Coldcard recovery trust receives 52 BTC tied to wallet exploit
Efforts to contain losses from July's Coldcard wallet exploit are continuing as white-hat hackers transfer recovered bitcoin into a newly created recovery trust. The latest move covers 52.37 BTC linked to the breach, which exposed wallets to seed reconstruction and contributed to estimated losses of more than $100 million.
Highlights
- White-hat operators transferred 52.37 BTC to a recovery trust wallet in block 967,948, representing 2.8% of total tracked exploit funds.
- About 40% of Wave 2 exploit funds are now identified as white-hat activity, with an additional 3.0134 BTC of possibly recovered Coldcard funds sent to the trust.
- The Coldcard hardware wallet hack exploited weak randomness from July 30, and compromised wallets remain at risk even after Coinkite patched the firmware.
Recovery transfer and trust structure
As reported by CoinDesk, citing Galaxy Digital, white-hat operators have moved 52.37 BTC into an address linked to a new recovery trust carrying the OP_RETURN message "claim:cryptorecoverytrust dot com." Alex Thorn, Galaxy Digital's head of research, says the transfer forms part of an ongoing effort to secure funds taken from affected wallets before they can be returned to victims.The bitcoin comes from Wave 2 of the tracked exploit funds, along with three footprints labeled AA, AU and AX. The transaction is confirmed in block 967,948, and Thorn says the amount equals 2.8% of total tracked exploit funds, while about 40% of Wave 2 is now identified as white-hat activity.
An additional 3.0134 BTC with no previous tracking history also flows into the same CRT address in the transaction. Thorn says this is presumably more Coldcard funds recovered by white hats, although he stresses that point remains unconfirmed.
Exploit impact and victim checks
The Coldcard hardware wallet hack begins on July 30 and unfolds across multiple waves in the following days. Attackers exploit weak software-based randomness that causes some wallets to generate seeds from a less secure source instead of the device's dedicated random number generator, making those seeds vulnerable to reconstruction.Coinkite, the maker of Coldcard, has since patched the firmware, but funds exposed under the older seeds remain at risk regardless of the fix. Victims can check whether their wallet addresses are included in the recovery effort by searching them at cryptorecoverytrust.com.
Our earlier article on the U.S. Justice Department’s investigation into Binance outlined scrutiny over whether the exchange failed to prevent trading activity that could have breached Iran-related sanctions. We also noted that the probe follows Binance’s 2023 $4.3 billion settlement over U.S. anti-money laundering violations, underscoring the compliance pressures facing major crypto platforms.
-
Afghanistan
-
Albania
-
Algeria
-
Angola
-
Argentina
-
Armenia
-
Australia
-
Austria
-
Azerbaijan
-
Bahamas
-
Bahrain
-
Bangladesh
-
Belarus
-
Belgium
-
Bolivia
-
Botswana
-
Brazil
-
Brunei
-
Bulgaria
-
Cambodia
-
Cameroon
-
Canada
-
Chile
-
China
-
Colombia
-
Congo
-
Costa Rica
-
Cote d'Ivoire
-
Croatia
-
Cuba
-
Cyprus
-
Czechia
-
DR Congo
-
Denmark
-
Dominican Republic
-
Ecuador
-
Egypt
-
El Salvador
-
Estonia
-
Eswatini
-
Ethiopia
-
Finland
-
France
-
Georgia
-
Germany
-
Ghana
-
Greece
-
Haiti
-
Hong Kong
-
Hungary
-
India
-
Indonesia
-
Iran, Islamic republic
-
Iraq
-
Ireland
-
Israel
-
Italy
-
Jamaica
-
Japan
-
Jordan
-
Kazakhstan
-
Kenya
-
Korea
-
Kuwait
-
Kyrgyzstan
-
Laos
-
Latvia
-
Lebanon
-
Lesotho
-
Libya
-
Lithuania
-
Luxembourg
-
Madagascar
-
Malaysia
-
Malta
-
Mauritius
-
Mexico
-
Moldova
-
Mongolia
-
Montenegro
-
Morocco
-
Mozambique
-
Myanmar
-
Namibia
-
Nepal
-
Netherlands
-
New Zealand
-
Nigeria
-
North Macedonia
-
Norway
-
Oman
-
Pakistan
-
Palestine
-
Panama
-
Papua New Guinea
-
Paraguay
-
Peru
-
Philippines
-
Poland
-
Portugal
-
Puerto Rico
-
Qatar
-
Reunion
-
Romania
-
Rwanda
-
Saudi Arabia
-
Serbia
-
Singapore
-
Slovakia
-
Slovenia
-
Somalia
-
South Africa
-
Spain
-
Sri Lanka
-
Sweden
-
Switzerland
-
Syria
-
Taiwan
-
Tajikistan
-
Tanzania
-
Thailand
-
Trinidad and Tobago
-
Tunisia
-
Turkey
-
UAE
-
Uganda
-
Ukraine
-
United Kingdom
-
United States
-
Uruguay
-
Uzbekistan
-
Venezuela
-
Vietnam
-
Yemen
-
Zambia
-
Zimbabwe
- Forex
- Crypto
