American Bitcoin Corp Shares Plunge After Private-Placement Lockup Expiry
American Bitcoin Corp (co-founded by Eric Trump) experienced a sharp equity sell-off after a partial private-placement lockup expired. The December 2–3, 2025 unlock allowed early investors to sell restricted shares from a June 2025 private placement, producing heavy volume, multiple trading halts and an intraday drop of roughly 40% from about $3.58 to $1.80 (later reports showed intraday swings and a close near $2.33 in earlier coverage). The move came despite Bitcoin (BTC) rallying over 7% to around $91,600, underlining that crypto rally did not protect the stock against concentrated selling and thin liquidity. Company background: spun out from Hut 8 (which holds roughly 80% of ABC), the Trump family holds the remaining stake; Eric Trump said he will not sell and called the volatility “expected.” Financials and operations: Q3 revenue $64.2m, net income $3.5m; by July 2025 ABC had mined ~215 BTC and raised about $220m for BTC purchases. Trader takeaways: the event highlights concentrated ownership, scheduled lockup expiries and liquidity risk in Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin miners and treasury-accumulation plays. These factors can cause abrupt equity moves independent of Bitcoin’s spot performance — traders should downsize positions, widen stop rules, and monitor remaining insider lockups (notably a 180-day window until March 2026 for many insiders) and large shareholders (Hut 8) for potential future supply shocks.
Neutral
The immediate impact is equity-driven and specific to American Bitcoin Corp’s stock rather than directly altering Bitcoin’s market fundamentals. The lockup expiry released concentrated share supply, causing large intraday volatility and a steep drop in the miner’s equity despite BTC rallying. For BTC price action, the effect is likely neutral: miners’ stock shocks can influence sentiment for crypto equities but do not materially change Bitcoin supply or network fundamentals. Short-term: increased risk aversion among crypto-equity traders could amplify volatility in mining and treasury-accumulation stocks and prompt short-term contagion in small-cap crypto stocks. Long-term: repeated episodes of concentrated ownership and frequent lockup expiries could deter some institutional investors and compress valuations for similar plays, but they do not inherently bearishize Bitcoin itself. Traders should treat this as a stock-specific liquidity event that raises sector risk — adjust position sizing and monitor remaining insider/Hut 8 lockups — rather than a signal to change BTC allocation based solely on this news.