MARA Holdings, a major Bitcoin mining firm valued at over $5 billion, spent a total of $4.3 million on personal security for its CEO, Fred Thiel, during the 2025 fiscal year. This includes nearly $431,000 on armoring a vehicle, alongside home security enhancements and bodyguard services. The significant rise in such costs reflects increasing concerns over physical attacks targeting figures connected to the crypto sector.
The latest regulatory filing submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission details how these expenses sharply increased compared to the previous year, when Thiel’s security spending totaled just over $190,000. His overall "All Other Compensation" surged to $4.4 million in 2025, up from about $201,000 in 2024, highlighting how security has become a material operational cost for MARA amid rising threats.
The filing also reveals that MARA invested roughly $3.9 million securing its chief financial officer, Salman Khan, including nearly $438,000 for vehicle armoring. These expenditures coincide with a growing trend of violent physical robberies, commonly known as wrench attacks, which leverage coercion or violence to obtain access to digital assets—particularly private keys and passwords—from targeted individuals.
Wrench attacks differ from traditional cyber theft by involving direct physical confrontations, often escalating to kidnappings or home invasions. Industry data from cybersecurity firm CertiK shows a sharp increase in such incidents worldwide, with a 75% rise in verified cases during 2025. France has been particularly affected, with 19 incidents reported and dozens of suspects indicted in connection to these attacks.
French authorities have responded to this surge by promising preventive measures to protect crypto holders and executives after high-profile cases surfaced, including an armed home invasion targeting a Binance employee. The broader industry has felt the impact as companies grapple with the need to bolster physical security for their leadership, a cost increasingly visible in corporate financial disclosures.