News linked to both this project and an event.
According to Forbes, Eric Trump, the second son of Donald Trump, promoted his Bitcoin company American Bitcoin as a “money-printing machine,” but it is in fact an arbitrage tool exploiting MAGA investors’ sentiment. The company attracted investors through exaggerated marketing, leveraged the premium associated with the Trump brand to issue shares at inflated valuations, raised cash, and then used the proceeds to purchase Bitcoin—while ordinary investors suffered heavy losses. Since its listing in September, the company has sold approximately 158 million shares, raising roughly $351 million, and used those funds to buy approximately $390 million worth of Bitcoin. The company claims its mining cost is around $58,000 per Bitcoin, but when equipment depreciation and other expenses are included, its total cost per Bitcoin reaches approximately $90,000—higher than Bitcoin’s current market price. The company faces risks from its mining-rig financing agreements: if Bitcoin’s price does not rebound, all the Bitcoin it mines may be used to repay equipment vendors. The company employs only two full-time staff members; its stock price has plunged 92% from its peak, and investor losses are estimated at around $500 million. Eric Trump’s personal wealth increased from approximately $190 million to $280 million. In response, Eric Trump posted on X, calling Forbes “a political weapon and a disgrace to journalism.” He stated that American Bitcoin was founded just over a year ago and has been publicly listed for 7 months and 25 days. It currently holds over 7,000 Bitcoins, ranks as the world’s 16th-largest publicly traded Bitcoin company, and operates nearly 90,000 mining rigs.
Solana Company, a SOL treasury firm, completed a private placement, issuing 3,076,922 Class A common shares at $2.60 per share, raising approximately $8 million (approximately $7.9 million net). Mirae Asset led the round, with HashKey Capital participating. The company plans to use the proceeds to increase its SOL holdings and for general corporate purposes.
The UK-based Bitcoin treasury company The Smarter Web Company announced the completion of a private placement of 4,286,410 ordinary shares pursuant to a previously signed subscription agreement. The total gross proceeds raised from this placement amount to approximately £1.5374 million (about $2 million, before deducting expenses), at a price of approximately £0.36 per share. The company expects to retain approximately 98.25% of the net proceeds. As of now, the remaining balance of ordinary shares yet to be placed under the current subscription agreement stands at 52,377,540 shares.
According to The Block, Jim Esposito, President of Citadel Securities, stated on Thursday at the Semafor World Economic Forum in Washington, D.C., that the firm is “fully capable” of providing liquidity to prediction markets—but explicitly expressed no interest in sports-event contracts. Instead, he emphasized the value of prediction markets for hedging geopolitical risks, citing the U.S. midterm elections this November as “one of the greatest risks facing investors’ portfolios.” Esposito noted that as platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket continue to grow rapidly, the prediction market is poised for sustained expansion—naturally drawing Citadel Securities into the space. Notably, Zhao Peng, CEO of Citadel Securities, participated last year in Kalshi’s $185 million funding round.
Odaily News: Footwear retailer Allbirds has announced the sale of its sneaker business and a transformation into an AI computing infrastructure company named "NewBird AI." This news drove the company's stock price to surge by approximately 300% at one point.According to the announcement, Allbirds has agreed to sell its footwear brand to the American Exchange Group. The company will use a $50 million convertible note financing round to deploy GPU computing power and build AI infrastructure. This financing amount is roughly double the company's market capitalization of $22 million prior to the announcement.This move reflects the strong market demand for AI computing resources and the current supply shortage. Following Bitcoin mining companies pivoting to High-Performance Computing (HPC), small-cap companies are also beginning to attempt to enter the AI infrastructure sector. However, the convertible note financing may be converted into equity in the future, potentially creating dilution pressure for existing shareholders. (CoinDesk)