Home›Crypto›Market Structure›CZ warns Bitcoin holders after Coldcard exploit losses…

CZ warns Bitcoin holders after Coldcard exploit losses near $70 million

Loss estimates from the Coldcard seed-generation flaw have risen to about 1,082.65 BTC, or roughly $70.2 million, across 1,196 addresses in a 41-minute sweep, according to Galaxy Research.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Market Structure

Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao urged Bitcoin holders to avoid placing blind trust in hardware wallets after an exploit tied to Coldcard devices drained tens of millions of dollars in BTC.

In an X post, CZ warned that even hardware wallets and long-established setups can contain bugs, and he suggested splitting funds across several wallets to reduce exposure while noting that “Nothing is 100%.”

The exploit traced to a March 2021 Coldcard firmware build error, where seeds on affected units were drawn from a software fallback rather than the device’s hardware random-number generator, making the resulting private keys far easier to guess. Updating firmware does not fix a seed already created on a compromised device.

Galaxy Research, mapping fund flows using a pattern identified by engineers at Block, now pegs losses at about 1,082.65 BTC, roughly $70.2 million, across 1,196 addresses, nearly double an earlier estimate of about $38 million tied to around 594 BTC.

Galaxy said each sweep included an identical hardcoded fee and produced no change output, a signature it described as consistent with an automated tool spending keys it already held rather than owners moving their funds.

Latest closeBitcoin $62,673.94 ▼0.2%

More like this

Sources