Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings spent $4.3 million on personal security for CEO Fred Thiel in 2025, including $430,780 to armor a vehicle, as crypto companies respond to rising physical attacks on industry executives and investors.
MARA, the seventh-largest Bitcoin mining company worth more than $5 billion, also spent about $58,810 on Thiel’s home security installations and reported additional expenses related to the security measures of other executives, according to its DEF 14A filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on April 30.
The filing shows that MARA spent a total of $4.3 million on Thiel’s security during fiscal year 2025, including the armored vehicle, bodyguards and home security fortifications.
Thiel’s security costs rose sharply from 2024, when MARA reported $191,040 in personal security costs for the CEO. His total “All Other Compensation” rose to $4.4 million in 2025 from $201,390 a year earlier.
MARA Holdings DEF 14A filing for fiscal year of 2025 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Source: SEC.gov
The disclosures come as crypto-linked physical attacks, often called wrench attacks, have increased globally. The spending shows how physical security has become a material corporate cost for some crypto companies as executives face threats tied to the public visibility and portability of digital assets. Unlike traditional financial theft, wrench attacks use coercion, kidnapping or violence to force victims to surrender private keys, passwords or account access.
The filing also shows that MARA spent $3.9 million on personal security for chief financial officer Salman Khan in 2025, including $438,380 to armor a vehicle.
The company’s board “ regularly evaluates security measures for executives and employees based on an evolving risk environment and recommendations from internal and external security experts,” a spokesperson for MARA told Cointelegraph, adding:
“Given the company’s substantial and publicly disclosed bitcoin holdings, our executives face an elevated and distinctive threat profile that differs materially from that of executives at most other public companies.”
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Wrench attacks targeting crypto investors see alarming rise
Cybersecurity firm CertiK reported 72 verified physical coercion incidents in 2025, up 75% from a year earlier.
France saw the biggest number of such incidents in 2025, with 19 confirmed wrench attacks. In response, Jean-Didier Berger, minister delegate to the interior minister of France, promised to implement new “preventative measures” against these threats.
Crypto wrench attacks, key stats for 2025. Source: CertiK
At least 88 people, including 10 minors, have been reportedly indicted in connection with alleged wrench attacks against crypto owners in France, leading up to April 27.
Earlier in February, a senior employee at Binance’s French unit was the victim of an armed home invasion. French authorities arrested three suspects hours after the break-in, Cointelegraph reported on Feb. 13.
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