Anthony Scaramucci briefly served as the White House’s communications director in President Donald Trump’s first administration, but soon after became a prominent critic of the commander- in-chief. Still, that hasn’t stopped the SkyBridge Capital founder and his son, AJ Scaramucci, from backing American Bitcoin, the Bitcoin miner that counts the President’s sons Eric as a cofounder and Donald Jr. as an investor. Solari Capital, an investment firm founded by AJ Scaramucci, led a July $220 million funding round in the Trump family firm, the Scaramuccis told Fortune.
American Bitcoin raised the money before it went public via a reverse merger in September, but it never disclosed the investors. Solari Capital put over $100 million into the company, AJ said, declining to name a specific number. Anthony also put in a small check of his own and declined to say how much. Other participants in the round included the life coach Tony Robbins, the Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, longtime investor Grant Cardone, and the serial founder Peter Diamandis.
“Has my Dad and Don Sr. [Donald Trump], have they had their fair share of back and forth? Of course they have,” AJ told Fortune, “but Bitcoin transcends politics.”
Bitcoin believers
Anthony Scaramucci soared to national prominence in 2017 when President Trump tapped him to lead the White House’s communications efforts. Scaramucci was fired after only a few days on the job, however, following a report of a foul-mouthed rant against other Trump staffers.
Since then, Scaramucci has come out in force against Trump and supported Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in their presidential campaigns in 2020 and 2024, respectively. But, the Wall Street financier has also been a longtime crypto advocate and Bitcoin believer, something the two families began to share in common after Trump came out in support of the crypto industry during his 2024 campaign for reelection.
“There may be a blue and a red team, but there’s also an orange team, and that’s Bitcoin,” Anthony, referring to the color most associated with the cryptocurrency, told Fortune.
AJ sourced the deal for Solari Capital. The younger Scaramucci was roommates with Matt Prusak, now the president of American Bitcoin, when the two attended Stanford University’s business school. “Matt is one of my closest personal friends,” AJ said.
When Prusak told him they were spinning off American Bitcoin from Hut 8, another Bitcoin miner, AJ jumped on the opportunity. He said he thought the company could compete in the saturated market of public companies, like Michael Saylor’s Strategy, that acquire Bitcoin and pitch their shares as a way for investors to get access to the world’s largest cryptocurrency via the stock market.
American Bitcoin generates its own cryptocurrency through mining, or solving complex mathematical puzzles in return for portions of the token. It then holds that cryptocurrency as well as buys more of it on the market.
“The Scaramuccis really believe in what American Bitcoin is doing, and they were willing to put kind of their personal issues aside and say, ‘Look, we think this is a great company.’” Asher Genoot, chairman of American Bitcoin, told Fortune.
