Bitcoin fell below $76,000 on Thursday as a rout in AI-linked stocks swept through markets, giving back its post-election rally. The Nasdaq sank nearly 6%, on track for its worst day since April 2025’s tariff rollout, and crypto miners, many now pivoting to AI computing, fell 15%–20%. Analysts at FalconX and GSR said the midterm results revived worries that political opposition could slow data center construction. Coinbase, Circle and BitGo dropped 10%–15% and Strategy lost 9.6%. More than $1 billion in leveraged crypto bets were liquidated, mostly bullish ones, the biggest wipeout since Oct. 28–29. Bitcoin was down roughly 5.5% over 24 hours, while ether, Solana, XRP and Hyperliquid fell 6%–7%. Wintermute’s Jasper De Maere said crypto has held up relatively well and he remains upbeat on the medium term.
The FBI and analysis firms blame TraderTraitor, North Korea’s elite crypto-theft unit, for the $6.3 billion Binance heist, the largest in crypto history. The group sits inside the broader Lazarus network and has also been linked to the $1.5 billion Bybit theft in 2025 and the $308 million DMM Bitcoin hack in 2024. Its playbook relies on people more than code: fake recruiters and job interviews, malware-laced coding tests, then weeks of patient staging before moving funds. The group launders proceeds partly through over-the-counter traders who convert crypto to cash. Pyongyang denies involvement. The Binance theft roughly doubled the more than $6 billion TRM Labs estimated North Korean hackers had stolen since 2017.
Your digital asset holdings could be working harder for you. With in-kind transfers available across 10 Grayscale products, eligible investors can exchange their crypto tokens for shares of the corresponding product — without first selling for cash.
Three core features of in-kind investing:
Put holdings to work. Shares may be eligible for use as margin or collateral. Where listed options are available, they may also help hedge exposure or generate income.
Bring investments together. Incorporate crypto exposure into portfolio management and estate planning, including beneficiary designations.
Simplify safekeeping. Underlying assets are held by institutional cusodians, reducing the burden of storing crypto and managing private keys.
Grayscale Exchange Traded Products (the “ETPs”) are not registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (40 Act) and therefore are not subject to the same regulations and protections as 40 Act registered ETFs and mutual funds. The ETPs are subject to significant risk, heightened volatility, and are not suitable for all investors. An investment in the ETPs is not a direct investment in any cryptocurrency.
Extreme volatility of trading prices that many digital assets have experienced in recent periods, and may continue to experience, could have a material adverse effect on the value of the Fund and the shares could lose all or substantially all of their value. Digital assets represent a new and rapidly evolving industry. The value of the ETPs depends on the acceptance of digital assets, the capabilities and development of blockchain technologies and the fundamental investment characteristics of the digital asset. Digital asset networks are developed by a diverse set of contributors and the perception that certain high-profile contributors will no longer contribute to the network could have an adverse effect on the market price of the related digital asset. Digital assets may have concentrated ownership and large sales or distributions by holders of such digital assets could have an adverse effect on the market price of such digital assets.
Converting tokens in kind into Grayscale’s spot crypto ETPs may require selling or swapping tokens into the underlying asset, creating exposure to market impact, slippage, and timing risk. The ETP shares received may trade at a premium or discount to NAV. Tax treatment is uncertain and may trigger taxable events, particularly when contributing assets other than the ETP’s underlying crypto.
Foreside Fund Services, LLC is the Marketing Agent and Grayscale Investments Sponsors, LLC is the sponsor of the ETPs.
The Justice Department has formed a Super Intelligence Task Force, using the Trump administration’s preferred term for AI, to complement the existing SI Force led by Jay Clayton. Attorney General Todd Blanche said it will help keep the technology from being manipulated by bad actors at home or abroad, including state-sponsored actors, transnational criminal groups and individuals or companies committing fraud. The department also plans to check that businesses using AI maintain strong internal controls. The move comes as the administration’s AI focus grows while its active crypto policy work has waned: the White House office that helped shepherd crypto legislation is vacant.
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