What exactly happened?
American Bitcoin, a crypto miner associated with Donald Trump's family (Eric Trump sits in its leadership) and backed by Hut 8, announced its results for the third quarter of 2026 on November 5, 2026.
The company moved from the red into profit. Net profit reached $126 million, after it had reported a net loss of $57.2 million in the second quarter. Both The Block and CoinDesk report this consistently.
Where did the profit really come from?
This is the heart of the matter. The profit did not come primarily from the company mining bitcoin better or more cheaply. According to Decrypt, the turnaround was largely driven by a $197 million accounting gain from the revaluation of the company's bitcoin holdings.
This is the so-called mark-to-market effect: when the market price of bitcoin rises, the value of the bitcoin the company holds on its balance sheet increases, and this gain flows into the profit and loss statement. It is a real accounting profit, but it reflects the movement of the asset's price, not the operating performance of mining.
In other words: the rise in bitcoin's price lifted the company's books. If the price were to fall, the same mechanism would drag the result into a loss.
How did the mining business itself perform?
The operating picture is weaker than the headline profit figure. According to CoinDesk, revenue fell to $63.4 million and missed analyst estimates.
CoinDesk cites two reasons:
- a decline in mined bitcoin production,
- higher summer electricity prices, which raised mining costs.
Bitcoin mining is energy-intensive and electricity costs are among the key line items. More expensive energy over the summer therefore put direct pressure on operating performance.
Quarter-over-quarter comparison
| Metric | Q2 2026 | Q3 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Net result | loss of $57.2M | profit of $126M |
| Revenue | not stated in sources | $63.4M (below estimates) |
| Main driver of profit | not stated in sources | BTC revaluation +$197M |
Note: the revenue and loss figures for Q2 are not presented in the same detail in the available sources, so we leave them incomplete rather than guessing.
How does this relate to the Trumps' other crypto activities?
American Bitcoin is just one of the crypto ventures associated with Trump's circle. In a broader context, Cointelegraph recalls a statement by Anthony Scaramucci (founder of SkyBridge), according to whom memecoin projects linked to Trump complicated negotiations over the so-called CLARITY Act, a proposed framework for regulating the U.S. crypto market. According to Cointelegraph, Scaramucci said the talks were also slowed by disputes over ethical restrictions and that both sides bear responsibility.
This is a separate story from American Bitcoin's results. They are connected only by the broader political backdrop around Trump and crypto, not by any direct financial link. We include it as context, not as a cause of the miner's results.
What to watch out for in this type of news
This is not a recommendation to buy or sell anything. It is an illustration of how to read crypto miners' results:
- Distinguish operating profit from the accounting revaluation of assets. Large one-off gains on held bitcoin can flip the result without the underlying business improving.
- Watch revenue and electricity costs, which show how efficient the mining is without the help of bitcoin's price.
- Remember that what asset prices lift up can, next time, pull down through the same mechanism.
What we still don't know
The sources do not state how much of the revaluation gain is realized (the company sold bitcoin) and how much is unrealized (just a paper increase in value). We also do not know the exact amount of mined bitcoin or the specific size of the operating loss excluding accounting effects. These figures would be needed for a complete picture of the health of the mining business itself.