The Nasdaq stock exchange halted trading of American Bitcoin (ABTC) shares five times Wednesday as volatility spiked on the stock’s relisting debut.

Shares of ABTC, a Bitcoin (BTC) mining company co-founded by Eric Trump and Donald Trump, Jr., climbed by nearly 85%, hitting a high of $14 per share during intraday trading, following American Bitcoin’s stock merger with Gryphon Digital Mining, another crypto mining company.

ABTC trading was first halted at 3:09:35 UTC for 10 minutes and again at 3:20:11 UTC, with two additional halts at 3:30:54 and 3:40:12.

Bitcoin Mining, Stocks, Companies
Trading of ABTC halted several times. Source: New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)

The most recent trading halt occurred at 3:47:58 UTC; however, trading has since resumed, according to the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), and shares of ABTC are currently swapping hands at about $9.80.

American Bitcoin’s debut to a trading frenzy reflects Wall Street’s growing appetite for digital asset firms and mining companies, as the crypto industry matures and courts institutional investment.

Bitcoin Mining, Stocks, Companies
Shares of ABTC surge to $14 on the one-minute chart before retracing to current levels. Source: TradingView

Related: Bullish stock surges 218% in NYSE debut as crypto enters Wall Street limelight

Crypto firms eye merges to go public

American Bitcoin went public through an all-stock merger with Gryphon. The deal, disclosed in late August, gave Trump’s family company a faster pathway to US markets.

Crypto companies are increasingly turning to mergers to reach American investors, particularly through special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) — vehicles that allow private companies to go public by combining with existing publicly traded “blank check” companies.

These SPACs are not operating businesses and only exist to find a suitable private company to merge with, offering an avenue to go public without having to go through the lengthy and costly initial public offering (IPO) process.

In August, Parataxis, a digital asset investment firm, announced plans to go public via a SPAC merger with SilverBox Corp IV. Once the deal closes, the new company will be listed as Parataxis Holdings (PRTX).

Investor Chamath Palihapitiya filed for a SPAC called “American Exceptionalism Acquisition Corp A,” a $250 million blank check company focused on decentralized finance (DeFi), artificial intelligence, and energy. 

Trump Media and Technology Group, a tech company co-founded by US president Donald Trump, announced a $6.4 billion SPAC deal with Crypto.com to set up a Cronos (CRO) treasury company in August.

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