Bitcoin Billionaire Winklevoss Bros Back Trump Sons’ Crypto Miner

In brief

Cameron and Tyler Winkelvoss have invested an undisclosed amount of BTC in the Trump-tied American Bitcoin, a crypto mining firm.
American Bitcoin bought roughly $2 billion in Bitcoin earlier this summer.
The mining firm was formed this year through a merger with Gryphon Digital Mining Inc. in an all-stock deal.

Gemini founders and Bitcoin billionaires Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss have invested in a crypto mining company tied to President Donald Trump’s sons, according to an executive linked to the company.

The Winklevoss twins invested an undisclosed amount of Bitcoin in a private placement for American Bitcoin Corp., Hut 8 Corp. CEO Asher Genoot said Thursday during a call with investors. American Bitcoin was formed earlier this year by folding Hut 8’s mining assets into an entity whose backers include Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.

“We completed an oversubscribed private placement that included participation from the Winklevoss brothers who invested with Bitcoin rather than cash,” Genoot said Thursday in the earnings call.

Neither the Winklevoss brothers nor Genoot immediately responded to Decrypt’s inquiry into how much Bitcoin the Gemini co-founders put into the firm.

American Bitcoin unveiled its plans for a public listing in May, shortly after entering into an agreement to go public on the Nasdaq through a merger with Gryphon Digital Mining Inc. in an all-stock deal. The mining company bought $2 billion worth of Bitcoin as part of its BTC treasury plan earlier this summer.

The Winklevoss’ investment in American Bitcoin comes at an opportune time. In July, BTC mining companies collectively had their best profit-generating month since the April 2024 Bitcoin halving, a quadrennial event that programmatically halves the coins awarded to miners on the Bitcoin network.

“Ten of the thirteen miners we track outperformed BTC price appreciation for the month,” JP Morgan analysts Reginald L. Smith and Charles Pearce wrote in a note last week.

Bitcoin soared to a record price of $122,838 in July, topping a two-month period in which the digital asset notched fairly steady gains. The cryptocurrency’s price has since pulled back, trading roughly 4% below its all-time high.

Bitcoin is trading at $117,453 as of writing time, up 2% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data.