Bitcoin mining firm Hut 8, tied to the Trump family, is building a new office in Dubai, looking to benefit from the city’s crypto-friendly environment. The Miami-based company officially registered its expansion last week through the Dubai International Financial Centre, with a spokesperson confirming it’s recruiting staff for its trading and Bitcoin hoarding operations out of the UAE.
According to a Bloomberg report, CEO Asher Genoot said the Dubai expansion will improve the precision and efficiency of Hut 8’s capital strategy. The company, which ran mining operations in Texas, New York, and Alberta through 2024, had a team of 220 employees as of December. Genoot also didn’t elaborate on the headcount for the Dubai team but said the capital plan is about going after efficiency.
Dubai’s free zones and zero corporate tax offer that edge, and it’s a city that’s been openly courting crypto companies in a push to move its economy away from fossil fuels. While expanding in Dubai, Hut 8 is also entangled in a new crypto venture with Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. The brothers have partial ownership of American Bitcoin, a fresh company that’s absorbing most of Hut 8’s existing mining hardware.
Hut 8 makes inroad into Dubai as it strengthens its Trump family ties
The parties involved plan to take American Bitcoin public later in 2025 by merging with another listed firm. Once that goes through, Hut 8 will walk away with an 80% stake in the combined company. Genoot and several others from Hut 8 are also joining the board of directors.
Despite the overlap, a spokesperson for the company clarified that the Dubai setup isn’t part of American Bitcoin. It’s a separate buildout focused entirely on trading and accumulation, not public listings or family business. That said, the connections are impossible to ignore — the Trump name is now linked to both sides of Hut 8’s future strategy, one targeting the Middle East, and one consolidating its position back in the US.
This all comes during a year that’s been brutal for altcoins. While Bitcoin smashed past its previous all-time high, helped by a second Trump administration and a bullish legislative outlook, more than $300 billion in altcoin value has already disappeared. Coins that once claimed to be the next big thing have been slaughtered.
“I think they’re just going to die, frankly,” said Nick Philpott, co-founder of Zodia Markets. “They’ll just wither away. Technically, a lot of this stuff will just sit there and gather dust in perpetuity.” Bitcoin’s share of the entire crypto market has jumped nine points to 64%, its highest point since early 2021. That’s left the rest of the sector in a chokehold.
At the same time, more firms are copying the Michael Saylor model: hoarding Bitcoin. A new company, Twenty One Capital, launched in April with backing from Cantor Fitzgerald, Tether, and SoftBank, seeded with $4 billion in Bitcoin. Meanwhile, Trump Media has raised $2.3 billion to create a Bitcoin treasury of its own. Smaller attempts are happening with coins like Solana, BNB, and Ether, but none are touching Bitcoin’s volume. Bitcoin has become the clear winner in 2025, and everyone else is being left behind.