Forbes criticizes Eric Trump for profiting heavily through Bitcoin transactions, thus harming MAGA investors.

According to Mars Finance, Forbes published an article criticizing Eric Trump's Bitcoin business as a disaster, pointing out that while Trump touted his company, American Bitcoin (ABTC), as a money-printing machine, it was actually just an arbitrage tool designed to exploit investors who supported MAGA (Make America Great Again). American Bitcoin was founded in 2025 and quickly went public on Nasdaq, leveraging the Trump family brand and the Bitcoin craze to inflate its valuation to $13.2 billion. Eric Trump heavily promoted the company as a "leader in the Bitcoin world" during earnings calls, but in reality, the company had only a few full-time employees and relied primarily on storytelling rather than solid operations. The company continuously sold shares at inflated valuations to buy Bitcoin, while Eric invested almost nothing, yet increased his personal wealth from approximately $190 million to $280 million. Other insiders also profited handsomely. Meanwhile, ordinary investors, especially MAGA supporters, suffered heavy losses. In the past eight months, American Bitcoin's stock has fallen by approximately 92% from its peak, resulting in a cumulative loss of approximately $500 million for investors. Forbes questioned the actual profitability of American Bitcoin's Bitcoin mining business, arguing that its advertised "half-price mining" was unlikely to be achieved and that it was more about using the Trump brand to dump high-priced stocks.