CoinDesk
American Bitcoin (ABTC), the Trump brothers' mining venture, cut its cost to mine one bitcoin to roughly $36,200 in Q1 2026 from $46,900 in Q4 2025 — a 23% drop that puts it well below the publicly listed miner average of around $80,000. The improvement came from spreading higher production across a stable fixed-cost base, plus what management described as "continued energy pricing discipline," with the new Drumheller site in Alberta contributing roughly 3.05 exahash of compute to a fleet that ended the quarter at 28.1 EH/s across about 89,000 machines.
Why it matters
The cost gap is structural, not seasonal. At a cost-to-mine near $36K, American Bitcoin is producing coin at a price point where the operation stays genuinely profitable through drawdowns that push the rest of the public cohort underwater — a band the broader industry is actively trying to exit. While ABTC is adding miners, the peer group is signing AI and high-performance-computing contracts: more than $70 billion in cumulative deals since late 2024, funded in part by trimming bitcoin treasuries by over 15,000 BTC. American Bitcoin went the other way, lifting its holdings 30% to roughly 7,021 BTC (817 mined, 803 bought on the open market) and entering the top 20 of public bitcoin holders at number 16.
Market impact
The Q1 numbers came with a headline net loss of $81.8 million, almost entirely mark-to-market on BTC price declines of roughly 22% over the quarter, and revenue of $62.1 million versus $78.3 million in Q4 2025. Strip the non-cash revaluation out and the underlying mining business printed profit — a distinction investors will be parsing closely. ABTC shares slipped about 1% after-hours and remain nearly 90% below their September 2025 listing peak near $1.25, which means the market is pricing the AI pivot narrative across the cohort, not the low-cost producer story at ABTC specifically. If BTC price stabilizes, the cost-structure advantage starts to compound; if the HPC pivot keeps sucking capital and hashrate out of pure mining, the gap between ABTC and its peers widens further.
Frequently asked questions
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What was American Bitcoin's cost to mine one bitcoin in Q1 2026?
Roughly $36,200, down 23% from $46,900 in Q4 2025 and well below the public-miner industry average of around $80,000 per coin.
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Why did American Bitcoin's mining cost fall so sharply in Q1?
Higher production volume spread across a stable fixed-cost base plus what management called continued energy pricing discipline. The new Drumheller site in Alberta added roughly 3.05 exahash of compute.
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How much bitcoin does American Bitcoin hold, and how did that change in Q1?
Holdings rose 30% in the quarter to roughly 7,021 BTC — 817 added from mining and 803 from open-market purchases. ABTC is now the 16th-largest publicly traded bitcoin holder globally.
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Did American Bitcoin make money mining in Q1 despite the $81.8M net loss?
The headline net loss was driven almost entirely by mark-to-market declines on its bitcoin holdings as BTC fell roughly 22% in the quarter. Excluding that non-cash revaluation, the underlying mining business was profitable.
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How is American Bitcoin different from other public miners right now?
Most public peers are pivoting toward AI and high-performance computing, signing over $70B in cumulative contracts and trimming BTC treasuries by 15,000+ coins since late 2024. American Bitcoin is still accumulating BTC and growing its mining fleet.
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