Controversy has trailed the announcement of a Crypto Strategic Reserve with critics taking swipes at crypto czar David Sacks over allegations of unjust enrichment. Gemini cofounder Cameron Winklevoss has waded in to defend Sacks, noting that the crypto czar is losing a fortune in gains by preventing a conflict of interest.
Gemini Founder Says Sacks Could Lose Up To $1 Billion In Crypto Gains
Amid swirling speculations of unjust enrichment, Sacks confirmed the sale of all his cryptocurrency holdings to avoid a conflict of interest. Gemini Founder Cameron Winklevoss remarked that Sacks’ decision to sell off all cryptocurrencies would cost him gains running into a billion dollars.
“David Sacks is going to easily lose out on $1 billion in crypto gains over the next 4 years,” said Winklevoss. “He sold all of his crypto holdings (including $85 million of his personal holdings) prior to becoming AI and crypto czar.”
Sacks has previously confirmed the sale of his digital asset holdings while denying Multicoin exposure after divesting his stake. According to Sacks, he cumulatively sold $200 million worth of cryptocurrencies while disposing of $85 million worth of personal assets. He confirmed that he liquidated his holdings in crypto funds, including Bitwise and Blockchain Capital, before assuming office.
Cameron says Sacks is at the helm of a policy shift for cryptocurrencies in the US but will not reap any benefits from the windfall of changes.
“He is doing tremendous work and will not be sharing in any of the economic upsides to avoid even the slightest appearance of a conflict,” said the Gemini cofounder.
Sacks Leads The Charge For New Crypto Policy Without Pecuniary Benefits
David Sacks has hit the ground running since his appointment as crypto and AI czar, playing a key role in setting up the White House Crypto Summit. His efforts led to the establishment of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and the US Digital Asset Stockpile.
Sacks disclosed that the US has lost over $17 billion from the previous sale of confiscated Bitcoins. The concerted efforts of Sacks are expected to trigger new institutional interest in the ecosystem, sending prices to new all-time highs by the end of Trump’s first tenure.
Nike is under fire after a group of investors filed a class action lawsuit, accusing the sportswear giant of causing massive financial losses by shutting down RTFKT, its Web3-focused subsidiary acquired in 2021.
The investors claim Nike’s actions led to a sharp collapse in the value of Nike-branded NFTs, wiping out millions in investments.
Nike Accused of Promoting Unregistered Securities Through NFTs
According to court documents, Nike allegedly “rugpulled” the community by closing RTFKT and cutting off demand for the associated digital assets.
The plaintiffs argue that Nike used its brand power and marketing expertise to promote what they describe as unregistered securities before suddenly abandoning the project.
This NFT project made $168M
Nike bought it
Elon Musk and Kanye West wore their shoes
Now the collection is gone And so are the founders
However, once RTFKT was dissolved, these incentives vanished. Buyers who once anticipated exclusive rewards and profitable resales saw their investments lose value almost instantly.
“Because The Nike NFTs derived their value from the success of a given promoter and project – here, Nike and its marketing efforts – investors purchased this digital asset with the hope that its value would increase in the future as the project grows in popularity based on the Nike brand,” the lawsuit stated.
The complaint highlights that promises of completing quests, unlocking limited-edition products, and opportunities for secondary sales were key motivations for purchasing the NFTs.
With the collapse of RTFKT’s operations, these incentives evaporated, leaving investors with worthless digital assets.
The investors argued that they would not have purchased the digital assets at inflated prices if they had known the true risks.
“Plaintiff and others would never have purchased the Nike NFTs at the prices they did, or at all, had they known that the Nike NFTs were unregistered securities or that Nike would cause the rug to be pulled out from under them,” the investors argued.
The plaintiffs seek a jury trial and damages exceeding $5 million for the alleged violations of consumer protection laws in New York, California, Florida, and Oregon.
RTFKT Suffers Technical Glitches
Meanwhile, this lawsuit comes as investor frustrations were further amplified on April 24 when technical issues prevented the Nike-linked NFT images from displaying.
“Beginning of April, the decision to stay on Cloudflare Free was (finally) approved and I started the work to move the infrastructure. Somehow this morning Cloudflare decided to move to the Free plan few days before the end of the contract which also triggered that bug in which Cloudflare refuses to stream images and videos,” Cardillo explained.
While most images have since been restored, Cardillo is now moving RTFKT’s NFT files to Arweave’s decentralized storage platform using AR Drive. This step aims to protect NFT holders from similar outages in the future.
President Donald Trump’s latest executive order (EO) introduces new rules for how the U.S. government will handle digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC), XRP, and other cryptocurrencies. The order focuses on two key components: a strategic reserve for Bitcoin and a broader digital asset stockpile that includes XRP and other altcoins.
What is the Strategic Reserve for Bitcoin?
According to Fox Business’ Eleanor Terrett and David Sacks, the EO establishes a strategic reserve for Bitcoin (BTC), which will be the U.S. government’s primary digital asset. This reserve will be funded using the approximately 200,000 BTC tokens already in the government’s possession. These Bitcoins were seized over the years through criminal and civil forfeitures—meaning they were taken from illegal activities. The government will not need to buy any additional Bitcoin with taxpayer money. In fact, officials are authorized to explore ways to acquire more Bitcoin, but only through methods that do not cost taxpayers.
What is the Digital Asset Stockpile?
Alongside the Bitcoin reserve, the EO also creates a digital asset stockpile, which will contain cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin. The stockpile will likely include assets like XRP, ADA (Cardano), ETH (Ethereum), and SOL (Solana), as announced by the President. However, unlike Bitcoin, the government will not actively look to purchase more of these altcoins. Instead, it will explore ways to acquire them without spending taxpayer dollars, such as using cryptocurrencies already seized from illicit activities.
The Role of Seized Assets
A key point discussed by experts is how the government will build its stockpile of XRP, ADA, and other cryptos without purchasing them. According to a former Goldman Sachs employee and founder of EasyA, the government will use seized assets to fill the stockpile. Over the years, the government has confiscated a large amount of cryptocurrency as part of legal actions against criminal activity. This means no new taxpayer money will be used for the stockpile.
No Plans to Sell Crypto
The government also announced that it will not be selling any of its seized cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and others. This decision could reduce market volatility caused by government sales of crypto. Over the last decade, the government sold around 195,000 BTC, which some believe led to downward pressure on Bitcoin’s price. By holding onto these assets, the government is signaling a more stable approach to managing its digital holdings.
What Does This Mean for the Crypto Market?
The decision not to sell seized cryptocurrencies, along with the creation of a digital asset reserve and stockpile, is seen as a positive step for the crypto market. It reduces potential selling pressure and might help stabilize prices, especially for Bitcoin. Overall, these measures are viewed as bullish for the market, particularly for Bitcoin and other digital assets included in the government’s stockpile.
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President Donald Trump’s latest executive order (EO) introduces new rules for how the U.S. government will handle digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC), XRP, and other cryptocurrencies. The order focuses on two key components: a strategic reserve for Bitcoin and a broader digital asset stockpile that includes XRP and other altcoins. What is the Strategic Reserve …
Chainalysis’s latest report revealed that cryptocurrency services lost over $2.17 billion in 2025, exceeding the total amount stolen in all of 2024. Moreover, 2025 is on track to become the worst year on record.
The report highlighted that a growing share of stolen funds comes from personal wallet breaches. Furthermore, the use of physical violence against crypto holders has also increased this year.
Crypto Crime Hits New Heights in 2025
In their latest 2025 Crypto Crime Mid-year Update, Chainalysis stressed that with still nearly half a year left to go, 2025 has already proven worse than the entire 2024.
“Stolen fund activity stands out as the dominant concern in 2025. While other forms of illicit activity have shown mixed trends YoY, the surge in cryptocurrency thefts represents both an immediate threat to ecosystem participants and a long-term challenge for the industry’s security infrastructure,” the report reads
The blockchain data platform revealed that 2022 remains the worst year on record in terms of the total value stolen from services. However, it took 214 days to accumulate $2 billion in stolen funds.
In stark contrast, 2025 reached similar levels in just 142 days. By the end of June 2025, the value stolen year-to-date (YTD) was 17% higher than in 2022.
For scandals, rug pulls, and crypto crime: Don’t miss the dark side of crypto, subscribe to Editor Mohammad Shahid’s Crypto Crime Files, here.
Chainalysis predicted that if current trends continue, stolen funds from crypto services alone could exceed $4.3 billion by the end of the year, posing a significant threat to the security and trust within the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Nonetheless, the report pointed out that the most significant incident driving this surge is the $1.5 billion Bybit hack, attributed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group. This single breach accounted for approximately 69% of all funds stolen from services in 2025.
“This mega-breach fits within a broader pattern of North Korean cryptocurrency operations, which have become increasingly central to the regime’s sanctions evasion strategies. Last year, known DPRK-related losses totaled $1.3 billion (heretofore the worst year on record), making 2025 already by far their most successful year to date,” Chainalysis noted.
Crypto Theft Trends Highlight Rising Risks for Individuals
Beyond large-scale breaches, attackers shifted their focus to individual users this year. Personal wallet compromises made up 23.35% of total stolen funds year-to-date. Chainalysis observed three key trends in these breaches.
Firstly, Bitcoin theft accounts for a large share of stolen value. Secondly, the average loss from compromised Bitcoin wallets has grown over time, suggesting that attackers are targeting higher-value holdings. Thirdly, there has been an increase in the number of victims on non-Bitcoin and non-EVM chains like Solana.
The report suggested that while Bitcoin holders are less likely to be targeted compared to other on-chain asset holders, when they do fall victim, the losses tend to be more significant.
This trend is particularly alarming in regions with high crypto adoption, such as North America. It leads in both Bitcoin and altcoin thefts, and Europe dominates in Ethereum and stablecoin losses.
APAC (Asia-Pacific) ranks second for total BTC stolen and third for Ethereum. CSAO (Commonwealth of Independent States and Central Asia) ranks second for stolen altcoin and stablecoin value.
“So far in 2025, the US, Germany, Russia, Canada, Japan, Indonesia, and South Korea top the list of highest victim counts per country, whereas Eastern Europe, MENA, and CSAO saw the most rapid H1 2024 to H1 2025 growth in victim totals,” the report stated.
Meanwhile, Chainalysis also spotlighted the disturbing trend of ‘wrench attacks’ against crypto holders. Wrench attacks essentially involve using physical violence or threats to force victims to reveal private keys or transfer assets, bypassing digital security measures by targeting the individual directly.
BeInCrypto previously reported on the rise in kidnappings of crypto moguls, which was closely tied to Bitcoin’s increasing price. Interestingly, the report also revealed a correlation between these incidents and Bitcoin price movements.
“Our analysis reveals a clear correlation between these violent incidents and a forward-looking moving average of bitcoin’s price, suggesting that the future increase in asset values (and the perception of its future upward movement) may trigger additional opportunistic physical attacks against known crypto holders,” Chainalysis remarked.
Rising Violence Against Crypto Holders. Source: Chainalysis
The report warned that, based on current trends, 2025 is expected to have a significantly higher number of physical attacks against crypto holders, potentially double that of the ‘next highest year on record,’ with crime underreporting likely concealing the true extent of the problem.
