The alt text does say "Also, I would be hard-pressed to find that wrench for $5." so I guess even at the time without inflation it wasn't really possible

For Americans now difficult. Rest of the world can still order cheaply in China ;)

Maybe those orders should be limited given how the tools have no other valid use than password extraction

You speak with the same sort of hard-earned wisdom of someone who has also snapped a few cheap wrenches in half.

It could be a second-hand wrench. Or maybe smuggled in without tariffs: a 1-foot, 3-pound wrench is $3.45 on Taobao (including shipping, a pair of gloves and a roll of PTFE tape). It might not be Snap-On but it'll probably survive being hit with a few crypto speculator skulls.

Or a stolen wrench. If you are already on the path of criminality.

Hey man, some of us have limits (/s)

Seriously though, most B&E’s will use tools stolen from some prior victim. Why spend money you don’t need to, or something.

Or tools from the current victim. Someone broke into my house using the utensils from my grill on the patio to try to pry open a rear window before just using them to break the glass.

Also you can't be filmed at the hardware shop buying the weapon. Premeditation makes things worse if you do get caught.

The key is to have made the investment long ago. I never put money in crypto but I do own two large pipe wrenches from the mid 1990s.

No worries, now you can simply use $5 of Toblerone lol https://archive.ph/TZ9oq

Next they'll hit someone over the head with a shitcoin to try and steal their wrench!