⚒️ Crypto’s halving headache

…and Musk’s political push (Lars Hagberg/Getty Images) Bitcoin printer go brrr   Hey Snackers, Chuck E. Cheese is [entering the subscription game]( with a membership priced between $8 and $30/month. Sadly, its animatronic band broke up before it could see a kickback. Tech led the market’s [rally yesterday]( with the S&P 500 notching its biggest four-day gain of the year. Investors cheered cooler-than-expected wholesale prices. Today, all eyes are on July’s consumer-inflation report, which could influence the Fed’s September rate decision.   BLOCKED [Hut 8’s profit plunges as bitcoin miners struggle after April’s halving]( Canary in the coin mine… Hut 8, one of the largest bitcoin miners in North America, saw its shares slip yesterday after it [reported]( disappointing earnings. The biz lost nearly $72M in the second quarter compared to a $251M Q1 profit. Most of the loss came from an accounting-rule change requiring companies to reflect crypto’s market price on their balance sheets (think: unrealized gains or losses). While BTC is down from its March high of $73K+, Hut 8’s sagging crypto output also hurt its earnings. It produced just 279 BTC in Q2, down from 740 on the year. Cue the finger-pointing at April’s “[halving](”… - Zeno’s profits: About every four years, the amount of bitcoin miners earn for generating a block is [cut in half](. The change is programmed into the OG crypto’s code, and it can hit miners’ revenues hard. - To a trickle: This reward reduction (aka the halving) steadily decreases the rate at which new BTC is born. FYI: the total max supply = 21M coins, and 94% has already been mined. Earnings on the mine… Hut 8 isn’t the only bitcoin biz facing a profit problem. This month Marathon Digital, the world’s largest bitcoin miner, reported that its losses also widened. The stock’s down 32% this year. Fellow miners Riot Platforms, CleanSpark, and Core Scientific also reported big losses. Plus, bitcoin’s hash rate — a measure of how difficult it is to mine one block — hit a record high last month. Hut 8 said the cost to mine one BTC at its facilities (picture: walls of servers and cooling fans) nearly doubled on the year to $26K. THE TAKEAWAY Invest in your future self… Despite sagging profit, mining cos look to be doubling down. Hut 8 said now is the time to spend $$ to upgrade to more energy-efficient equipment, and some miners are eyeing mergers and AI pivots as a path to profitability. Meantime, Marathon Digital last month said that it’d purchased $100M worth of bitcoin, and it’s seeking to [raise $250M]( in part to buy more. If BTC has a rally, those investments could boost its balance sheet. [Read this online](   POST-ITICS [Musk interviews Trump on X as other corporates remain cautious around politics]( Blue bird goes red… After some technical difficulties, about 1.3M X users tuned in Monday for CEO Elon Musk’s interview with former POTUS Donald Trump. Musk is increasingly using his account (X’s most popular with ~194M followers) to support the presidential candidate. Close to a fifth of Musk’s tweets this year have been political, WaPo reported. Trump [made a flurry]( of X posts this week, returning to the platform for the first time in nearly a year. (Previously he mostly stuck to his own floundering platform, Truth Social.) X’s politically active week has attracted criticism. - Flagged: The European Commission said Monday that X could be penalized and restricted if it fails to prevent incitements to violence or hate speech, including in “debates and interviews in the context of elections.” - Soundbite: The United Auto Workers union filed unfair labor charges against Tesla CEO Musk and Trump after the duo’s chat, which included comments about firing workers who threaten to strike. Pickin’ lanes… Advertisers have [pulled money]( from X en masse over content concerns, and other social platforms may be trying to avoid the drama. Meta restricted political content across Instagram and Threads in February, deprioritizing its place in users’ feeds. Boss Mark Zuckerberg hasn’t endorsed a 2024 candidate, saying he doesn’t plan to play a “significant role” in the election. Snap (where Trump’s still barred, unlike on most other platforms) hosts political news and ads from both sides and lets users register to vote in the app. TikTok, which is full of political vids, has been accused of not doing enough to prevent misinfo. THE TAKEAWAY Politics is risky business… Musk is the only Fortune 100 CEO formally endorsing a political candidate this election season. And only a couple of the top 100 CEOs have personally donated to candidates. With Americans so divided along political lines, Musk’s vocal election push could alienate X users and advertisers while [threatening]( his other businesses like Tesla. But it could win his companies some executive goodwill if Trump’s reelected. [Read this online](   ON SHERWOOD [Airline loyalty programs are their most valuable collateral]( JetBlue needs to refinance its debt, and it might pledge its frequent-flyer program to secure the loan. [Read More.](   What else we're Snackin' - Starbucks [named]( its new CEO: Chipotle’s CEO. - Home Depot slashed its sales forecast after [a slowdown]( in home makeovers. - Health-care startup Ro [launched]( an insurance-coverage checker for GLP-1 drugs. - Hello Fresh [cooked]( up an earnings beat fueled by ready-to-eat meals. - Walmart [opened]( its ocean-shipping network for China-made products.   Snack Fact of the Day [The Micronesian island of Yap uses human-sized rock discs as currency](d   Wednesday - Consumer-inflation report for July - National Financial Awareness Day - Earnings expected from UBS, Dole, Performance Food Group, and Cisco Systems Authors of this Snacks own bitcoin and shares of: Amazon, Riot Platforms, Walmart, Tesla, Snap, Starbucks, and Yum Brands   [Instagram]( [Twitter]( [Sherwood Logo]( Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... 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