Cryptocurrency markets shifted into “extreme fear” Friday, with CoinMarketCap’s Crypto Fear and Greed Index falling to 17 out of 100, the first reading in that zone since early March. Bitcoin was down 2.9% to $61,778, while ethereum fell 6.2%. The biggest move was in Zcash, which slid 31% intraday before closing 27% lower at $334.57, erasing all gains from May.
Shielded Labs, an organization within the Zcash ecosystem, said it discovered a “serious vulnerability” in the token’s code using a detailed review conducted through Claude. The bug could have allowed hackers to reproduce unlimited counterfeit tokens. The organization said the flaw has been fixed and there is no evidence it was ever exploited in the wild. “This was a serious vulnerability, and we believe it’s important to be transparent about what it means for Zcash users,” Shielded Labs said in a press release.
European stock markets opened broadly lower as technology shares led declines. The German DAX fell 0.35%, dragged by a 5% slide in semiconductor maker Infineon Technologies. The technology-heavy Dutch AEX slipped 0.6%, with ASML losing 3.2%. STMicroelectronics dropped 3.25% in Paris, while the CAC 40 traded flat as gains in luxury stocks offset the tech losses. London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.2%, hurt by falling mining stocks.
Raspberry Pi, the British low-cost computer maker, was a bright spot. Shares jumped as much as 24% to 10.19 pounds in London after the company said it expects first-half adjusted EBITDA to be at least $38 million. Jefferies analyst Janardan Menon said the figure puts the company “on course to significantly exceed our full-year forecast of $43.7 million.” AJ Bell’s Russ Mould noted “an explosion of interest in Raspberry Pi in February with surging demand for its credit card-sized computers among AI enthusiasts as a low-cost way to run OpenClaw.” The company also benefited from having stockpiled low-cost memory chips in 2025 before a shortage drove prices higher.
Oracle shares fell 8.5% to $216.30 ahead of its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report. Deutsche Bank analysts wrote that Oracle “appears to be delivering largely on schedule” on its cloud-infrastructure ramp, but cautioned that the company is “entering the inflection point in its cloud buildout/investment cycle, which we expect to temporarily put pressure on margins and FCF over the next couple years.” The analysts said investors are likely to have questions about financing and leverage.
In Canada, the federal government has unveiled a C$2 billion national AI strategy that officials say could boost the country’s GDP by 3% by unlocking gains in labor productivity. The strategy’s centerpiece is a C$500 million fund to support promising domestic AI companies. But KPMG Canada chief economist Ali Jaffery urged skepticism, saying the projected return of about C$200 billion in economic output from a C$2 billion-plus investment “seems like an extraordinary ROI.” He added that if the spending is meant to stimulate private-sector investment, “markets and businesses tend to reward credibility more than ambitious projections.”
The European Investment Bank’s president, Nadia Calvino, said at a summit in Brussels that the European Union’s push for tech sovereignty shows the bloc is “moving from principles and plans to delivery, execution and enforcement.” The EU outlined plans this week to boost its domestic tech industry and reduce dependence on foreign companies. Calvino said strengthening strategic infrastructure and ensuring European companies can innovate and compete both at home and globally “is what economic security is about.”
Thomson Reuters is showing that AI adoption in legal services has not yet led to headcount reductions, according to TD Cowen analyst Vince Valentini, who wrote that “the data has yet to show that this increased adoption has led to a reduction in headcount.” However, Valentini cautioned that “the situation will need to be continuously monitored.”
In Asia, Kakao, the South Korean mobile internet company, faces a planned four-hour strike by its union on Wednesday. Daiwa Capital Markets analysts Thomas Y. Kwon and Joon Lee said a longer-than-expected walkout could hurt Kakao’s strategy for agentic AI and messaging-app-based mobile services, particularly its partnerships with OpenAI and Google. The analysts said they remain concerned that the rollout of agentic AI services for commerce, payments and other platform businesses could be slower than expected.
China’s import growth, which rose 24% year-on-year in the first four months of 2026, is “hardly a sign of rebalancing,” according to BofA Securities. The bank said the growth is largely price-driven and concentrated in select categories, particularly semiconductors and gold. Import volumes of semiconductor chips are broadly stable while unit prices have risen, especially in memory markets. BofA said demand remains weak overall, and more policy support is likely if domestic indicators weaken further.