Coldcard Wallet Exploit Losses Rise to $70 Million, Galaxy Research Says

The estimated losses from an exploit targeting Coldcard Bitcoin hardware wallets have risen to roughly $70 million, according to an analysis by Galaxy Research.

Galaxy Research identified 1,196 addresses that lost 1,082.65 BTC during a 41-minute window on July 30, according to Cointelegraph and BitKE. The revised figure is nearly double an earlier estimate of about 594 BTC. Galaxy Research said the funds were drained across six Bitcoin blocks, with the affected wallets emptied in rapid succession.

According to BitKE, the incident differs from most hardware wallet attacks because the attackers did not need physical access to the devices or to users' recovery phrases. Rather than relying on victims revealing seed phrases, installing malicious firmware, or handing over devices, the exploit targeted the wallet creation process itself.