GameStop Bets $512 Million on Bitcoin
Tesla Loses the Plot, GameStop Buys Bitcoin, and Cetus Tests Crypto’s Ethics
Good morning everybody, it is Wednesday, May 28th, 2025. My name is Matt and this is DCN. If you caught the newsletter yesterday, you already know Kyle and I went live from the Bitcoin Conference. Kyle’s on the ground in Vegas doing interviews, scouting new tech, talking ideas. If you’re not subscribed yet, head over to dailycryptonews.net — the live episode is pinned right on the homepage.
Let’s get into it.
🎮 GameStop Buys $512M Worth of BTC for Bitcoin Treasury
🇸🇻 El Salvador Defies IMF Again With Fresh Bitcoin Purchase
🔄 Cetus Reveals Recovery Plan, Secures Sui Bridge Loan
💸 How a Hacker Used Fake Tokens to Drain $220M From Sui DEX Cetus
📉 Fed Minutes Hint at Continued Rate Caution Despite Inflation Progress
🆔 How ZK Proofs Can Verify Identity Without Sacrificing Privacy
📉 Trader Cobb & Market Training via The Grow Me Co
Cybertruck Charging Costs More Than Gas?
This one isn’t “news” exactly, but it caught my eye. A guy with a Tesla Cybertruck said his charging costs came out higher than if he had just bought gas. He clocked 6,712 miles in a month — nuts — and at 18 MPG in a gas truck, that would be about $1,182 in fuel at the $3.17 national average.
Instead, he paid $1,395 to charge his Tesla using the Supercharger network. So yeah, more expensive than gas.
Now I’ve owned a Tesla since 2021 and loved it — back then, charging at home was cheap, Superchargers were affordable. But then things changed. Tesla raised rates. Suddenly it wasn’t cheaper anymore. And now this story has me wondering if Tesla’s lost the plot. What do you think? Hit me on Substack or Spotify.
GameStop Buys 4,710 Bitcoin
GameStop just bought 4,710 Bitcoin — worth about $512 million — using funds from a $1.5B convertible note offering. This follows the Michael Saylor treasury playbook, joining companies like Tesla, Riot, Marathon, and CleanSpark.
But here’s the thing — GameStop is still basically a meme stock. Its identity is tied to Reddit-fueled hype. A vague meme from Roaring Kitty still sends the stock skyrocketing. This latest move feels like an attempt to transform into a “digital asset” company, even though they’re still a place to buy and sell video games.
Let’s be honest: they owe their entire existence to crypto degens. So maybe this is the first real attempt to pivot into something sustainable. I’m watching, but I want to see more.
El Salvador Defies IMF, Buys More Bitcoin
Right after the IMF praised El Salvador for hitting most of its economic reform targets, they also reminded Bukele to stop buying Bitcoin. What did El Salvador do? They bought 8 more coins.
Boss move.
The IMF wants the country to unwind public Bitcoin initiatives like the Chivo wallet by July. Bukele responded by leaning into the legal gray area — having the independent Bitcoin Office do the buying. El Salvador now holds 6,200 BTC worth around $674 million.
Cetus Hack: A Real Test of Crypto Ethics
Last week, the Sui-based DEX aggregator Cetus was hacked for $223 million. The attackers used spoof tokens to manipulate oracle pricing and drain the pools. They bridged $60M to Ethereum, swapped into USDC, and still control over $37M. Another $162M is frozen on SUI.
Here’s where it gets thorny.
The Cetus community is now voting on a protocol-level upgrade to forcibly reclaim those frozen funds — without consent from the hacker. It’s a rare move. If passed, it opens the door to transactions being reversed by governance. All participation so far is in favor. None opposed.
They’re calling it bold. I call it revealing.
What’s the point of decentralized finance if it acts like traditional banks when tested? Pause transactions? Censor wallets? Freeze funds? Sounds familiar. Think Canada freezing the truckers’ funds. The issue isn’t left vs. right — it’s about the power to arbitrarily who gets to spend money. And, is it morally or ethically right just because the majority decided it is?
If decentralization means anything, it should mean power is neutral. This sets a precedent, and I don’t love it. What do you think?
Fed Minutes Incoming — Trump vs. Powell?
At 2 p.m. today, the Fed releases minutes from its May 6–7 meeting. Everyone’s looking for rate hike signals heading into June. Inflation’s cooling a bit, but core prices are sticky. Retail sales weak, labor market solid. Even sentiment surveys are conflicted.
What’s making it worse? The beef between President Trump and Jerome Powell. Is Powell being hawkish to spite Trump? Is this ego or economics?
We’ll see if the minutes offer any hints on their confidence or future policy changes.
Zero-Knowledge Proofs and the Future of Privacy
We give away way too much information. You walk into a bar, hand over your ID just to prove you're 21. They now know your birthday, address, weight, eye color, maybe even your organ donor status — all for a yes or no question.
That’s broken.
Zero-knowledge proofs fix that. You can prove you’re old enough, have enough funds, a valid license — without revealing any private data. It’s a huge deal for digital sovereignty, and honestly, we don’t talk about it enough.
It’s not just about privacy. It’s about control.
Verification Is the Key to Fair Trade
Jason Teutsch, founder of TrueBit, dropped by to talk about verification and trade. With the U.S. imposing new 10%+ tariffs on dozens of countries, questions about product origin are exploding. Are companies routing goods through other countries to avoid tariffs? How do we prove where stuff comes from?
Jason argues that verification technology — not AI guesswork — is what we really need. Without it, you’re just replacing one black box with another.
Big thanks to Jason and to Wachsman for connecting us.
One Listener's Take on the Podcast Thumbnails
JConn wrote in: “Matt, I can’t believe no one comments on your podcast thumbnails. This one was wild.” I appreciate that, Jay. Every episode gets a custom cover, and I consider them little pieces of art.
Once I have enough of them, I’m minting an NFT collection — 15 rows across, 15 rows down. Each one will have the episode title and date on the back. Five copies only. Let’s see who wants them.
Crypto Prices at 10:15 a.m. ET
Bitcoin: $107,771 (-2.2%)
Ethereum: $2,625 (-1.4%)
XRP: $0.227 (-2.6%)
Binance Coin: $684 (-1.7%)
Solana: $171 (-3.5%)
Dogecoin: $0.219 (-4.2%)
Cardano: $0.747 (-2.7%)
Tron: $0.274 (even)
Toncoin: $3.40 (+13.3%)
Total Market Cap: $3.41 trillion (-1.8%)
Bitcoin Market Cap: $2.14 trillion
Ethereum Market Cap: $317.4 billion
Fear & Greed Index: 68 (Greedy)
That’s the show. I’ll probably skip going live today — I’m out and about — but Kyle and I will go live again tomorrow at 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT. Until then, happy hodling, everyone.