American Bitcoin’s $126M profit masks mining pressure as rivals turn to AI

American Bitcoin reported a quarterly net income of $126 million on Wednesday, but rising mining costs and falling profits from mining raise questions about its long-term strategy as major rivals pivot towards artificial intelligence.The Eric Trump-backed company’s profit was driven by a $197.3 million noncash gain on its Bitcoin (BTC) holdings. Meanwhile, mining revenue fell 5.5% to $63.4 million from the previous quarter, while the cost to mine one BTC rose about 15% to $42,100. Excluding gains from its Bitcoin holdings, American Bitcoin would have reported an operating loss of approximately $5.5 million, according to its financial statements. The company also recorded a separate $64.3 million loss on derivatives. “Despite seasonal power cost pressures, we continued mining Bitcoin at a structural discount to spot,” American Bitcoin CEO Mike Ho said in Wednesday’s earnings announcement. Earnings per share stood at $1.73, beating analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.26, according to Yahoo Finance data.Bitcoin was trading at $76,119, down 5% over the past 24 hours as of 8:50 p.m. UTC, according to CoinGecko data. Shares of American Bitcoin (ABTC), meanwhile, closed Thursday down about...