Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump's American Bitcoin closed down 38.8% on December 2, wiping out ~$1B in market value; TMTG is down nearly 70% so far in 2025
Company's shares plummet as investors cash out at end of lock-up period — Shares in a US cryptocurrency miner backed by Donald Trump Jr …
Context & Ripple Effects
American Bitcoin moved from a planned Nasdaq listing via an all-stock merger to a September debut that initially lifted the value of the Trump sons’ stake. It had also raised $220 million before listing, putting a larger public-market valuation around a crypto-mining and holding business.
The reversal follows a broader crypto-market drawdown that had already reduced the Trump family’s estimated wealth and the value of President Trump’s TMTG stake in late November. The lock-up expiration tests how durable American Bitcoin’s early trading support was once holders could sell.
First-order effects
- American Bitcoin loses roughly $1 billion in market value in a single session, reducing the market value of shareholders’ positions, including those tied to Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump.
- The end of the lock-up period introduces a new source of sellable supply, while TMTG’s nearly 70% decline in 2025 compounds pressure on publicly traded Trump-linked holdings.
Second-order effects
- The sharp move resets the reference point from American Bitcoin’s strong Nasdaq debut, making investors and prospective issuers more attentive to lock-up calendars and post-listing share supply.
- Selling in a Trump-linked miner alongside weak TMTG shares can reinforce the link between crypto-market sentiment and the valuation of the family’s listed assets, as seen in the earlier crypto-driven decline in estimated family wealth.
Third-order effects
- If similar post-lock-up declines recur, public-market pricing of crypto-linked companies may place greater weight on float structure and insider-sale overhang than on initial listing valuations.
- The episode points to a more volatile ownership model for politically prominent crypto businesses: access to public capital can amplify gains at listing but also makes wealth exposure more immediately market-priced.
The trend: Crypto-linked companies are increasingly using public listings to monetize private stakes, leaving their valuations highly exposed to market sentiment and lock-up-driven changes in tradable supply.