feature of the year in 2017 and 2018. He won the 2018 ASME NEXT award, given to magazine journalists under thirty who “demonstrated extraordinary promise.” The Society of American Business Editors and Writers awarded two of his stories with honorable mentions in 2019 and named White House, Inc. one of the best business books of the year in 2021. Before writing about politics, Alexander covered sports, manufacturing and wealth. He graduated from Brown University with a degree in history. Follow Alexander for deep reporting on the finances of Trump and other politicians. Forbes reporters follow company ethical guidelines that ensure the highest quality.Read More
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