Coldcard Hack Sparks Fears Over Self-Custody Risks

A series of attacks on Coldcard hardware wallets has led to over $100 million in losses, according to Galaxy Research. The firm estimated that more than 2,000 BTC have been drained across multiple confirmed and suspected waves of attacks.

The self-custody ecosystem was described as a 'disaster' by Ark Invest's Lorenzo Valente, who noted that users have traded counterparty risk for software, hardware, supply-chain, phishing, backup, and operational risks.

Valente added that the value of Zcash's privacy lies in self-custody, but this remains too risky for most users. He also turned bearish on ZEC due to its reliance on self-custody for private transactions.