Hey Snackers,
We’re back with another crypto special edition of Snacks, but before we dive in, we need to talk about a bit of news in a crypto-related field: AI, which is still in its own phase of throwing ideas against the wall and seeing what sticks. In that vein, Barbie maker Mattel just struck a deal with OpenAI to make its first AI-powered toys. Dolls and AI — what could go wrong? We’ll stick with “AI agent” tokens for our risky ideas, thank you.
Stocks continued to come back Thursday as Wall Street digested upbeat economic data and a few strong earnings results. May’s Producer Price Index rose just 0.1% for the month, softer than the 0.2% economists expected. Markets also brushed off recent unilateral tariff threats from President Trump. The S&P 500 was up 0.38% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 rose 0.24%, while the Russell 2000 sank 0.38%.
Can you decrypt the answers for our weekly Snacks Seven Quiz? Here’s the first question:
After the US, what is the second-largest crypto market in the world?
The alarming surge of “wrench attacks” in crypto puts owners on edge
Crypto owners and executives have always had to watch out for hackers, but now face a new and rapidly increasing threat: physical attacks, aka “wrench attacks,” a new report from Galaxy shows.Â
The uptick in these targeted attacks has been making headlines, and these gruesome incidents are happening globally, from Paris to New York to Buenos Aires — surging to at least 25 attacks so far this year. This would put 2025 “on track to be the most dangerous year ever for crypto owners,” Alex Thorn, Galaxy’s head of firm-wide research, said. And this is just the reported attacks, which may be as low as 10% of actual attacks.
It’s a startling rise from 10 years ago and easily on its way to breaking the previous record set in 2021. “This is one of the most harrowing things I have seen in my time,” Ari Redbord, global head of policy and government affairs at TRM Labs, told Sherwood News. “We are seeing a brutal convergence of the speed of cybercrime with the violence of street crime.”
The problem? As David Carvalho, a former systems hacker, put it, “Cryptocurrency turns every holder into a walking bank vault. And being your own bank means accepting that you can be robbed like one.” While one of the founding tenets of cryptocurrency is that it’s a peer-to-peer payment system, that also means crypto can be instantly transferred from victims to criminals and isn’t protected by traditional institutional infrastructure.Â
The Takeaway
The targets of “wrench attacks” are often crypto whales, but anyone with crypto holdings should take steps to protect themselves. Carvalho said the number one rule is: shut up about your wealth. Don’t post your portfolio or brag about your gains on social media. He and other experts we talked to shared some more simple safety tips that anyone can adopt.Â
No crypto wallet? No problem.
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Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF ("BTC"), an exchange traded product, is not registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (or the ’40 Act) and therefore is not subject to the same regulations and protections as 1940 Act registered ETFs and mutual funds.
Is it time to be more bullish on ethereum?
It’s hard being the second banana, whether you’re Garfunkel to Simon, Morty to Rick, or ethereum to bitcoin. The second-largest cryptocurrency has a market cap that’s nothing to sneeze at: if the asset were listed among the biggest US companies by market cap, with $330 billion, ethereum would rank above giants like IBM, Coca-Cola, and Palantir, and just below Bank of America.Â
On Thursday, 21 prominent ethereum community members published a new report making the bull case for the digital asset, writing that ethereum “remains among the most significantly mispriced opportunities in global markets today” and describing the cryptocurrency as “digital oil powering the digital economy.” The report puts ethereum’s short-term price target at $8,000, while its long-term forecast is $80,000.
We don’t know about $80,000 (it’s at roughly $2,700 as of writing), but there have been some very positive signs that ethereum is gaining momentum:
Ethereum spot ETFs notched their 18th consecutive day of inflows on Wednesday, tying their record. The current streak, from May 16 to June 11, has seen roughly $1.3 billion pouring into the funds.
Pectra, ethereum’s most recent mainnet upgrade, went live in May and has made the network more efficient, scalable, and user-friendly, which has helped boost the price.Â
SharpLink Gaming announced it was adopting an ethereum treasury strategy, with $425 million in funding and plans to raise $1 billion to buy even more.
The Takeaway
Cryptocurrencies, which lack the fundamentals that investors are used to, are often driven by vibes and hype, and recently it feels like the vibes have shifted positively for ethereum. Recent regulatory clarifications around staking have also helped, and the wait for people who want to stake their ethereum is now six days long. That said, of course there are those who take the contrarian view.
Invest in your share of the future.
If you’re ready for crypto, start with Grayscale. Grayscale has over a decade of experience managing crypto investment products. Learn more at grayscale.com, or search Grayscale in your investment account today. Investing involves risk and possible loss of principal.3
The Best Thing We Read Today
Meet the man who wants to be the Michael Saylor of solana
While many companies are emulating Michael Saylor’s bitcoin accumulation strategy, newcomers are focusing on altcoins for their treasuries. DeFi Dev Corp. (rebranded from Janover in April) is one, and aims to be the Strategy of solana. So far it’s succeeding, leading solana treasury public companies with 621,313 solana, valued at roughly $100 million.Â
Yesterday’s Big Daily Movers
Oracle topped S&P 500 performers, rising 13% after topping Q4 estimatesÂ
Shares of air taxi maker Joby Aviation fell after Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded the stock to neutral
GameStop shares sank 17% after the company announced yesterday after market close that it plans to raise more debt, possibly to buy more bitcoin
What Else We're Snackin'
Mercurity Fintech announced it’s raising $800 million to fund a bitcoin treasury
Meanwhile, Trident Digital Tech Holdings announced a $500 million fundraise for an XRP treasury
On Monday, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust became the fastest ETF ever to reach $70 billion in assets under management
And Bloomberg Intelligence gives solana the edge in the crypto ETF race
Crypto-curious? Grayscale offers more than 30 different crypto investment funds accessible from your existing brokerage account. Search Grayscale (or BTC for the Bitcoin Mini) in your investment account today. Investing involves risk and possible loss of principal.2
Snack Fact Of The Day
Bitcoin’s price has surged 60% since a year ago.
Friday's Events
Preliminary June consumer sentiment
1 BTC is low cost based on gross expense ratio at 0.15%. Brokerage fees and other expenses may still apply.
2 Please read the BTC prospectus carefully before investing in the Fund. Foreside Fund Services, LLC is the Marketing Agent for the Fund.
Investing involves significant risk, including possible loss of principal. The Trust holds Bitcoin; however, an investment in the Trust is not a direct investment in Bitcoin. As a non-diversified and single industry fund, the value of the shares may fluctuate more than shares invested in a broader range of industries. Extreme volatility, regulatory changes, and exposure to digital asset exchanges may impact the value of Bitcoin and, consequently, the value of the Trust. Digital assets are not suitable for an investor that cannot afford the loss of the entire investment. There is no guarantee that a market for the shares will be available, which will adversely impact the liquidity of the Trust.
The value of the Trust relates directly to the value of the underlying digital asset, the value of which may be highly volatile and subject to fluctuations due to a number of factors. There is no certainty that an active trading market for shares will develop or be maintained which will adversely affect the liquidity of shares of the Trust.
3 Please read the prospectus carefully before investing in any fund.