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ZachXBT argues a dedicated iPhone can be safer than a hardware wallet
He points to major past losses from transaction approval scams, where attackers stole about $1.5 billion from Bybit and roughly $50 million from Radiant Capital by manipulating what signers saw.
Crypto security researcher ZachXBT says using a dedicated, hardened iPhone can be safer than relying on a crypto hardware wallet, arguing that the core weakness is not only key storage but what happens when a user approves a transaction. In his view, both devices ultimately function as signing tools, so the self-custody risk shifts to whether attackers can get a legitimate signature for something the signer believes is routine.
ZachXBT highlights recent thefts tied to signer deception rather than direct private key extraction. He cites losses of about $1.5 billion from Bybit after attackers manipulated what signers saw on their screens, and about $50 million from Radiant Capital in a prior incident where developers using hardware wallets signed a malicious transaction during a workflow that looked normal.
He also points to broader compromise numbers, noting Chainalysis counted roughly 158,000 wallet compromises in 2025 affecting about 80,000 victims and totaling about $713 million in losses across many attack types, suggesting key isolation addresses only part of the problem.
In explaining why a dedicated iPhone might help, ZachXBT says an iPhone can use a hardened operating system, app sandboxing, biometric locks, and a larger display to show more transaction meaning than many hardware wallet screens. He adds that Apple’s Secure Enclave signs using NIST P-256 keys, while Bitcoin and Ethereum rely on secp256k1, and he cites examples of fake wallet software that bypassed review and was linked to thefts of over $9.5 million from more than 50 victims in April 2026, according to ZachXBT.
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