Loss of approximately $130 million: Coldcard firmware vulnerability leads to the theft of around 2,000 BTC

Odaily News: Part of hardware wallet manufacturer Coldcard's firmware had a random number generation vulnerability in 2021, causing some mnemonic phrases generated by the devices to carry predictable risks. The vulnerability was only discovered years later, and by then approximately 5,200 addresses and around 2,000 BTC had been stolen, with losses totaling about $130 million. Following the incident, some investors turned to Wall Street custody products. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw net inflows of approximately $626 million within days of the event. ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted that security incidents like this could further drive capital flows into ETFs.

The Bitcoin core community continues to uphold the principle of self-custody. Casa co-founder Jameson Lopp said recent events should not weaken user confidence in self-custody, as third-party custody carries risks as well. Early Bitcoin Core developer Peter Todd stated that self-custody has a better long-term security track record than centralized institutions. Michael Tanguma, co-founder of Bitcoin custody platform Onramp, said both approaches have flaws: concentrating large amounts of assets in a single institution creates a "honey pot," while hardware wallets face risks related to supply chains, firmware, and random number generation.

Michael Tanguma proposed a "multi-institution custody" approach, in which multiple regulated institutions each hold keys through a multi-signature mechanism, and any transaction requires joint signing by multiple institutions to reduce the risk of single points of failure. Critics argue that while multi-institution custody improves security, it also introduces permissioned management, which conflicts with the decentralized ideals Bitcoin originally pursued. As Bitcoin enters pension funds, trusts, and institutional asset allocation, the industry is seeking custody solutions suitable for long-term wealth management. How to strike a balance among security, decentralization, and usability remains a challenge facing the Bitcoin ecosystem.