Eric Trump Brands Forbes ‘Chinese Propaganda’ Over American Bitcoin Hit Piece

Eric Trump has accused Forbes of being “acquired by China” after the magazine claimed his Bitcoin venture preys on MAGA-minded investors and has wiped out roughly $500 million in retail shareholder value since going public.

The American Bitcoin (ABTC) co-founder fired back, defending Q4 revenue of $78.3 million and a claim of holding over 7,000 Bitcoin (BTC), while branding Forbes “an embarrassment to journalism.”

Forbes Calls American Bitcoin an “Arbitrage Vehicle”

A Tuesday Forbes investigation argues American Bitcoin (ABTC) is an arbitrage vehicle that sells inflated shares and pumps the proceeds into BTC.

The piece alleges ABTC’s market cap has crashed roughly 92% from a $13.2 billion peak to about $1.24 billion. Small shareholders have reportedly lost an estimated $500 million along the way.

Forbes also claims around 70% of ABTC’s Bitcoin was purchased on the open market, not mined. It pegs the all-in cost per coin near $90,000 once depreciation and overhead are factored in, well above the $57,000 figure Eric Trump regularly cites.

ABTC went public via a Hut 8 merger on NASDAQ in September, but the stock price has dropped by over 90% since then.

Eric Trump Counters With Q4 Numbers

Trump’s reply leaned hard on operational stats. He pointed to 28 exahash of capacity, nearly 90,000 miners, and a 53% discount to spot when mining BTC.

Revenue rose 22% quarter over quarter, and the treasury now sits above 7,000 BTC, making ABTC the 16th largest public Bitcoin holder.

“Friends, educate yourselves as to the source of your information… in this case, China!” Trump wrote.

The “Chinese propaganda” framing mirrors a playbook recently used by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who called a Financial Times story “tabloid trash.”

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has waged a similar fight against mainstream press for years.

Notably absent from the rebuttal is any defense of the retail losses. ABTC last traded near $1.16 as of this writing, off its $14.52 debut high.

While Trump’s counterattack may not suffice to steady the stock, a lot hinges on Q1 results, not on Forbes.