Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox said a security audit by Anthropic’s Claude Mythos artificial intelligence model found no serious vulnerabilities in the privacy-preserving cryptocurrency’s protocol.

Requested by Shielded Labs, a Swiss-based non-profit supporting the development of Zcash, the AI security audit did not find “any more serious bugs” in the Zcash protocol, according to a Saturday X post by Wilcox.

On June 3, Zcash developers temporarily suspended Orchard transactions after discovering a vulnerability in the shielded pool. Functionality was restored later that day through an emergency upgrade.

The issue stemmed from a four-year-old forgery bug in the Orchard shielded pool that was discovered by security researcher Taylor Hornby with the help of Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.8 model. The Zcash Foundation said there was no evidence that the vulnerability was exploited, nor was there any unauthorized value creation detected, while user privacy was unaffected.

Source: Zooko Wilcox

AI models spark crypto security concerns

While developers are using new AI models to identify vulnerabilities, the technology is simultaneously raising security concerns across the crypto industry.

On Tuesday, Anthropic released the first public version of its Claude Mythos model, Fable 5. The company said last month that the Mythos model uncovered more than 10,000 high or critical-severity vulnerabilities in “systemically important software,” leading to concerns about whether it should be publicly released.

The company said users that Fable 5 was “made safe for general use” and has safeguards that reroute some topics, such as cybersecurity, to a different model, Claude Opus 4.8.  

On Friday, Anthropic said it suspended access to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 AI models due to a US government export control directive citing national security concerns.

Related: Recovery hopes fade as Kelp DAO hacker launders nearly all $220M in stolen funds 

The proliferation of these new AI models has shifted the cybersecurity playing field in favor of the threat actors, causing a “vulnerability apocalypse” that is fueling a resurgence in decentralized finance (DeFi) hacks, Mitchell Amador, the CEO of bug bounty platform Immunefi, told Cointelegraph in a recent interview.

Crypto hacks surged to $634 million in April, the highest monthly value since the Bybit hack led to about $1.4 billion in losses in February 2025, according to DefiLlama data. 

Magazine: The legal battle over who can claim DeFi’s stolen millions 

Michael Saylor, executive chairman of Strategy, has defended the company’s first reported Bitcoin sale since 2022, arguing that the ability to sell BTC when necessary is integral to issuing “digital credit” products. The comments come as Strategy continues to frame Bitcoin not just as a treasury asset, but as the backing for securities designed to generate yield.

In a June 1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Strategy disclosed it sold 32 BTC—an action that contrasted with Saylor’s long-standing public message to “never sell your Bitcoin.” Speaking to Cointelegraph at the BTC Prague conference, Saylor said the logic is simple: digital-credit instruments only retain value if the issuer can manage its collateral and obligations.

Key takeaways

• Strategy disclosed a 32 BTC sale on June 1, marking its first reported BTC sale since 2022.
• Saylor argues “digital credit” requires the practical ability to sell Bitcoin to support credit-linked products and dividends.
• He positioned Strategy’s STRC preferred stock as a credit instrument backed by the company’s Bitcoin balance sheet.
• Saylor described digital credit markets as a potential “trillion-dollar opportunity,” including yield targets he claimed could reach up to 8%.
• Recent stress in apxUSD highlights how digital-credit collateral and liquidity can be tested when BTC and related assets move sharply.

Why Strategy sold Bitcoin after “never sell” messaging

Strategy’s filing—covering a sale of 32 BTC—was widely notable because it came after years in which Saylor’s rhetoric emphasized holding. In his remarks at BTC Prague, Saylor reframed the issue around the function of Bitcoin within Strategy’s business model.

He said that Bitcoin treasury companies that issue credit-linked securities must retain the ability to sell holdings when needed. In his explanation, if a company commits to never selling its BTC, the resulting credit products lose the flexibility investors rely on—meaning the securities’ perceived value could deteriorate.

“If the company’s policy is that we won’t sell the Bitcoin, then the credit won’t have value and the equity won’t have value,” Saylor said, adding: “The company is in the business of selling digital credit. The credit is backed by capital. Bitcoin is capital.”

The distinction Saylor drew matters for investors trying to understand the risk structure of Bitcoin-backed credit instruments. For holders of treasury-backed securities, the question is not whether BTC is “sold or not” in every scenario—it’s whether the issuer can actively manage collateral to meet obligations without undermining the product’s credit economics.

“Digital credit” as a Bitcoin use case

Saylor described digital credit markets as the next phase of Bitcoin finance, asserting they could enable yield-bearing digital money products. He argued that Bitcoin is a “digital transformation of capital,” and that instruments such as STRC represent a transformation of credit.

According to Saylor, digital credit products can offer yields “of up to 8%,” which he said is multiple times higher than traditional savings accounts. While the headline yield claim is framed as an outcome possible in these markets, the underlying premise is that Bitcoin collateral can be structured to support credit obligations and dividend-style distributions.

For Strategy, that thesis is not abstract. Saylor pointed to STRC preferred stock as an example of a “digital credit” instrument that uses Strategy’s Bitcoin balance sheet to support credit responsibilities. He also suggested that these securities have become a primary pathway for raising capital to acquire additional Bitcoin.

That broader model shifts the lens for market watchers. Instead of treating Strategy as only a spot BTC holder, Saylor’s comments place the firm inside a credit origination and balance-sheet engineering framework—one where collateral liquidity, market drawdowns, and dividend mechanics may determine whether the product performs as designed.

Market stress test: apxUSD depeg linked to STRC collateral

Saylor’s bullish framing on digital credit came alongside a concrete example of how these systems can face pressure during volatile market moves. On June 4, Apyx Finance’s dividend-backed synthetic stablecoin, apxUSD, reportedly depegged to as low as $0.90 while Bitcoin traded below $63,000 and STRC shares fell below their $100 par value.

In a report on the depeg, Apyx attributed the decline to changes in the value of STRC, which is described as the stablecoin’s primary collateral asset. As STRC’s value dropped, Apyx said the protocol’s reserve value was reduced. The company also pointed to factors including falling Bitcoin prices, thinning liquidity, and derivative-driven market dynamics.

At press time in Cointelegraph’s reporting, apxUSD was trading around $0.96—still below its $1 peg. The episode underscores a key investor question for digital credit products: even if the mechanism is designed to create yield, what happens when the underlying collateral and the market plumbing both deteriorate at the same time?

The implication is that issuers and borrowers in these structures may rely not only on long-term collateral value, but also on short-term liquidity conditions. In that sense, Saylor’s insistence on having the ability to sell Bitcoin when necessary directly intersects with the kind of collateral stress that depegs and drawdowns can trigger.

What to watch next for Bitcoin-backed credit

Saylor’s defense of the Bitcoin sale is ultimately a statement about operational flexibility in digital-credit systems—particularly how issuers manage collateral across market downturns. For investors, the next signals to monitor are how Strategy and similar operators disclose collateral management policies, and whether stablecoin and synthetic credit products can hold their structure when BTC and collateral-linked securities move quickly.

Michael Saylor, executive chairman of Strategy, defended the company’s recent Bitcoin sale, saying the ability to sell the asset is necessary to continue issuing “digital credit.”

Strategy disclosed its first reported Bitcoin sale since 2022 in a June 1 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, offloading 32 BTC in a move that appeared at odds with Saylor’s long-running “never sell your Bitcoin” mantra.

In an interview with Cointelegraph at the BTC Prague conference, Saylor said that Bitcoin treasury companies must retain the ability to sell holdings when necessary to support dividend-paying securities and other Bitcoin-backed credit products. 

“If the company’s policy is that we won’t sell the Bitcoin, then the credit won’t have value and the equity won’t have value,” he said, adding:

The company is in the business of selling digital credit. The credit is backed by capital. Bitcoin is capital.”

Cointelegraph’s Ciaran Lyons (left) and Strategy founder Michael Saylor (right) at BTC Prague. Source: Cointelegraph

Saylor described products like Strategy’s STRC preferred stock as “digital credit” instruments that use the company’s Bitcoin balance sheet to support credit obligations. For Strategy, such securities have become a primary vehicle for raising capital to acquire more Bitcoin.

Digital credit is a “trillion-dollar” opportunity for Bitcoin finance, Saylor says

Digital credit markets are emerging as the next “trillion-dollar opportunity” in finance, a development that Saylor said could enable yield-bearing digital money products.

“I see Bitcoin as the digital transformation of capital. I see STRC as the digital transformation of credit,” Saylor said, explaining that digital credit products can offer yields of up to 8%, which is three to four times more than traditional savings accounts.

Related: Saylor downplays Bitcoin slide as Strategy faces $11B paper loss

Saylor said digital credit products could transform how people see credit markets, while also bringing billions of dollars into the Bitcoin ecosystem.

He cited projects such as Saturn and Apyx as examples of yield-bearing products built on top of digital credit markets. One of those products recently faced a test of its resilience.

On June 4, Apyx Finance’s dividend-backed synthetic stablecoin (apxUSD) depegged to as low as $0.90 as Bitcoin traded below $63,000 and STRC shares fell below their $100 par value.

According to Apyx, the decline in STRC, the stablecoin’s primary collateral asset, reduced the protocol’s reserve value. The company also cited falling Bitcoin prices, thinning liquidity and derivative-driven market dynamics as factors behind the depeg.

At press time, apxUSD traded at $0.96, below its $1 peg. Source: Coingecko

The full interview with Saylor will be available on Cointelegraph’s YouTube channel in the coming days.

Magazine: Bitcoin ETFs bleed $1B, Aave’s $71M ETH unfreeze bid delayed: Hodler’s Digest, May 10 – 16

The comparison may indicate how much the U.S. crypto derivatives market could change over the next several years. While spot bitcoin ETFs opened the door for traditional investors to gain exposure to bitcoin through brokerage accounts, regulated perpetual futures could give both retail and institutional traders access to one of crypto’s most popular trading instruments without needing to use offshore venues.

Prediction market platform Kalshi, which launched U.S. perpetual futures last week, said on Wednesday that it already crossed $1 billion in trading volume.

Palmer argued that one reason perpetual futures became so successful outside the U.S. is their simplicity. Unlike dated futures, which require traders to manage expirations and contract rolls, perps allow positions to remain open indefinitely.

“I think it’s a simple derivative structure compared to some of the nuances of dealing with dated futures,” he said. “If I buy a June [future], then it expires, and if I want to keep my position on, I have to roll it.”

Kraken believes removing those complexities — and eventually allowing crypto assets to be used as collateral — could help bring U.S. traders closer to the experience available in international markets, he said.

For now, the company sees the launch of regulated perps as just the beginning. Despite crypto derivatives generating trillions of dollars in annual volume globally, Palmer said the U.S. market remains in its early stages.

Key Takeaways

• ARK Invest acquired 3.29 million SpaceX shares valued at $444M during the company’s Nasdaq launch
• The SpaceX public debut generated $75 billion, setting a new record for the largest IPO ever
• ARK liquidated $39.3M worth of Advanced Micro Devices stock across three ETFs simultaneously
• ARK reduced holdings in Rocket Lab — a company SpaceX identified as a competitive rival in regulatory filings
• The acquisition came after ARK divested positions in 20 firms totaling $222.87M one day earlier

On Friday, June 13, 2026, Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest executed a substantial strategic investment. The investment management firm acquired 3,291,184 SpaceX shares distributed across four exchange-traded funds, coinciding with the aerospace company’s historic Nasdaq listing.

The aggregate investment reached $444,309,840, allocated among the ARK Innovation ETF, ARK Autonomous Technology and Robotics ETF, ARK Next Generation Internet ETF, and ARK Space Exploration and Innovation ETF.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., SPCX

Prior to going public, SpaceX represented ARK’s most significant position in its Venture Fund, accounting for more than 11% of net assets — surpassing both OpenAI and Anthropic.

ARK initially backed SpaceX through its Venture Fund in late 2023, when the aerospace manufacturer was valued under $200 billion. The company now commands a market capitalization of $2.11 trillion.

Historic Public Market Debut

The SpaceX IPO generated $75 billion through the distribution of 555.6 million shares, establishing it as the most substantial initial public offering on record.

Within ARKX, the SpaceX allocation immediately became a top-tier holding, constituting 6.89% of the fund’s composition.

ARK has consistently championed SpaceX’s business approach. “The company’s ability to re-use rockets results in structurally lower launch costs than competitors that will prove difficult to match,” the firm articulated in its investment rationale.

Portfolio Rebalancing: AMD and Rocket Lab Exit

To accommodate the SpaceX investment, ARK executed divestitures across numerous portfolio companies.

Concurrent with the SpaceX acquisition, ARK divested 80,536 shares of Advanced Micro Devices distributed across ARKQ, ARKW, and ARKX ETFs. The transaction yielded $39,337,809.

ARK simultaneously reduced its Rocket Lab exposure across ARKQ and ARKX, generating $5,824,625 from the sale.

The Rocket Lab divestiture timing proved noteworthy. SpaceX explicitly identified Rocket Lab as a competitive threat in its S-1 registration, characterizing it as a firm transitioning from small-lift capabilities into medium-lift payload services.

The preceding day, ARK had liquidated stakes in 20 separate entities worth $222.87 million. Teradyne represented the largest disposal at $76.6 million. Twist Bioscience, Iridium Communications, and Robinhood Markets were additionally reduced, combining for $64.2 million.

Further divestitures encompassed Tesla, Baidu, Roku, CrowdStrike, Cloudflare, and Veracyte holdings.

ARK disposed of 98,835 Roku shares for $11,824,619 and 39,850 Tesla shares valued at $15,906,127.

The consecutive two-day liquidation campaign created capacity throughout ARK’s ETF suite for the SpaceX allocation, which now ranks among the firm’s most substantial publicly traded equity positions.