First bitcoin. Then Gamestop. now small tungsten cubes

Even in a year that has included dog-meme cryptography and rapper shilling SPACs, Tungsten Cubes stand out. They’re as inert as they sound: gray, an inch or two on each side, and 1.7 times denser than lead. According to Amazon.com’s product page, a major selling point is that they are “extremely heavy for their size.”

This is also their main source of appeal to the Crypto Brothers and other enthusiasts, who have had a run on the supply of a major tungsten provider in recent weeks. They’re costing about $400 for 2-inch cubes weighing about 5 pounds, or $3,000 for a 4-inch version as heavy as a low-horsepower outboard motor—and almost three times the price.

While Cube enthusiasts overlap with fans of ephemeral varieties of digital money, which are prone to heart-stopping swings in value, their new paperweights, given their density, are among the most tangible things on earth. Huh. Tungsten has the highest tensile strength and melting point among metals.

Drew Morris, a 35-year-old Florida attorney at a blockchain intelligence company, bought his 1½-inch cube after friends appeared on Twitter and in Telegram group chats. He found the density mind-blowing.

“I keep this on my desk as a reminder that keeps me motivated – keep going, keep working,” said Mr. Morris, who also invests in cryptocurrencies. “One day, I’ll be able to upgrade to a sizable cube.”

Cubists like Mr. Morris recently found inspiration from a specific corner of online life: financial Twitter. Fintwits, as it is called, typically consist of small and large investors debating the direction of the markets, inflation prospects, and recipes for grilled meats. Recently, pictures of smoked brisket have superseded pictures of cubes.

Nick Carter, founding partner of the blockchain-focused venture-capital firm Castle Island Ventures, describes himself as an “original Tungpillar” in his Twitter bio.

“We’re just deprived of our physical totem of affection, and so tungsten fills that hole in our hearts,” he said.

Neeraj K., director of communications at Coin Center, a non-profit cryptocurrency research and advocacy group. Demand intensified after Agarwal mocked a fake Bloomberg News story that claimed crypto traders were behind a fictional global tungsten shortage.

Mr. Agarwal said, “Maybe I am being buried with my cube. It will be like a pharaoh buried with his property, so the cube will have a place of honor.”

Cube enthusiasts often describe them in semi-mystical terms. “You start to think about gravity and the forces of nature, and that can send you on a different wandering experience,” said Rabbi Michael Keras, an Albany-based Jewish day-school teacher. thebitcoinrabbi. He owns a 1½-inch cube.

“It’s kind of a disconnect between what your eyes are seeing and what you’re feeling and what you expect from something that fits in the palm of your hand,” he said.

There’s a rallying cry: “We like the Cube.” It’s a play on the phrase “we like stocks,” which is often used on sites like Reddit’s Wallstreetbets to show support for buying shares of Gamestop Corp., AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. Or other meme stock.

The promotion spurred demand at Midwest Tungsten Service Inc., which sells the cubes containing tungsten in various industrial forms as well as for use in things like wires and cutting tools. Midwest Tungsten general manager Kevin Enetsberger said the $6 billion to $9 billion global tungsten market could support growing demand for cubes, though the company needed to replenish inventory.

“Whenever we have someone in our facility, and we’ve given them tungsten to catch, it’s kind of a surprise,” said Mr. Enetsberger, a 36-year veteran of the company.

While Mr. Annettesberger would not comment on how much Midwest Tungsten earned from recent sales, it began accepting payments in bitcoin last week. The first order came eight minutes later.

An anonymous group of crypto advocates recently minted 500 digital cubes as non-fungible tokens—the unique digital identifiers that have driven this year’s boom in sales of digital collectibles and art, such as NBA Top Shot and American Artists. Beeple’s $69 Million “Every Day: The First 5,000 Days.” Tungsten NFTs, already sold out, are entitled to holders of an actual cube of similar size. Proceeds go to crypto advocacy groups, including Mr. Agarwal’s Coin Center.

Midwest Tungsten recently launched the NFT, a 14-inch cube weighing approximately 1,800 pounds. Buy an NFT and you can visit the cube once a year. On social media, the company asked for pictures of the cubes in their new homes. “Is this the only cube?” The firm tweeted.

Daniel Matuszewski, co-founder of cryptocurrency investment firm CMS Holdings, asked Midwest Tungsten to create a 7-inch cube with the company’s name engraved in Comic Sans. Mr Matuszewski said the roughly 230 lb cube should arrive sometime around the winter holidays. In total, the company has spent more than $50,000 on branded cubes, he said.

“We have a very interesting battle going on internally as to whether or not someone is actually able to take it,” Mr Matuszewski said.

Midwest Tungsten also sells tungsten shells.

Mr. Morris, a Florida lawyer, is not very interested. “We like the cube,” he said.