Coldcard vulnerability investigation escalates: At least 15 attackers identified, a single victim's findings reveal 12 BTC stolen

Odaily Planet Daily News Galaxy Digital Head of Research Alex Thorn stated that based on new victim reports received following the incident, the number of attackers exploiting the Coldcard vulnerability has reached at least 15.

Thorn noted that information provided by victims helped the research team uncover previously unidentified attack activity. Unlike thefts from centralized exchanges, correlations between the attackers in this vulnerability exploit require confirmation through on-chain analysis and victim feedback.

He added that a single victim reporting less than 1 BTC stolen helped the team discover a previously unknown attack, which siphoned approximately 12 BTC from 126 addresses.

According to Galaxy Research's earlier estimates, the Coldcard vulnerability has led to at least three rounds of attacks, with losses amounting to approximately $100 million in BTC. Additionally, Galaxy has identified a suspected fourth round of attacks, which could bring total losses to approximately $130 million.

Meanwhile, the incident has also sparked discussions regarding the security of Bitcoin self-custody. Dragonfly Managing Partner Haseeb Qureshi stated that "AI security hardening costing around $2" could potentially have prevented this vulnerability, and noted that some AI models were able to rediscover related vulnerabilities within a relatively short timeframe. However, industry insiders pointed out that current claims about the speed of AI discovering vulnerabilities lack rigorous blind testing and verification.

Researchers believe that as AI model capabilities improve, the costs of vulnerability discovery and attacks in the crypto industry may continue to decline, requiring wallet developers to further strengthen code audits and security protections. (Cointelegraph)