Bitcoin (BTC) Wallet Maker Declines to Confirm $130M Loss Estimate

Bitcoin News

Bitcoin (BTC) hardware-wallet maker Coinkite has declined to provide a formal estimate of customer losses after a security breach affecting its Coldcard devices. The company said its immediate priority is assisting affected users and that it will release a full assessment only after its internal investigation concludes. It also argued that Coldcard's privacy-focused architecture limits outside verification of any total, because the design does not expose aggregate holdings. Independent research cited in market discussions has placed the potential impact near $130 million, but that figure remains unconfirmed. The incident has renewed scrutiny of hardware-wallet supply chains, firmware distribution and user trust across the Bitcoin ecosystem.

A volunteer security effort known as the Bitcoin red team said it has used frontier AI models to scan roughly 150 Bitcoin repositories and disclose more than a dozen vulnerabilities. AnchorWatch chief executive Rob Hamilton said the group spent about $20,000 on AI services while building an open-source auditing platform, adding that funding is secured. The stack includes Kimi K3, OpenAI's GPT Sol, Anthropic's Claude Fable and Opus models, and Z.ai's GLM 5.2. Developer Calle said the team has reported critical flaws to several projects within a 12-hour window and described a pace of about one critical exploit found per person per hour. The affected projects were not named.

Developers are warning that a possible BIP-110 chain split could expose holders to replay attacks, where a signed transaction is rebroadcast on another chain, if they try to sell newly created coins before separating balances. The proposal, formally the Reduced Data Temporary Softfork, would limit non-payment data for about one year and includes a mandatory signaling phase beginning at block 961,632. If enforcing nodes reject blocks that do not signal through bit 4, a minority chain could emerge without built-in replay protection. Miner support stood near 2.6% on Friday, far below the 55% threshold. Developer Kevin Loaec cautioned that users chasing what looks like a free airdrop could sign a transaction that also moves their main-chain BTC.

Bitcoin miner CleanSpark reported a sharp deterioration in its fiscal third quarter, underscoring the pressure facing operators reliant on ASIC mining. The company said revenue fell 30.5% year over year, dropping from $198.6 million to $138 million for the three months ended June 30. It swung to a $239.8 million loss from a $257.4 million profit over the same comparison period, while its longer-term debt was cited at $1.78 billion. The results show how quickly revenue pressure can alter a miner's capital-allocation narrative. CleanSpark is now emphasizing AI as a potential growth avenue, a shift being watched across the mining sector.

Bitcoin (BTC) remained near $65,000 after a volatile week in which macro headlines repeatedly shifted short-term positioning. The token jumped to $65,400 on Friday following a weaker-than-expected US jobs report, which reduced market expectations for a September rate hike. Earlier in the week, price action swung between $62,200 and $64,000 as traders reacted to geopolitical signals, including President Donald Trump's decision to halt planned attacks against Iran, and to the delayed vote on the CLARITY Act. The total crypto market capitalization remained near $2.3 trillion. Most major altcoin markets were slightly higher, while CRO fell after Trump Media canceled partnerships with the company behind the token.

Several market analysts argue Bitcoin may have completed its corrective phase, though they differ on the strength of the evidence. Ali Martinez points to easing sell pressure, continued long-term accumulation and a TD Sequential buy signal on the monthly chart, noting that a comparable setup appeared near the 2022 bottom. Michael van de Pople views the slide toward $60,000 as a severe correction inside an upward cycle rather than the start of a new bear market. Merlijn The Trader highlights a breakdown-and-reclaim pattern and recurring third-quarter structure. Their shared caveat is that confirmation requires holding reclaimed levels, not merely predicting a floor.

COINOTAG's analysis is that the common thread is security becoming Bitcoin's dominant operational risk, from custody to governance. The load-bearing primary record here is Coinkite's own statement: it will not speculate on losses, will assist affected customers and will publish a post-investigation report, while acknowledging that Coldcard's privacy design complicates external verification. That cautious disclosure posture, combined with low BIP-110 miner signaling and active AI-assisted audits, suggests the ecosystem is moving from reactive damage control toward formalized security review. Price resilience near $65,000 matters, but the infrastructure story is now the key variable for institutional confidence.