Coldcard Hack Sparks Mass Exodus to CEXes Amid $100M Losses
The cryptocurrency market has been shaken by the recent Coldcard hack, which has forced Bitcoiners to scramble for centralized exchanges (CEXes) for safety. The hack, attributed to a code bug in key generation, allowed attackers to brute force seedphrases and clear out over $100M in BTC from victims.
According to Galaxy Research, losses have exceeded $100M as of August 4th, with expected continued growth into the coming weeks. This has led to a retreat back toward CEXes and institutional custodians, dealing another blow to hardcore self-custody advocates.
Meanwhile, other developments in the market include Michael Saylor's Strategy raising its USD Reserve by $250M and repurchasing $81M in STRC shares. MasterCard has completed its acquisition of BVNK, expanding its ability to support global stablecoin payments. Visa has also powered stablecoin merchant prefunding and payout capabilities for Visa Direct through a collaboration with zerohash.