HONG KONG, Aug 28 (Reuters) - American Bitcoin, the

bitcoin miner backed by U.S. President Donald Trump's two sons,

has locked in crypto and traditional investors to back an

all-stock merger that will allow the firm to soon start trading

on the Nasdaq, the company's largest investor said.

The unlisted firm's merger with Gryphon Digital Mining ( GRYP )

is set to be finalised shortly, and the goal is to

start trading in early September, according to Asher Genoot, the

CEO of Hut 8 ( HUT ), which holds 80% of American Bitcoin.

Anchor shareholders in the listing have already been

finalised, he added.

The company's co-founder, Eric Trump, his brother Donald

Trump Jr and Hut 8 ( HUT ), will own a combined 98% of the newly

formed entity, which will retain the name American Bitcoin and

trade under the stock code ABTC.

"Instead of going public directly via IPO, we thought that

there was a lot more advantages to financing if we had an

existing company that already had access to different financing

too," Genoot told Reuters in an interview at the Crypto Asia

conference in Hong Kong.

Eric Trump is also in Hong Kong and will travel to Tokyo

on the weekend for an event for Metaplanet, a Japanese bitcoin

treasury firm, Genoot said.

American Bitcoin is hunting for crypto assets to buy in Hong

Kong and Japan to build out its global business, the Financial

Times reported two weeks ago.

Genoot said American Bitcoin could take stakes in companies

outside of the U.S. to give people access to publicly listed

bitcoin assets, as some investors were prevented from buying

Nasdaq-listed stocks.

"Right now it's very early. So we haven't been committed to

anything," he said.

Hut 8 ( HUT ) was also a crypto miner but has shifted its focus to

energy infrastructure and data centers after launching American

Bitcoin with Trump sons, he added.