Coldcard Hack Leaves Bitcoin Community Reeling Amid Price Slump
The Bitcoin community gathered at PubKey in New York after a $130 million wallet hack of Coinkite's Coldcard wallets. The compromised devices, meant to be offline and secure, were cracked, raising questions about the safety of even hardware wallets.
Ron Pacchia, owner of PubKey, reflected on the bar's history, opening during the 2022 crypto downturn when customers were 'crying in their beer.' He noted that people want a physical space to connect and escape their computers. The night featured an 'orange pill' cocktail, and at one point, Pacchia proposed a memorial for the compromised Coldcard.
A patron responded by throwing his bubble-wrapped Coldcard onstage, done with it. Rob Hamilton, Alex Thorn, Antoine Poinsot, and Matthew Corallo attended, discussing technical aspects of the hack. Jordan White, a crossing guard who hacks in his spare time, warned that 'this is not just like the way Bitcoin started.' He called the original group 'five different dorks' before adding, 'It's not even just big businesses. These are people's lives.'