While bitcoin and shares of bitcoin holder Strategy are falling, an exchange-traded fund designed to move in the opposite direction of MSTR and double its daily change has hit a record high.
That exchange-traded fund is the GraniteShares 2x Short MSTR Daily ETF, trading under the ticker MSDD on Nasdaq. It is an actively managed fund designed to deliver -200% of the Strategy’s daily performance. In simple terms, if MSTR falls 2% in a day, the ETF targets a 4% gain that same day (before fees/decay).
The fund debuted on Jan. 10, 2025 and is seen as a high-risk short-term tactical tool for bears betting against MSTR. And it has lived up to its repute.
MSDD’s price hit a record high of $114 on Tuesday, up 13.5% on the year, extending the past year’s 275% surge, according to data source TradingView.
MSDD’s compatriot, the Defiance Daily Target 2x Short MSTR ETF (SMST), also clocked an 11-month high of $113 on Tuesday. This fund debuted on Nasdaq in August 2024.
In other words, MSTR bears out there who loaded up on these ETFs have made a killing.
Strategy fell to $126 on Tuesday, the lowest since September 2024, extending its multi-month bear market. The stock is now down a staggering 76% from its lifetime high of $543 in November last year.
Strategy is the world’s largest publicly listed bitcoin holder, stashing 713,502 BTC ($54.24 billion) at press time. Naturally, its share price tends to follow swings in bitcoin’s market value.
Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency by market value, has dropped 12% this year and traded as low as $73,000 on Tuesday. That was the weakest since late 2024. Since then, prices have bounced back to $76,000, thanks to narrowly approved funding package that alleviated near-term U.S. shutdown risk and stabilized risk sentiment in financial markets.
During Devconnect Buenos Aires, the Ethereum Foundation and Secureum TrustX brought together Ethereum security practitioners for Trillion Dollar Security Day, a focused event exploring what it would take to securely support a trillion-dollar Ethereum economy.
The event brought together around eighty participants from across the Ethereum Security Ecosystem—spanning Infrastructure, Interoperability, Layer 1 & 2, Onchain, Offchain, Privacy, and Wallets—to assess the current security landscape, surface shared challenges, and identify concrete next steps across the stack.
The discussions and outputs from this event contribute to the Ethereum Foundation’s ongoing One Trillion Dollar Security (1TS) initiative.
Why a Trillion Dollar Security Day?
The Trillion Dollar Security day was designed to create focused, in-person discussions within individual layers, bringing together practitioners who work on similar parts of the stack to assess current security posture, share operational realities, and identify near-term priorities. The outcomes of these sessions were then synthesized to highlight patterns and dependencies across the broader ecosystem.
The goals of the Trillion Dollar Security gathering were to:
Evaluate Ethereum’s security posture across the full stack, identifying gaps, challenges, and emerging risks
Enable short-term execution by aligning ecosystem actors around actionable priorities
Strengthen long-term security through coordination, shared standards, and ecosystem empowerment
Participants split into breakout sessions by layer, discussing what is working today, what is not, and where effort is most urgently needed.
Snapshot: Cross-Layer Observations
Across the seven layers, participants surfaced several recurring themes:
Security is often treated as a milestone rather than a continuous process
Trust assumptions are insufficiently communicated to users
Critical security tooling and public goods lack sustainable funding
Coordination and incentives—not cryptography—remain dominant risk factors
The table below captures a condensed view of key issues and immediate next steps identified during the sessions.
Full presentations for each layer can be found here.
Layer 1 & 2: Coordination Remains a Bottleneck
Ethereum’s multiclient architecture, specification-driven development, and conservative Layer 1 change process continue to provide strong security foundations. However, participants highlighted risks stemming from limited coordination between L1 and L2s, compressed testing timelines, over-reliance on cloud infrastructure, and concerns around supply-chain attacks.
Key challenges include limited community and L2 participation in All Core Devs calls, constrained client team capacity to review evolving EIPs early, and ongoing L1–L2 bridging and RPC resilience concerns.
Proposed next steps focus on expanding the Ethereum Protocol Fellowship (EPF), creating clearer L2 liaison roles, improving EIP versioning and ownership expectations, and strengthening moderation and accessibility in coordination forums.
Wallets: User Security Remains Too Opaque
Progress on signing standards such as EIP-7730 and improvements to wallet discoverability were noted as positives. At the same time, most hardware wallets still rely on blind signing, and wallet participation in shared security discussions remains limited.
Participants pointed to the competitive wallet landscape as a structural barrier to collaboration, alongside an over-reliance on the Ethereum Foundation to drive coordination.
A key proposal was the creation of an Open Signing Alliance, anchored in Ethereum’s values of openness, neutrality, and the walkaway test. Additional priorities include hosting the EIP-7730 registry in a neutral—or on-chain—context and funding wallet-focused security dashboards to improve transparency and legitimacy.
Onchain Security: Tooling and Visibility Lag Behind Risk
Onchain security continues to benefit from a growing pool of experienced security researchers, improved tooling (e.g. Foundry), and increased awareness of incident response through efforts such as SEAL911. However, security is still often treated as a checkbox, and “audited” is frequently conflated with “secure.”
Participants emphasized that most recent losses stem from operational security failures, not novel smart-contract exploits. Other challenges include increasing protocol complexity, limited invariant monitoring, and a lack of economic audits.
Immediate next steps include sustained funding for open-source security tooling (fuzzers, static and dynamic analyzers), improved visibility into DeFi security posture (a “L2BEAT-like” approach), and broader adoption of SEAL frameworks and checklists for different contract classes.
Interoperability: Trust Assumptions Must Be Explicit
Ethereum users benefit from a wide range of interoperability options and increasingly fast, low-cost UX. At the same time, participants highlighted that many interop protocols rely on poorly communicated trust assumptions, leading users to mistake “fast and cheap” for safe.
Many non-canonical bridges fail the walkaway test, and risk often persists after bridging due to wrapped assets and downstream dependencies.
Proposed actions include developing interop trust ratings that clearly specify assumptions and verification models, setting strong expectations for explicit trust disclosures by cross-chain aggregators, and improving the speed and cost of canonical bridges to reduce reliance on unsafe alternatives. A follow-up interoperability workshop was also proposed.
Privacy: UX and Infrastructure Are the Primary Constraints
There was broad agreement that privacy is increasingly seen as a normal and necessary part of Ethereum’s future, with encouraging progress in zero-knowledge research and institutional adoption. However, user experience, cost, and infrastructure limitations remain major blockers.
Key challenges include RPC-based tracking, difficulties around private data storage and recovery, a lack of builders focused on private wallet UX, and the absence of hardware support for privacy-preserving keys.
Suggested next steps include greater use of light-client data over P2P RPC, investment in private wallet UX, research into ZK-capable hardware signers, and engagement with regulators to seek clearer guidance for permissionless privacy technologies.
Infrastructure & Offchain Security: The Invisible Attack Surface
Frontend compromises, DNS hijacks, RPC centralization, and software supply-chain attacks were repeatedly cited as underappreciated risks. Participants also noted a lack of sustainable economic alignment for non-profits providing critical security public goods.
Key challenges include the false separation between “Web2” and “Web3” security, limited accountability for off-chain failures, and the tendency to trade security for speed or convenience. The inability to easily run nodes over Tor was also highlighted.
Proposed next steps include building verifiable frontend prototypes, increasing transparency around RPC and infrastructure health, advancing security frameworks and certifications, and creating structured collaboration models where private companies contribute dedicated time and resources to security public goods.
Event Reflections
Participants rated the quality of discussion and relevance of topics as excellent, highlighting the value of in-person, cross-layer exchange. The primary areas for improvement were logistical, including group size and opportunities for structured networking.
There was strong demand for future work focused on applied security standards, shared tooling, and practical “how-to” guidance for implementation.
What Comes Next
The Trillion Dollar Security gathering highlighted the value of bringing security practitioners together in person to build shared understanding and momentum. Focused, face-to-face discussions helped accelerate alignment on standards, tooling, and practical solutions in ways that are difficult to achieve through asynchronous coordination alone.
The discussions also underscored the importance of maintaining a continuously updated, shared view of Ethereum’s security posture. As the ecosystem evolves, staying ahead of emerging risks requires regularly reassessing what is working, where assumptions no longer hold, and which areas need renewed attention to support a trillion-dollar economy.
The insights from Buenos Aires will continue to inform the Ethereum Foundation’s One Trillion Dollar Security efforts, alongside ongoing work across the ecosystem. Near-term focus remains on supporting execution, enabling adoption of open and neutral security standards, and strengthening the foundations needed to keep Ethereum secure at scale.
With thanks to the security layer champions @vdWijden, @barnabas, @zachobront, @ethzed, @mattaereal, @ncsgy and @ThewizardofPOS. And @0xRajeev and @fredrik0x for hosting.
Rui-Siang Lin, the alleged operator of the dark web narcotics marketplace “Incognito Market,” was sentenced to 30 years in U.S. federal prison on Tuesday, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, bringing to a close one of the largest online drug market prosecutions since Silk Road.
Lin, a 24-year-old Taiwanese national who used the online alias “Pharaoh,” pleaded guilty in December 2024 to narcotics conspiracy, money laundering and conspiring to sell adulterated and misbranded medication. Prosecutors said the platform processed more than $105 million in illegal drug sales between October 2020 and March 2024, facilitating more than 640,000 transactions and serving hundreds of thousands of buyers worldwide
“Rui-Siang Lin was one of the world’s most prolific drug traffickers, using the internet to sell more than $105 million of illegal drugs throughout this country and across the globe,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton in a statement. “While Lin made millions, his offenses had devastating consequences. He is responsible for at least one tragic death, and he exacerbated the opioid crisis and caused misery for more than 470,000 narcotics users and their families.”
Investigators ultimately traced the operation not only through blockchain analysis and undercover purchases but also through operational security failures.
According to the initial SDNY criminal complaint, investigators were able to trace the domain for the marketplace to Lin as he used his real name along with a phone number and address in the registration process.
Taiwanese media say Lin studied at National Taiwan University before completing Taiwan’s civilian “alternative service,” a mandatory national service track outside the military, in St. Lucia, where he worked in a technical assistance role and at times taught local police about cybercrime and cryptocurrency.
Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein was an investor in Bitcoin software company Blockstream, new records show.
CEO Adam Back said Blockstream severed ties with Epstein many years ago.
Adam Back, CEO of Bitcoin-focused software company Blockstream, attempted to distance himself from disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein on Sunday after US officials released a fresh batch of documents from the “Epstein Files,” some of which feature Back and another Blockstream founder.
The latest batch of documents adds to the growing body of evidence showing the late sex offender was a prominent funder of crypto ventures in the industry’s early days.
Earlier reports have detailed Epstein’s close relationship with former child actor-turned-crypto entrepreneur Brock Pierce and his donations to a Bitcoin initiative at the MIT Media Lab.
But the most recent documents, released last week, also show Epstein investing in Coinbase and Blockstream in 2014 — years after he pleaded guilty to two prostitution charges in Florida.
Blockstream’s founders met former MIT Media Lab director Joichi Ito in 2014, during the company’s “seed-round investor roadshow,” Back said on Sunday in a post on X.
“Subsequently Blockstream met with Jeffrey Epstein, who was described at the time as a limited partner in Ito’s fund,” Back wrote.
Though the fund took a minority stake in Blockstream, it divested its shares “a couple months later” due to a “potential conflict of interest, and other concerns,” Back added. “Blockstream has no direct nor indirect financial connection with Jeffrey Epstein, or his estate.”
St. Thomas
But he did not address other questions raised by the documents. For example, some emails released by the Department of Justice suggest the meeting Back referenced may have taken place at or near Little Saint James, Epstein’s infamous, privately-owned island in the US Virgin Islands.
None of the documents reviewed by DL News suggest any wrongdoing on the part of Back or Blockstream co-founder Austin Hill, who also appears several times in the Epstein Files.
According to one email thread, Back and Hill were scheduled to visit Epstein at the US Virgin Island of St. Thomas from April 17 to April 20, 2014.
On April 19, 2014 Epstein emailed Bitcoin developer Amir Taaki, whom he’d met in 2011.
“Are you still playing in the bitcoin space?” Epstein wrote. “Where are you, I have Andy Back on my island this weekend.”
It isn’t clear from the emails whether Epstein was referring to back in that email or whether Back actually visited the island. Back did not immediately return DL News’ request for comment on Tuesday.
Investment trouble
In July 2014, Hill emailed Ito and Epstein to say he would increase their allocation in Blockstream at other investors’ expense.
“We are 10x oversubscribed on an $18m seed round and Reid at the last minute told us to bump your allocation from $50k to $500k,” Hill wrote.
“I respect you both and have learned so much from you in our discussions we [will] have everyone else [take] a haircut to make room.”
Just weeks later, however, Hill emailed saying the “other cofounders” wanted to “reduce or take your allocation away,” citing an apparent investment in the Stellar blockchain.
“It does our company damage to have investors who are backing two horses in the same race,” Hill wrote.
But it doesn’t appear that Epstein had a total falling out with the Blockstream founders.
“Afaik you and Joi invested in his company,” Italian hacker Vincenzo Iozzo wrote to Epstein in a November 2014 email with the subject line “Adam Back.” “What do you think of him?”
“Like him,” Epstein replied.
And in May 2015, Ito proposed a meeting with Back and a few others to discuss “money and the future of finance.”
“Great,” Epstein replied. It is unclear whether that meeting ever happened.
Controversial Bitcoin developer Luke Dashjr said Back should resign his position in the wake of the document dump.
“I was an initial contributor to Blockstream and Adam promised me I’d be listed as a co-founder and be treated the same as other co-founders. Adam broke that promise, betrayed my trust, and cut me out,” Dashjr wrote on X.
“These recent revelations about Adam and Epstein Island helps shed light on some of Adam’s hostility toward me and his recent pro-spam gaslighting, but I never knew how bad and how deep the corruption went.”
Aleks Gilbert is DL News’ New York-based DeFi correspondent. You can reach him at aleks@dlnews.com.
Activity on Base-based AI-powered launchpad Clanker has surged as traders speculate on the rise of autonomous AI agents.
The number of tokens launched on AI agent launchpad Clanker, which runs on Coinbase’s Ethereum Layer 2 Base, skyrocketed to new daily highs following the recent rise of AI-only social media platform, Moltbook.
Yesterday, Feb. 2, the number of tokens created on Clanker reached 21,870, breaking its previous all-time highs from over the weekend, per data from Dune Analytics.
Daily trading volumes on the AI-powered Base launchpad also surged, reaching an all-time high of over $364 million on Jan. 31.
Clanker daily trading volume. Source: Dune
The surge in AI agent token activity on Base coincided with the launch and viral growth of the Moltbook platform, which went live in late January. Nearly immediately, as activity on the platform picked up, reports and debates around the autonomous AI agents’ conversations took over X, with prominent figures in crypto and AI weighing in.
Moltbook, which has a similar interface to Reddit, was launched by tech entrepreneur Matt Schlicht and designed to be used exclusively by AI agents, who generate posts, comments, and upvotes while humans are only able to access the site in read-only mode.
Moltbook and OpenClaw Memecoins
Most of the agents that are active on Moltbook were created using OpenClaw — previously known as Moltbot and Clawdbot — an open-source, self-hosted AI agent framework developed by software engineer Peter Steinberger.
As of today, Feb. 3, the top-three tokens on Clanker by trading volume all reference OpenClaw or Moltbook, at least indirectly.
Since Jan. 30, trading volume on Clanker has mostly been led by the Moltbook-inspired memecoin Moltbook (MOLT). At its peak, MOLT was trading with a $93 million market cap, while trading volume for the memecoin reached over $100 million within the first 24 hours of launching on Jan. 30-31, per Dune data. Currently, its market cap stands at $25.7 million and the token is down 23% on the day.
The Defiant was unable to verify whether MOLT was officially launched by or affiliated with the social platform Moltbook, or was deployed independently, as an unaffiliated memecoin.
As of today, volumes were led by CLAWD, tied to AI agent clawd.atg.eth, created by Ethereum Foundation member Austin Griffith just last weekend. Per its official X profile, Griffith’s agent has a crypto wallet and is “building onchain apps and improving the tools to build them.” Griffith clarified in a recent X post that neither he nor clawd.atg.eth deployed the CLAWD token, but the person behind the token, which was launched a day after the AI agent, on Jan. 26, directed 100% of trading fees to Griffith’s agent.
The third most-traded token on Clanker as of today is CLAWNCH, a token tied to a new eponymous launchpad clawnch that lets bots on Moltbook and other platforms launch tokens and collect fees. As of press time, the platform debuted over 8,600 tokens, with AI agents earning more than $1.3 million in fees.
Clawnch’s volume. Source: clawnch
Commenting on the risk of Moltbook and the proliferation of related memecoins, Cais Manai, co-founder of TEN Protocol, an encrypted Layer 2 rollup on Ethereum, told The Defiant that crypto may have been built for the wrong user all along.
“Smart contracts are deterministic, composable, and machine-readable by default,” Manai said, describing blockchains as a native execution layer for autonomous software, rather than a consumer product. Manai added:
“For an AI agent, interacting with a smart contract is far easier than interacting with legacy financial infrastructure. In that sense, smart contracts are less a consumer UX and more a native execution layer for autonomous software.”
That setup lets AI agents hold wallets, trade on-chain and move value without banks or human approval. And yet, that potential convenience also comes with costs, as permissionless access shifts the threat surface toward keys, permissions, and identity rather than accounts and forms.
Is Moltbook Activity Really Only AI Agents?
The intially positive sentiment around Moltbook shifted after a researcher under the alias Nagli disclosed a bug tied to a hardcoded key that leaked about 1.5 million API keys, along with emails and private messages. The flaw made it clear that humans could impersonate bots and inject content even though Schlicht reportedly patched the hole.
As of press time, the flaw has reportedly been fixed, though it remains unclear how much of the content on Moltbook was generated by humans, not agents, via the bug.
Cybersecurity firm Codekeeper also revealed in a Feb. 1 blog post that a single OpenClaw bot spun up more than 500,000 accounts on Moltbook because registration limitation safeguards were not in place on the platform.
Developers are now turning to trusted execution environments as a partial fix for associated risks around AI agents managing wallets, and governance, on-chain.
For now, the broader AI-driven shift in crypto still remains messy and experimental, as issues around security and practical implementation continue to be solved in real-time.
Nvidia and software company Dassault Systèmes are partnering to build an industrial AI platform, combining virtual twin technology with accelerated AI infrastructure.
The partnership was announced today at 3DExperience World, Dassault Systèmes’ annual design and engineering event.
Under the collaboration, Dassault Systèmes’ 3DExperience platform and virtual twin technologies will be integrated with Nvidia’s AI infrastructure, open models and accelerated software libraries to create what the companies described as science-validated “industry world models.”
The models are designed to support large-scale simulation, design and use of complex systems across manufacturing, engineering and life sciences.
“A virtual twin is a scientific, multidisciplinary and multiscale representation that is fully testable under real conditions before anything exists,” Dassault Systèmes’ executive vice president of research and innovation Florence Hu said during a pre-briefing.
Related:Siemens Unveils Tech Pipeline to Accelerate Industrial AI
Hu said this capability allows companies to holistically validate products before physical deployment and enable industrial transformation from a project’s inception.
“For an aerospace manufacturer designing a new engine, the virtual twin is not just a 3D model. It simulates thermal dynamics, stress, loads and performance under real flight conditions,” she added. “Before a single physical prototype exists, you can know whether it will work and the virtual world allows you to predict maintenance and test any modification.”
Another central feature of the platform is the introduction of “virtual companions,” agentic AI systems embedded in the 3DExperience platform. Hu said these companions act as AI experts that “understand intent, reason with industry world models and orchestrate actions.”
Three of these models have already been developed: Aura for business, Leo for engineering tasks and Marie for scientific use cases.
Hu described the shift as a move from SaaS to “agents as a service,” enabled by Nvidia’s AI models and orchestration tools, and is pitched as a transformative tool.
“Without AI factories at scale, there are no virtual twin factories, no industry world models and no virtual companions,” she said. “This partnership is not just a technology integration, it’s a shared vision for how AI will transform industry through science and validated, trustworthy intelligence.”
The expanded collaboration also reflects Nvidia’s push into physical AI.
The company is adopting Dassault Systèmes’ model-based systems engineering approach to design its own AI factories, starting with the Nvidia Rubin platform and integrating into Nvidia’s Omniverse Blueprint for large-scale AI factory deployment.
Related:Hyundai, Nvidia Build $3B AI Factory With Blackwell GPUs
“Together with Dassault Systèmes, we’re transforming how millions of researchers, designers and engineers build the world’s largest industries,” Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang said in a press release.
The Smarter Web Company began trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange today, marking a major milestone for the UK-based firm as it continues to position itself as Britain’s largest publicly listed bitcoin holder.
The company’s shares debuted under the ticker SWC at 43p. The uplisting follows the company’s initial public offering on the Aquis Exchange in April 2025, where it went on to become the UK’s best-performing equity that year.
Founded in 2009 by chief executive Andrew Webley, The Smarter Web Company began as a web design agency focused on building bespoke, mobile-friendly websites for small and medium-sized businesses.
In 2025, the firm pivoted toward a bitcoin treasury strategy, deploying capital into bitcoin as what it describes as “digital capital” on its balance sheet.
Today, The Smarter Web Company holds 2,674 bitcoin, making it the largest UK public company by bitcoin holdings and the 29th largest globally among public firms.
According to The Smarter Web Company, roughly £221 million of investor capital has been used to acquire bitcoin at an average price of just over $111,000 per coin.
Bitcoin was trading near $77,000 on Tuesday, down significantly from its peak above $120,000 last year.
Speaking at the London Stock Exchange opening ceremony, Webley said the Main Market listing represents the next stage in building a long-term British public company aligned with Bitcoin. “Moving to the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange marks the next significant milestone in that journey,” Webley said. “I am committed to building a British success story that contributes to the UK economy and demonstrates how bitcoin can be used as digital capital.”
Webley also reiterated his ambition for the company to enter the FTSE 250, potentially as early as the third quarterly rebalance of 2026, with longer-term aspirations to eventually reach the FTSE 100.
The United Kingdom’s version of Strategy
The Smarter Web Company’s strategy has drawn comparisons to U.S.-based firm Strategy, which pioneered the corporate bitcoin treasury model.
While a growing number of companies have since adopted similar approaches, Webley has argued that volatility is an inherent feature of the strategy rather than a flaw.
Despite its recent decline from a peak market capitalization of over £1 billion, Webley recently said the company plans to continue accumulating bitcoin regardless of price. The firm spent about £220 million accumulating their bitcoin, while its shares have plunged about 95%.
Webley argues the strategy is long-term, noting the company has increased its bitcoin holdings per share despite the downturn and plans to seek more institutional funding with a move to the London Stock Exchange’s main market.
An alleged ransom note demanding millions in Bitcoin has surfaced in the investigation into Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Office said it is reviewing all tips and coordinating with the FBI, but declined further comment.
Authorities believe Guthrie was abducted and are treating the case as a criminal investigation.
An alleged ransom note demanding Bitcoin has surfaced in the investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today show anchor Savannah Guthrie, as authorities continue to treat the case as a suspected abduction.
The note, first reported by TMZ, is allegedly demanding “a large” Bitcoin payment in exchange for Guthrie’s release. The ransom note emailed to TMZ reportedly includes a deadline and an implied threat against Guthrie if the demand is not met.
“We have called the sheriff’s department. We’ve made multiple calls and spoken with the detective unit,” TMZ founder and host Harvey Levin said during a segment of TMZ Live. “We have passed on this email. We don’t know whether this is legit or not.”
Guthrie was last seen on the evening of January 31 at her home in the Catalina Foothills area of Arizona.
Authorities initially classified her as a missing vulnerable adult because of her age, before announcing on February 2 that the case was being treated as a “possible kidnapping” after investigators found what they described as “very concerning” evidence inside the home.
TMZ’s Levin said that media outlets receiving these types of ransoms are not uncommon and “happen from time to time.”
Law enforcement has not confirmed whether they believe the ransom note is actually from the kidnappers or a hoax to steal Bitcoin.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment further when contacted by Decrypt, but pointed to a statement previously issued on social media.
“We are aware of reports circulating about possible ransom note(s) regarding the investigation into Nancy Guthrie,” the sheriff’s office wrote Tuesday on X. “We are taking all tips and leads very seriously. Anything that comes in goes directly to our detectives, who are coordinating with the FBI.”
While the authenticity of the ransom note has not been confirmed, TMZ executive producer and co-host Charles Latibeaudiere said the messaging included a real Bitcoin address.
“One thing we should say is that we have confirmed the Bitcoin address that they’ve included is legit,” he said. The note also included a description of what Guthrie was wearing at the time and a damaged item in the house, TMZ said.
Decrypt has reached out to TMZ to confirm the address’s authenticity and will update this article should they respond. Representatives for Savannah Guthrie did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.
Bitcoin kidnappings and extortion
The use of Bitcoin in ransom demands dates back more than a decade, when early ransomware strains began demanding crypto payments to unlock encrypted files. The model later became widespread across cybercrime.
In recent years, that tactic has increasingly appeared in physical kidnapping, turning into so-called “wrench attacks” and extortion cases.
In April 2024, a Canadian family was tortured by assailants who demanded access to their crypto holdings. In November 2024, WonderFi CEO Dean Skurka was abducted in Toronto and released after a $720,000 ransom was paid.
Two months later, Ledger co-founder David Balland was kidnapped in France, which included a crypto ransom demand.
In the U.S., New York prosecutors in June of last year charged two men with kidnapping and torturing an Italian national for weeks in an alleged attempt to force access to his Bitcoin holdings.
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The Ethereum co-founder argues for a pivot from the rollup-centric roadmap, citing progress made towards scaling the base layer.
After years of Layer 2 (L2) networks popping up in an attempt to scale Ethereum and claim market share, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin says that the L2 model for scalability no longer makes sense due to the Layer 1’s (L1) scaling efforts.
“The original vision of L2s and their role in Ethereum no longer makes sense, and we need a new path,” Buterin wrote on X, citing issues such as slow progress towards decentralization, while noting that the Ethereum mainnet is scaling and consistently maintaining low gas costs.
Gas costs, in particular, were a major obstacle for decentralized finance (DeFi) power users in 2021 and 2022, when network activity surged amid the popularity of DeFi and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). During high-demand periods, such as a hyped NFT mint or a capped DeFi vault deposit, gas fees could skyrocket to thousands of dollars just to attempt a transaction, with no guarantee of its success.
The infamous Otherside NFT mint from the Bored Ape Yacht Club led to more than 55,000 ETH, worth $193 million at the time, being burned. While ETH holders who didn’t participate in the mint likely celebrated the supply burn, many users attempted to mint Otherside NFTs but failed, incinerating thousands of dollars in the process.
What Should Layer 2s Do Now?
Buterin went on to say that L2s can and should add value other than just scaling Ethereum. He cited features such as privacy, application-specific specialization, non-financial application-focused chains, various iterations of high-speed scaling, and lastly, built-in oracles or dispute resolution for applications like Polymarket.
Layer 2 tokens in particular have been a minefield for investors, with tokens of leading L2s such as ARB and OP falling more than 90% from their respective all-time highs, while other highly anticipated Layer 2 ecosystems, such as Blast, Scroll, and Linea, were unable to retain activity after their initial launch phases.
Older and mid‑range mining rigs like the Antminer S19 XP+ Hydro, Whatsminer M60S and Avalon A1466I have reportedly already crossed shutdown thresholds, while even newer S21 units are nearing viability limits. The Profitability Cliff The bitcoin mining industry is facing a severe profitability squeeze this week as a combination of falling cryptocurrency prices and high […]
