Bitcoin Steadies Near $64K as Coldcard Hack Losses Surpass $100 Million

Bitcoin rose 0.9% to $64,267.64 as of early evening on Aug. 4, according to CoinGecko data cited by Nasdaq. The gain came amid renewed optimism that the Strait of Hormuz may reopen soon, sending oil prices lower and lifting crypto sentiment, despite the ongoing fallout from the Coldcard cold wallet hack and recent Bitcoin sales by Strategy.

The Coldcard exploit, which targeted users of Canada-based firm Coinkite, saw hackers steal at least $100 million in Bitcoin from approximately 7,300 wallets across three confirmed attack waves, according to blockchain analytics firm Galaxy Digital. A suspected fourth wave could bring total losses to about $130 million, Galaxy said. Crypto insights company Galaxy Research had earlier estimated losses at around $110 million, a figure that grew as more compromised wallets were identified.

The hack represents the third-largest cryptocurrency theft so far in 2026, according to Cointelegraph. It also drove July’s total crypto thefts to $247.4 million, making it the second-worst month this year, behind only April’s $644 million, according to data from DefiLlama. For context, $75 million was stolen in June and $60 million in May.

How the Exploit Worked

Coinkite warned customers on July 30 that hackers were exploiting a software bug that allowed them to reconstruct wallet “seed phrases” — sequences of random words that act as master keys to offline or “cold” wallets. According to blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs, a firmware bug from March 2021 weakened seed randomness on some Coldcard wallets, cutting key strength from 128 bits to 40 bits, making it “brute-forceable without physical access.”

TRM Labs also said that differences in transaction construction across attack waves suggested multiple attackers were involved. Galaxy Digital previously identified at least 15 different attackers exploiting the vulnerability.

Stolen Funds Move to Mixers

On Tuesday, about 64 Bitcoin ($4.17 million) linked to the exploit was sent to the crypto mixing protocol Wasabi, according to blockchain security platform CertiK. A separate 200 Ether ($380,000) was transferred to Tornado Cash on Wednesday. CertiK told CoinTelegraph that it believes a smaller exploiter or copycat was behind the moves, noting that copycats likely emerged after the initial exploit.

Crypto mixing protocols pool and scramble funds from multiple users, breaking the onchain link between senders and recipients and complicating asset recovery. The majority of victim funds, however, remain pooled in attacker-controlled addresses with limited mixing attempts, TRM Labs reported.

Coinkite Response

Coinkite declined to estimate total losses, telling Bloomberg the company was “not in a position to independently confirm total losses or validate the specific figures being reported by third parties.” The company said it was racing to get a full picture and conducting an “ongoing ecosystem-wide security audit” that has revealed “numerous critical bugs in key software systems across the ecosystem using frontier AI models.”

In an update on its website, Coinkite said it had “temporarily suspended our automated data-blanking process” due to “legal obligations arising from the security incident,” meaning customer records that would have been deleted under standard procedures will be retained.

Broader Market Context

Despite the hack, institutional interest in spot Bitcoin ETFs picked up, with over $170 million in inflows on Monday, the bulk going to the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, according to Nasdaq. Meanwhile, major Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo substantially reduced its Bitcoin ETF exposure while tripling its holdings in the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF.

Large cryptocurrency holders are also accumulating Bitcoin and Ether as prices approach levels associated with late-stage bear markets, according to blockchain analytics firm CryptoQuant. Bitcoin whale holdings (excluding exchanges and mining pools) rose to about 3.06 million BTC from 2.87 million BTC in December 2025, with accumulation accelerating after Bitcoin fell below $60,000 in June. CryptoQuant called the pattern “the clearest smart-money tell,” though it cautioned that further downside remains possible.

Ethereum traded at $1,874.13, up 0.5%, while Solana rose 0.6% to $74.13 on Tuesday, as geopolitical optimism and ETF inflows helped offset the security concerns lingering from the Coldcard exploit.