Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Publicly traded Bitcoin treasury and mining company American Bitcoin’s stock jumped on Monday following news that the firm’s crypto holdings had increased.

The company (NASDAQ: ABTC) reported a second-quarter ‌loss on Monday due to the decline in Bitcoin’s price but still added the largest cryptocurrency to its holdings, boosting its stack from 7,021 to 8,002 coins. Its stock was trading over 5% higher Monday afternoon in New York. 

American Bitcoin now has a reserve worth over $510.6 million today’s prices, after the company’s “highest quarterly production on record.” It now has the 16th largest Bitcoin treasury, according to Bitcoin Treasuries data. 

JUST IN: 🇺🇸 Eric Trump’s ‘American Bitcoin’ increases their Bitcoin holdings by 300 BTC 👀

They now hold 8,300 bitcoin! 🚀 pic.twitter.com/LhaxsSkgad

— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) August 3, 2026 “Our conviction in Bitcoin remains absolute, and our goal is simple: to deliver relentless growth, quarter after quarter, and build the preeminent American Bitcoin powerhouse for the long haul,” Eric Trump, American Bitcoin Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, said.

American Bitcoin’s CEO Mike Ho added: “Despite Bitcoin headwinds in Q2, we stayed focused on what we can control: we delivered our highest quarterly production on record, grew our strategic reserve to over 8,000 Bitcoin, and strengthened the foundation of our business.”

“Looking ahead, we are focused on deepening that infrastructure advantage, strengthening our balance sheet position, and compounding Bitcoin per share so that the work we do today translates into durable value for our shareholders across market cycles,” Ho continued.

The company, a majority-owned subsidiary of Hut 8 Corp fronted by President Donald Trump’s sons, said that its focus on mining pushed quarterly production to a record, with ‌about ⁠932 Bitcoin mined in the second quarter. 

Net ⁠loss in the second quarter of 2026 was $57.2 million, compared with a profit of $3.4 million ⁠in the same period last year. 

Bitcoin miners have faced headwinds this year — and last — as the price of the largest cryptocurrency has dropped in price but the costs and difficulty to mine the coin have grown. 

A lot of publicly traded Bitcoin miners have pivoted to the high-powered computing space, providing electricity to the artificial intelligence industry and in turn becoming a more attractive option for a broader swath of tech investors. 

American Bitcoin is yet to make the pivot, instead focusing on minting the cryptocurrency and holding it on its balance sheet. 

Mathew Di Salvo

Mathew is a reporter who's covered the space since 2019, reporting on everything from Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele's Bitcoin bet to crypto exchange FTX's bankruptcy.

Something interesting is happening on Binance. Altcoins now account for more than 60% of all trading volume on the exchange, according to CryptoQuant contributor Maartunn. Bitcoin, the asset that typically dominates the conversation, has been pushed down to just 22% of volume. Ethereum sits at 18%.

In English: for every $10 traded on the world’s largest crypto exchange, more than $6 is going to something other than Bitcoin or Ethereum.

The numbers behind the rotation This marks the highest altcoin market share on Binance since early 2025, according to CryptoQuant’s analysis.

Advertisement

No specific altcoins were singled out in the data. This isn’t a case of one meme coin going viral and skewing the numbers. It’s a broad-based rotation across the entire altcoin category.

The shift has drawn attention across crypto media and social platforms, with Cointelegraph among the outlets highlighting the trend.

Why this matters now Binance’s dominance as a trading venue amplifies the signal. When smaller exchanges see altcoin volume spikes, it can often be attributed to incentive programs, new listings, or wash trading. When it happens on Binance at this scale, it carries more weight.

What this means for investors The absence of a single dominant altcoin in the data is actually a healthier sign than it might appear. Concentrated volume in one or two tokens usually means a hype-driven pump. Distributed volume across the category suggests broader market participation.

The most important thing to watch over the coming weeks is whether Bitcoin’s volume share continues to decline or stabilizes. If it drops below 20% on Binance while altcoin volume holds above 60%, that would represent a structural shift in the altcoin landscape.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.

A fresh warning from one of tech's biggest names is reigniting a long-running debate.

Arvind Krishna, CEO of International Business Machines (IBM), a global technology company at the forefront of quantum computing, warned that quantum computing could pose a serious threat to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin within the next few years.

During a July 31 interview on CNBC's Mad Money, Cramer asked Krishna whether advances in quantum computing could eventually crack the cryptographic equations protecting his crypto holdings.

"I think that you should give yourself three or four years, and at that point, I would get rather paranoid about it," Krishna replied.

Cramer appeared surprised by the timeline, responding, "Three or four years? That's not that long," before telling viewers, "People should listen to that."

Days later, on Aug. 3, Cramer said he would sell his Bitcoin based on Krishna's warning.

"I am going to sell my Bitcoin."

Cramer added that while Bitcoin supporters may disagree, he trusted Krishna's assessment because "he knows Bitcoin and quantum."

Quantum computing threat remains theoretical but is gaining attentionQuantum computers could eventually break the public-key cryptography securing Bitcoin, Ethereum and most other cryptocurrencies by solving mathematical problems that are practically impossible for today's computers.

Scroll to Continue

Recommended Articles

Trending on TheStreet Roundtable:JPMorgan issues blunt warning on crypto's futureNew Senate bill could ban Trump from launching his own tokensAmericans who lost money in a crypto bankruptcy get a second chanceWhile no quantum computer currently has that capability, researchers and industry leaders have increasingly warned that the timeline may be shorter than previously expected.

Google researchers said in March that advances in quantum computing could reduce the hardware required to attack Bitcoin's cryptography by roughly 20-fold compared with earlier estimates, although the technology remains years away from practical deployment.

The growing focus on quantum risks has sparked efforts across the crypto industry to develop quantum-resistant cryptography. 

Bitcoin developers have proposed upgrades, including new address formats designed to support post-quantum signatures, while Ethereum researchers are targeting a transition to quantum-safe cryptography later this decade.

Cramer has repeatedly shifted his stance on Bitcoin over the years. 

After previously dismissing the asset following the FTX collapse, he later described Bitcoin as "a great thing to have in your portfolio" in January 2025, urging investors to own Bitcoin directly rather than shares of Strategy, the Michael Saylor-led company that has built the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin treasury.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin traded at $63,808, up 0.49% over the previous 24 hours.

A woman walks past an office of Countrywide banking and home loans in Sun City, Arizona, 27 October 2007. Mortgage behemoth Countrywide Financial reported a quarterly loss of over one billion USD 26 October, its first shortfall in 25 years, but projected profits ahead as conditions improve. The largest US mortgage finance group, which has seen its finances ravaged by a persistent housing slump, disclosed a third quarter loss of 1.2 billion USD compared with a profit of 648 million USD for the same period a year ago. AFP PHOTO / Richard A. BROOKS (Photo credit should read RICHARD A. BROOKS/AFP via Getty Images)

AFP via Getty Images

Vishal Garg went to buy a house about twelve years ago and ran into a wall he has been arguing with ever since.

"It was like, wait, I'm gonna have to sell all this stuff. That and pay capital gains on it. And then take the cash. To put it in the house," the Better Home & Finance chief executive said in an interview. "Why can't I just pledge the stuff. Instead of cash?"

Worse, he said, was the sequencing. "What if you don't win the house that you're gonna buy? But the broker's like, yeah, you got to get the money in cash. Otherwise, you know, the seller's not going to take your bid seriously." A buyer sells the assets, books the tax, and only then finds out whether the bid was accepted.

In March, Better and Coinbase announced a fix. Borrowers pledge bitcoin or USDC and get two loans: a conforming first-lien mortgage written to Fannie Mae's guidelines, and a separate privately financed loan that funds the cash down payment, secured by the tokens and by a second lien on the house. The Wall Street Journal reported the same day that Fannie Mae would accept crypto-backed mortgages for the first time. The first loan closed in early June for a couple in their early thirties in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Better says the waitlist ahead of the summer rollout represented roughly $250 million in potential volume, and that 41% of those applicants did not have enough cash for a down payment.

Garg is blunt about where the money to buy these loans comes from. "This is a bank eligible asset. We have Banks lined up to buy these. And fund these. Some of the biggest banks in the country," he said. He expects it to be the route by which "digital assets make their way into the banking system."

What it actually costsThe collateral ratios explain who the product is for. Pledging bitcoin requires 250% of the down payment amount, so a $100,000 down-payment loan needs $250,000 of BTC. USDC, which does not move, requires 125%. There are no margin calls, and a falling bitcoin price does not change the mortgage terms. Liquidation is triggered only by a 60-day payment delinquency, the same trigger as a conforming loan.

MORE FOR YOU

That is a coherent design, and it describes a borrower who is short of cash rather than short of money. Redfin found 12.7% of young recent buyers had used cryptocurrency to help fund a down payment. The National Association of Realtors put the median first-time buyer age at an all-time high of 40 in late 2025, with first-timers a record-low 21% of buyers, a figure the Mortgage Bankers Association disputes using federal loan data. Census figures put homeownership among households under 35 at 35.2% in the second quarter of this year.

Lending against an asset the borrower keeps using is not new. Doug Ricket, CEO and co-founder of PayJoy, said on the On The Margin podcast that a phone can do the job a house does. "Our original invention was we secured the smartphone. Like the smartphone is kind of like the house for a mortgage," he said. PayJoy underwrites thin-file borrowers across Latin America, Africa and South Asia by locking the handset if payments lapse, a model better known as digital collateral.

Ricket draws a hard line on how that collateral gets priced. "One way to lend to the poor is to charge a thousand percent interest rate and have a lot of them default, but you make money on the few stupid people you catch and you squeeze all the money out of them. And that's not the payjoy way," he said. PayJoy's loans carry a one-time fixed finance charge and "0% accruing interest," which is unusual in tech-enabled consumer credit.

Seven senators want it rescindedOn April 30, seven senators wrote to Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte, naming Better and Coinbase, and asked him to "rescind any approval of this decision and prohibit the Enterprises from taking on crypto-related asset risks." Dick Durbin and Elizabeth Warren signed first, followed by Jeff Merkley, Chris Van Hollen, Richard Blumenthal, Bernie Sanders and Mazie Hirono.

Their objection turns on the same 250% number Better presents as prudence. The structure "requires a homebuyer to pay up to an additional 2.5 times the dollar amount in crypto to qualify for the loan," the senators wrote. "This not only inherently concedes that crypto is a risky asset, but in addition, forces a homebuyer to pay interest on two loans." They estimated the combined financing "could run as much as 1.5 percent higher than the standard Fannie Mae mortgage," and warned that this "incentivizes borrowers to simply walk away from their loan, leaving the American taxpayer to pay the price." They asked for answers by May 30. FHFA has not published a response.

Alys Cohen of the National Consumer Law Center and Corey Frayer of the Consumer Federation of America went further in a June op-ed, writing that the federal government "risks repeating the mistakes that led to the 2008 foreclosure crisis." Their verdict: "That is not an innovation for consumers, it is an invitation for disaster."

The market has not helped the pitch. Bitcoin hit roughly $123,000 last October and traded near $62,800 in February. It has spent July in the low $60,000s, around half its high.

Where Garg wants to take itBitcoin is the opening position. "We do Bitcoin and USDC and there are plans to do all major token assets. So SpaceX stock, Tesla stock coinbase stock better stock. Apple stock, Amazon stock top 50 companies," Garg said. Not memecoins: something with "liquidity" and "institutional following." Ethereum and Solana are next.

He goes further than that. Parents will pledge retirement accounts so their children can buy, he said, an idea that sits alongside the growing market for crypto in retirement accounts. Buyers will photograph a house and let software do the rest. "Have your AI agent apply on better.com. And, you know, be able to say, like, okay, you can bid up to this much for this house," he said. Eventually people will own fractions of homes and move between them. "The only reason that doesn't exist today is the friction."

Underneath all of it is a claim about young people and asset allocation. "As a young person today, you are short inflation. Your short home price appreciation," Garg said.

What a pledged token isThe tokenized-equity leg runs into a question nobody has settled, which is what a token actually entitles its holder to. That question is live right now in the tokenization of everything trade.

Chan Ahn, founder and CEO of Tessera, said on the On The Margin podcast that his firm launched a tokenized SpaceX product in February. He is candid about how it works. "There's no KYC process, and this is intentional, not an oversight," he said. His case for it is access: the private market "was always gate kept to top 0.1 % through paperwork, minimum tickets and geography."

Chris Turner, co-founder of Kula, said on the On The Margin podcast that most tokenized assets are a claim rather than a holding. "It's giving a contractual exposure to the economic upside of that particular asset. But you don't own the asset," he said. What he builds instead is the other thing: "You own the token and the token is the asset, you own the asset. It's different."

A mortgage underwriter pricing collateral needs to know which of those two it is holding.

The other half of the tradeBetter is rewiring its funding at the same time. In February it agreed a partnership with Framework Ventures to deploy up to $500 million through Sky's stablecoin ecosystem, with Framework taking a $45 million stake of roughly 10%. Better expects the shift to cut its cost of capital by more than 100 basis points and has said tokenized funding could put customer rates below 5% while the industry charges above 6%.

It needs the help. Better funded $1.64 billion of loans in the first quarter, up 89% year over year, on $47.5 million of revenue, and still lost about $70 million. Its market capitalization is around $400 million. The company says it has funded more than $110 billion since 2016, and it fired roughly 900 employees on a Zoom call in December 2021, a moment Garg has spent years answering for.

None of which appears to have dented his appetite for the bet. "The risk is we make a product and no one comes, but that's not, that's not what's happened," he said. And on the future generally: "It's not important to think about the future. It's important to make the future happen."

Cover image via U.Today Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.

Dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus, who goes by "Shibetoshi Nakamoto" on X, posted a one-word reaction to recent bearish calls on Bitcoin, with some predicting it might fall below $60,000 in August.

Markus engaged with an X post by prediction market platform Polymarket that showed Bitcoin had a 59% chance of dropping below $60,000 by the end of the month, according to the odds on its market. 

"Bitcoin projected to crash below $60,000 by the end of the month. 59% chance," Polymarket posted alongside a screenshot backing this claim. Markus commented on this post, saying, "sigh." 

HOT Stories

The Dogecoin co-founder's response reflects the fatigue many market participants might be facing amid bearish market action. As reported, Markus described the current phase as boring rather than panic-inducing, saying that this was what a crypto bear market looked like. 

You Might Also Like

The "boring" market phase marks a period of consolidation where nothing exciting seems to be happening and prices are flat.

At the time of writing, the chances of Bitcoin falling below $60,000 had increased to 63% on Polymarket, indicating traders are betting on a further drop in Bitcoin's price in August. 

Mixed outlook in the marketHowever, there is a mixed outlook among traders, as seen on Polymarket, with a 42% chance of Bitcoin rising above $67,500 and a 71% chance of Bitcoin hitting above $65,000 in August. There is a 37% chance of Bitcoin falling below $57,500, according to Polymarket, making these and the above-mentioned Bitcoin price points crucial to watch. 

You Might Also Like

Bitcoin was trading down 0.68% in the last 24 hours to $62,707 following an intraday drop to $62,210. Bitcoin fell over the weekend amid fading momentum behind US crypto legislation and disappointing earnings from Coinbase and Strategy, which added to signs that speculative investors might be pulling back from riskier assets.

Bitcoin is down about 30% this year while most major cryptocurrencies were also lower. At the time of writing, Dogecoin was down 0.67% in the last 24 hours to $0.069 and down 4.35% weekly.

Smaller Bitcoin transfers have reached levels not seen since the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX amid an ongoing suspected Coldcard hack.

Bitcoin transfers below 1 BTC climbed to their highest daily level since November 2022 on Friday, with 39,600 BTC moved, according to data shared by CryptoQuant head of research Julio Moreno on Saturday.

The figure was just 300 BTC below the 39,900 BTC transferred on Nov. 16, 2022, days after FTX filed for bankruptcy. “The Bitcoin plebs had not moved this amount of BTC in a day since the FTX collapse,” Moreno said, adding that he was encouraged to see users “taking action.”

As the suspected Coldcard hack continues to unfold, the incident has become a broader test for Bitcoin self-custody, reigniting debate over whether users are better protected by controlling their own funds or relying on third-party platforms.

Incident ongoing as Galaxy tracks three attack wavesThe surge in small Bitcoin transfers came as researchers continued to uncover new victims of the suspected Coldcard hack, which first surfaced in late July and appeared to remain active at the time of publication.

Galaxy Research, the research arm of crypto investment company Galaxy Digital, reported Saturday that the latest identified wave drained an additional 207.7 BTC, worth about $13.2 million. The theft brought estimated losses to 1,367 BTC ($88.6 million) across 4,585 addresses.

Alex Thorn, Galaxy Digital’s head of firmwide research, warned in an X post on Sunday that the attack was still ongoing and urged users to move funds from Coldcard-generated addresses immediately if they had not already done so.

Thorn said his team continued to identify new victim and attacker addresses, adding that reports from users had helped researchers and authorities track stolen funds.

Coldcard incident reignites self-custody debateThe suspected Coldcard hack has reignited debate over the risks and benefits of Bitcoin self-custody, a core principle of crypto that allows users to control their funds without relying on third parties.

Nick Neuman, CEO of Bitcoin security company Casa, pushed back against claims that “self-custody is over,” arguing that its distributed nature gave users time to react. He estimated that potentially 10 times more Bitcoin was protected through self-custody than was stolen and identified in the attack so far.

The debate also drew responses from traditional finance supporters. Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, said that Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) provide a safer and more convenient alternative for many users, pointing to the long operating history of the ETF industry. Others pushed back, saying the Coldcard incident was a failure of one wallet provider rather than a failure of self-custody itself.

Magazine: A quantum roadmap would push Bitcoin much higher: Charles Edwards

Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

PANews reported on August 2, according to Cointelegraph, amid the ongoing suspected hacking attack on the Coldcard wallet, small-value Bitcoin transfer activity surged significantly, reaching its highest level since the collapse of the FTX exchange, reigniting market discussions about self-custody security for Bitcoin.

According to data disclosed by CryptoQuant head of research Julio Moreno, the number of on-chain Bitcoin transfers under 1 BTC on Friday rose to its highest since November 2022. Approximately 39,600 BTC were moved that day, just about 300 BTC below the record of 39,900 BTC set on November 16, 2022, days after FTX filed for bankruptcy.

Moreno said: “Since the FTX collapse, Bitcoin plebs have never before moved this amount of BTC in a single day.” He believes that users proactively taking action to address risk is a positive signal.

The surge in transfers occurred amid the ongoing investigation into the suspected Coldcard security incident. First exposed in late July, the event is still considered to be in a developing phase, further fueling the debate over whether “self-custody of assets is safer.”

Aug 2, 2026, 12:03 p.m.

3 min read

BTC active addresses surge as holders move coins to exchanges. (CryptoQuant)Summary

The recent Coldcard hack has raised broader questions about the security of hardware wallets and self-custody.Some bitcoin holders are moving coins onto exchanges.This on-chain flow is the opposite of the large withdrawals seen after FTX’s collapse in late 2022.Security issues in the crypto market often push investors in predictable directions. For instance, following the collapse of the FTX exchange in November 2022, investors rushed to withdraw large volumes of coins from centralized platforms and move them into self-custody solutions, including hardware wallets and personal devices.

Now they are doing the opposite by moving coins to exchanges, as the ongoing multi‑million‑dollar Coldcard hardware‑wallet incident, which began Friday, has raised fresh questions about the safety of self‑custody.

"Daily exchange deposits of Bitcoin transfers < 10 BTC spiked yesterday [Friday] to 7.3K BTC, the highest since February 6. Could be related to the coldcard hack, as people move their holdings looking for safety," Julio Moreno, head of research at blockchain analytics firm CryptoQuant, said.

What went wrong with ColdcardColdcard, the Bitcoin‑only hardware wallet made by Canadian firm Coinkite, is facing one of its biggest security incidents after a firmware bug quietly weakened how some devices generate seed phrases.

The thefts began on Friday, July 30, and have continued in waves since. On‑chain analysts have tracked multiple exploits, with losses now estimated at 1,000–1,300 BTC (roughly $70–$90 million) across more than 1,000 addresses. The largest bursts moved hundreds of BTC in under an hour, and researchers say the attacks may be ongoing as of this writing.

Attackers exploited a flaw dating back to March 2021, causing some Coldcard units to fall back on a predictable software random number generator instead of the device’s hardware RNG when creating new wallets. That reduced the randomness (entropy) in the seed, making it possible for an attacker to reconstruct likely seed phrases offline and derive the private keys without ever touching the physical device.

This has prompted many, including the likes of Binance Founder CZ, to rethink the safety of hardware wallets and self-custody in general

The onchain reaction: Small transfers spikeData from CryptoQuant shows a clear response involving a movement of coins to exchanges, the opposite of what happened in the aftermath of FTX's collapse.

As noted earlier, on July 31, daily bitcoin deposits to exchanges in transactions under 10 BTC jumped to 7,300 BTC, the highest level since Feb 6.

The number of daily active addresses spiked from 645,000 on July 30 to almost one million on July 31, the highest since Dec. 10, 2024. Most of the growth was due to addresses sending coins to exchanges.

"Seems people really moved their Bitcoin out of extreme caution after the coldcard hack," Moreno said.

Small Bitcoin transactions tell a similar story. According to CryptoQuant, the combined volume of all transfers smaller than 1 BTC reached 39,600 BTC on Friday, just shy of the 39,900 BTC moved on November 16, 2022, the day after FTX filed for bankruptcy.

"The Bitcoin plebs had not moved this amount of BTC in a day since the FTX collapse,” Moreno said, adding that he liked to see people “taking action.”

Blockchain sleuth Timechainindex made a similar observation, noting that total net inflows to exchanges totaled 11,163 BTC on July 31, most of which flowed into major exchanges and firms like Binance, River, Kraken, and OKX.

"These are plebs who are scared," the handle said on X, explaining the nature of the BTC inflow.

The total number of BTC held in wallets tied to centralized exchanges has increased to 2.715 million from 2.703837 million before the Coldcard exploit.

Reverse of FTXFollowing FTX’s failure, the dominant risk was exchange insolvency and withdrawal freezes. Holders responded by moving bitcoin into self-custody, reducing exchange balances.

The current episode centers on self-custody risk associated with a single hardware wallet. The vulnerability has prompted some holders to temporarily shift smaller balances onto exchanges.

The incident is specific to Coldcard rather than a broad failure of self-custody. Most hardware wallets and properly generated seeds remain unaffected.

12345678910

The Evolution of the Crypto CEX Landscape: A Case Study on Binance

The Evolution of the Crypto CEX Landscape: A Case Study on Binance

Binance remains crypto’s leading exchange, expanding from spot and derivatives into RWAs, payments, savings, yield, and broader financial services.

Jun 29, 2026

Binance remains crypto’s leading exchange, expanding from spot and derivatives into RWAs, payments, savings, yield, and broader financial services.

Why it matters:

Binance remains crypto’s leading exchange, expanding from spot and derivatives into RWAs, payments, savings, yield, and broader financial services.

In brief Transfers of less than 1 BTC reached 39,600 BTC on July 31, close to the 39,900 moved days after FTX failed, per CryptoQuant. Daily active addresses jumped from 645,000 to almost a million, the highest since December 2024. Galaxy Research has flagged a likely fourth wave of thefts, which would take losses to about 1,816 BTC. Small Bitcoin holders moved coins on July 31 at a rate not seen since the collapse of FTX, according to CryptoQuant, as news spread that Coldcard hardware wallets had been generating guessable keys for five years.

Transfers of less than 1 BTC totaled 39,600 BTC (around $2.5 billion) that day, the firm's Head of Research Julio Moreno tweeted. The last comparable figure was 39,900 BTC on November 16, 2022, days after FTX failed. Daily active addresses rose from 645,000 on July 30 to almost a million on July 31, the highest since December 2024, with the jump concentrated in sending addresses rather than receiving ones.

The Bitcoin plebs had not move this amount of BTC in a day since the FTX collapse.

39.6K BTC transferred on July 31st after the coldcard hack, 39.9K BTC transferred on November 16 2022, a few days after the FTX collapse.

These are Bitcoin transfers < 1 BTC.

I like to see that… pic.twitter.com/c7Qzx7za6M

— Julio Moreno (@jjcmoreno) August 2, 2026

Some of it went to exchanges. Deposits made up of sub-10 BTC transfers hit 7,300 BTC ($459 million) on July 31, the most since February 6, CryptoQuant said. Moreno linked the move to the Coldcard breach, saying people appeared to be shifting holdings "looking for safety," while noting the connection was not certain.

Notably, Bitcoin's price barely moved amid the wave of exchange deposits, suggesting that users were moving their coins to secure them rather than sell. Bitcoin is currently trading at $62,724, down 0.7% over the past day, per CoinGecko data.

The ColdCard exploitThe Coldcard flaw dates to a March 2021 firmware build error that left seed phrases drawn from far too small a pool. Galaxy Research logged three waves of thefts by Saturday, totaling 1,367 BTC across 4,585 addresses, up from $38 million when the flaw was disclosed and $70 million when Binance founder Changpeng Zhao warned holders.

A fourth is likely under way. Galaxy Research's Alex Thorn flagged sweeps across 15 consecutive blocks on Monday, running at roughly 45 times the normal rate, and after correcting a set that had wrongly included multisig addresses put the wave at 709 addresses and 448.73 BTC ($28 million). That would take the running total to about 1,816 BTC, near $114 million. Thorn added a caveat that no victim has yet confirmed the fourth wave, which rests on pattern matching.

🚨 LIKELY 4TH ORGANIZED WAVE COLDCARD ATTACK OCCURRING RIGHT NOW

THERE ARE STILL SIMILAR TXS IN THE MEMPOOL WAITING TO BE CONFIRMED AND THE PREVIOUSLY-CONFIRMED TXS SIGNAL RBF OPT-IN, CHECK YOUR FUNDS AND YOU MAY BE ABLE TO RBF YOUR WAY OUT OF THIS

pattern identified:
blocks…

— Alex Thorn (@intangiblecoins) August 3, 2026

Some sweeps were still sitting unconfirmed in the mempool and had opted into replace-by-fee, he said, meaning holders who act quickly and pay a high fee may be able to outbid the attacker. None of the addresses hit in the first three waves were multisig.

'A wake-up call'Kraken chief security officer Nick Percoco called the incident a "wake-up call for the entire hardware wallet industry." ColdCard’s Mk4, Mk5 and Q ship with certified secure elements, he noted, and their seeds still came out around 72 bits, because the certification covered the component while nobody verified which code path actually ran.

Percoco wants independent lab validation of entropy sources, bound to specific firmware versions and listed in a public registry, as payment terminals already require. He added that Coinkite's hotfix now fails the build unless the correct generator is linked in, a control he said took about 48 hours to write once the company knew what to look for.

Daily Debrief NewsletterStart every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.

THE STREET: After $89M Coldcard hack, Bitcoin breaks from the FTX pattern

Michael Saylor: I have never sold any Bitcoin. MicroStrategy's BTC trading is part of the company's capital management activities.

Strategy founder Michael Saylor posted a statement clarifying that his earlier "Never Sell Your Bitcoin" stance was shared with other Bitcoin holders in his capacity as an individual investor. Saylor said he has never sold any Bitcoin, "not even a single satoshi". He emphasized that Strategy is a public company, not a personal wallet, and has publicly disclosed since 2020 that it may buy or sell BTC for capital management purposes. Saylor noted that Strategy and its investors’ long-term conviction in Bitcoin remains unchanged, adding that the company’s related operations are part of its corporate financial strategy, while his personal stance on holding Bitcoin stays consistent. Previously, the market had been monitoring whether Strategy would adjust its Bitcoin holding strategy; Saylor’s latest remarks aim to clearly distinguish between personal Bitcoin holding behavior and public company asset management decisions.

1 hours ago

Head of Amazon Cloud Business: AI Business Has Enormous Potential Scale

Amazon (AMZN.O)’s cloud unit head said clients are shifting from using its services to train AI models to integrating these models into their own business processes, a trend driving surging demand for inference computing. Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon’s Cloud Computing Division, said on Monday: “We still see some companies using large training clusters, but as these models grow more popular and powerful, more firms are integrating this inference capability into their own workloads.” He noted that the potential of the AI business is “extremely huge,” adding that the company will continue to increase capital expenditure to meet growing demand. As the world’s largest provider of computing power and data rental services, Amazon said last week it projects capital expenditure will reach $220 billion in 2026, up from its prior forecast of $200 billion. The spending hike reflects rising prices of storage chips and other components required for data centers.

1 hours ago

The US military stated that it will continue its maritime blockade of Iran, and has altered the routes of 44 merchant ships.

US Central Command stated local time on August 3 that the U.S. military remains strictly enforcing the maritime blockade against Iran. As of that day, the U.S. military has altered the routes of 44 commercial vessels, disabled two vessels, and boarded and inspected two others.

1 hours ago

US officials said there are currently no plans to hold new negotiations with Iran.

According to U.S. network CBS, citing a U.S. official, despite Trump’s earlier announcement that negotiations with Iran would begin Monday afternoon (local time), no new talks are currently scheduled. Instead, ongoing discussions are underway between U.S. Middle East envoy Witkoff, Kushner, and the U.S. negotiating team and Iran via intermediaries.

1 hours ago

The Nasdaq’s gains expanded to 2%, with Google surging over 5% and Tesla rising 3.8%.

According to market data from Bit (Bit.com), the Nasdaq’s gain widened to 2%, the S&P 500 rose 1.3%, and the Dow rose 1%. Oracle (ORCL.N) climbed 7.3%, Google (GOOG.O) gained over 5%, Amazon (AMZN.O) and Microsoft (MSFT.O) rose over 4%, Tesla (TSLA.O) increased 3.8%, and Nvidia (NVDA.O) gained 3.2%.

1 hours ago

Jensen Huang: AI infrastructure investment will create a large number of six-figure-paying technical positions.

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said the wave of AI infrastructure development will not only drive growth in the software sector, but also create numerous high-paying technical jobs that do not require a college degree. Speaking in a conversation with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Huang noted that the world is undertaking "the largest infrastructure build in human history," with large-scale construction of AI data centers, semiconductor factories, and AI facilities set to generate massive employment opportunities. He pointed out that future high-paying roles will not only include software engineers and computer scientists, but also electricians, plumbers, steelworkers, and data center construction and maintenance personnel. "You don’t need a computer science PhD to earn a good income," he said. Global tech firms are projected to invest around $7 trillion in AI infrastructure by the end of this decade. As data centers and semiconductor facilities expand rapidly, demand for skilled industrial workers is rising steadily. McKinsey data shows that between 2023 and 2030, the U.S. will need an additional roughly 130,000 trained electricians, 240,000 construction workers, and 150,000 construction supervisors to meet infrastructure build requirements. Meanwhile, the impact of AI on traditional white-collar job markets has drawn attention. Ford CEO Jim Farley noted that AI is reducing demand for entry-level roles at tech companies, but the U.S. manufacturing and construction sectors still face severe labor shortages. Farley added that the U.S. is currently grappling with a major shortage of factory and construction workers, and future AI-driven reshoring of manufacturing and infrastructure investments will require more skilled industrial talent. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has previously emphasized that skilled technical workers like electricians are critical for building and operating large AI data centers.

1 hours ago

The leading cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, started the new week around $62,000.

While uncertainty persists regarding how BTC will behave in the face of new developments between the US and Iran, an analysis firm stated that downside fears in BTC options have diminished and that a recovery is contingent upon reaching $62,000.

The crypto options trading platform BIT (formerly Matrixport) indicated in its latest analysis that the perception of downside risk is beginning to ease.

Concerns about the extreme downside risk in the Bitcoin options market have gradually diminished, he said.

The company noted that the current outlook on the options curve suggests Bitcoin may be forming a higher bottom and the market may have passed its most intense selling concerns.

However, the company stressed that maintaining this positive outlook for Bitcoin and holding onto the $62,000 support level is critical for a recovery.

BIT suggests that current market participants are holding relatively small positions, which will limit further selling pressure.

The company also stated that price movements in the options market this week will be decisive for Bitcoin’s short-term direction. This is because a narrowing of the negative options skew could revive Bitcoin’s upward momentum.

On the other hand, the analysis firm also reminded that macroeconomic pressures on the crypto market continue. According to the analysis, geopolitical developments and the rise in US Treasury bond yields remain the most important risk factors to watch for Bitcoin and other risky assets.

BIT concluded by adding that its assessment is purely market analysis and should not be considered investment advice.

*This is not investment advice.

Follow our Telegram and Twitter account now for exclusive news, analytics and on-chain data!

Bitcoin started the week under pressure, falling to the $62,229 level after seeing a liquidation of $146.66 million. This came even after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he had canceled a planned military strike on Iran to give diplomacy another chance. 

Top crypto analysts suggest that BTC is trapped between two major liquidity zones, with its next move likely to decide the market direction.

Trump’s Iran Decision Failed to Lift BitcoinBitcoin is down 1.35% over the past 24 hours, trading near $62,560, while the overall crypto market has also weakened, with total market capitalization falling 1.14% to $2.15 trillion.

The market first reacted positively after Trump said Iran had backed away after seeing the scale of a planned U.S. attack.

“They KNEW the extent of the attack, because they saw it FORMING.” “Negotiations begin on Monday afternoon.”

Following his comments, Brent crude oil dropped more than 5.33% to around $80 per barrel.

Then Bitcoin climbed toward $63,700, but the rally quickly faded after Iran denied that any talks with the U.S. were taking place.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said,

“We are not currently holding any talks with the American side.”

He added that discussions with Oman are only about creating a temporary shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran is not negotiating with the US right now — Iran’s FM spox Baghaei

'The negotiations are with Oman, focused on a temporary route that would ensure safe shipping through the Strait of Hormuz' pic.twitter.com/JoRB0YdQGi

— RTBreaking (@RT_Breaking) August 3, 2026 Leverage Is Rising While Traders Stay CautiousWhile bitcoin prices are falling, trading activity is increasing. Spot trading volume has climbed 15.87%, while perpetual futures open interest has jumped 27.46% to $377.89 billion. 

This shows that more leveraged positions are entering the market, which could lead to bigger price swings.

Bitcoin is also moving closely with traditional safe-haven assets. Over the past week, it has shown a 61% correlation with gold, suggesting investors are reacting to the same global economic and geopolitical concerns.

Bitcoin Sits Between $64K and $62K Liquidity ZonesAt the same time, Crypto trader The Martini Guy says Bitcoin is now trading between two key liquidity areas shown on Glassnode’s liquidation heatmaps.

The 12-hour heatmap shows a large cluster of short liquidations around $64,000. If Bitcoin moves higher, this could trigger a wave of short liquidations that may push prices up faster.

Bitcoin is currently sitting between two major liquidity zones.

The 12H heatmap shows a large concentration of liquidity building above price around the $64,000 area.

If Bitcoin moves higher, this is the first major area to watch as leveraged shorts in that zone could come… pic.twitter.com/9gTajNMJTx

— That Martini Guy ₿ (@MartiniGuyYT) August 3, 2026 At the same time, the three day heatmap shows strong liquidity sitting near $62,000, creating an important support zone.

For now, Bitcoin remains stuck between these two levels.

If BTC falls below $62,000, selling pressure could increase and drag the price toward $60,000. On the upside, Bitcoin needs to reclaim $63,500 first, while a break above $64,000 could open the door for a stronger recovery.

Story Ends Here

Trust with CoinPedia:CoinPedia has been delivering accurate and timely cryptocurrency and blockchain updates since 2017. All content is created by our expert panel of analysts and journalists, following strict Editorial Guidelines based on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). Every article is fact-checked against reputable sources to ensure accuracy, transparency, and reliability. Our review policy guarantees unbiased evaluations when recommending exchanges, platforms, or tools. We strive to provide timely updates about everything crypto & blockchain, right from startups to industry majors.

Investment Disclaimer:All opinions and insights shared represent the author's own views on current market conditions. Please do your own research before making investment decisions. Neither the writer nor the publication assumes responsibility for your financial choices.

Sponsored and Advertisements:Sponsored content and affiliate links may appear on our site. Advertisements are marked clearly, and our editorial content remains entirely independent from our ad partners.

Read the Next News

TLDR A fourth attack wave moved 448.7 Bitcoin from 709 suspected victim addresses, according to Galaxy Research. Combined losses across all four waves are estimated near 1,815 Bitcoin from 5,294 addresses. Coinkite traced the flaw to a 2021 firmware update that swapped its true random number generator for a weaker one. Kraken security chief Nick Percoco says the case shows hardware wallets lack independent testing standards other devices already use. Coldcard has halted shipments, destroyed affected stock, and released fixed firmware, but users still must move funds to new seeds. Coldcard, a maker of Bitcoin hardware wallets, is facing a wave of thefts tied to a firmware flaw that went unnoticed for five years. Blockchain research firm Galaxy Research says a fourth attack wave hit over the weekend.

That wave moved 448.7 Bitcoin from 709 suspected victim addresses. Galaxy’s head of research, Alex Thorn, called the addresses “likely Coldcard victims” based on transaction patterns, not confirmed device records.

Across all four waves, Galaxy estimates roughly 1,815 Bitcoin has been taken from 5,294 addresses. That number is not confirmed by Coinkite, police, or every wallet owner involved, and it assumes the victim groups don’t overlap.

🚨 LIKELY 4TH ORGANIZED WAVE COLDCARD ATTACK OCCURRING RIGHT NOW

THERE ARE STILL SIMILAR TXS IN THE MEMPOOL WAITING TO BE CONFIRMED AND THE PREVIOUSLY-CONFIRMED TXS SIGNAL RBF OPT-IN, CHECK YOUR FUNDS AND YOU MAY BE ABLE TO RBF YOUR WAY OUT OF THIS

pattern identified:
blocks…

— Alex Thorn (@intangiblecoins) August 3, 2026

How the Flaw Happened Coinkite, the company behind Coldcard, says the problem began in March 2021 during a change to its cryptographic library. The update accidentally routed seed creation to a weaker software-based random number generator instead of the device’s intended hardware generator.

Coinkite said in its report that the weaker generator existed in the source code without the team knowing it was being called. Affected models include the Mk2, Mk3, Mk4, Mk5, and Q, each losing a different amount of randomness as a result.

Block’s engineering team reviewed the issue on its own and confirmed the firmware was calling the weaker fallback generator instead of the true hardware source. Block said it had not run full tests to confirm the flaw could be exploited, but agreed early disclosure was needed given the theft reports.

What Users Need to Do Coinkite has released fixed firmware for every affected model. Installing it does not repair wallets that already created a weak seed.

Anyone with an older seed needs to generate a new one on the updated firmware, test it with a small transfer, then move the rest of their funds. Seeds made with at least 50 dice rolls, or protected by a strong passphrase, are not considered exposed by this specific issue.

Galaxy Research says some flagged transactions are still sitting unconfirmed in Bitcoin’s network. That gives affected owners a narrow chance to move funds first by sending a new transaction with a higher fee.

This only works before the original transaction is confirmed in a block, and there is no guarantee the replacement will succeed.

Kraken’s chief security officer, Nick Percoco, said the case points to a gap in how hardware wallets get tested. He compared it to standards already used for other cryptographic devices, saying wallet makers have no equal system to confirm which random number generator is actually running in production.

Coinkite halted all device shipments after confirming the bug and destroyed unsold units carrying the flawed firmware. The company has asked users not to throw away old devices, saying they may help identify stolen funds later.

Coinkite says its legal team plans to work with law enforcement in multiple countries as the investigation into the thefts continues.

The Coldcard exploit is not a hack in the way most people understand the word. Nobody broke into anything. Nobody phished anyone. Nobody stole a seed phrase from a sticky note. The devices generated weak private keys for five years, and an attacker figured out how to guess them.

Summary

Four coordinated attack waves have drained an estimated 1,816 BTC (approximately $118 million) from Coldcard hardware wallets since July 30, with Galaxy Research tracking 5,294 affected addresses and warning that every vulnerable device will eventually be emptied. The exploit stems from a firmware build error present since March 2021 that reduced seed entropy from 128 bits to approximately 40 bits on Mk3 devices and 72 bits on Mk4/Mk5/Q models, making private keys guessable through brute force. Unlike the FTX collapse, which drove bitcoin off exchanges into self-custody, the Coldcard crisis is producing the opposite flow: users are moving bitcoin back to regulated exchanges and institutional custodians they previously abandoned. The net transfer of bitcoin from self-custody wallets to exchange addresses has been positive every day since July 31 according to on-chain flow data, reversing a two-year trend that began after FTX. Treasury companies that hold bitcoin through institutional custody, including Strategy and prospective entrants like Evernorth, benefit from a narrative shift that frames self-custody as a risk rather than a solution. That distinction matters because it strikes at the foundation of the self-custody argument. The pitch for hardware wallets has always been simple: your keys, your coins, no counterparty risk. Coldcard was the gold standard of that philosophy. Air-gapped, open-source, bitcoin-only, endorsed by security researchers and institutional custodians as the most trusted device in the ecosystem.

If the most trusted hardware wallet can ship a five-year entropy bug without detection, the question is no longer whether Coldcard failed. The question is whether any hardware wallet can be trusted as the sole custodial layer for significant bitcoin holdings. And the market is answering that question with its feet.

The exploit in four waves The first wave hit at 2:14 a.m. UTC on July 30. A single entity swept 594 BTC from approximately 500 wallets in 25 minutes. The second wave followed on August 1, draining 284.4 BTC from 2,889 addresses. The third wave hit later that day with 207.73 BTC across a separate address cluster. The fourth wave arrived on August 3, with Galaxy Research’s Alex Thorn identifying 448.7 BTC moving from 709 suspected victim addresses.

The combined estimate stands at approximately 1,816 BTC across 5,294 addresses. Galaxy measures 13.8 sweeps per block during active waves, roughly 45 times the baseline rate. Thorn described the pattern as “LIKELY Coldcard victims” based on unspent output characteristics and transaction behavior. The wording is precise because the attribution comes from blockchain analysis, not device records or law enforcement confirmation.

Coinkite, the Toronto-based manufacturer, traced the problem to a March 2021 firmware change. A preprocessor guard was supposed to select the hardware random-number generator during seed creation. The guard checked whether a configuration setting was defined, not whether its value was correct. The build system selected a deterministic MicroPython fallback instead. The firmware compiled without warnings. Seeds appeared normal. Addresses accepted deposits. Nothing indicated the entropy was catastrophically weak.

On Mk3 devices, the effective search space dropped to approximately 40 bits. A 128-bit seed has more possible combinations than atoms in the observable universe. A 40-bit seed has roughly one trillion combinations. That is within reach of commodity hardware. The Mk4, Mk5, and Q models include additional secure elements that mix their own entropy, producing seeds with approximately 72 bits. Better than 40, but still far below the 128-bit target.

The critical detail: updating the firmware does not repair an existing seed. Every Coldcard owner who generated a seed on affected firmware must create a new seed on patched hardware and migrate their funds. The key itself must be replaced.

The flow reversal: from exchanges to self-custody and back After FTX collapsed in November 2022, the bitcoin community experienced its most dramatic shift in custodial philosophy. The phrase “not your keys, not your coins” became operational advice rather than a slogan. On-chain data showed a sustained, multi-month transfer of bitcoin from exchange addresses to self-custody wallets. The trend persisted for nearly two years.

The Coldcard exploit has reversed that flow. Net transfers from self-custody wallets to exchange addresses have been positive every day since July 31. The magnitude is not comparable to the post-FTX exodus, which involved hundreds of thousands of BTC over months. The current flow is smaller and more concentrated among users who specifically held Coldcard devices. But the direction of the flow is what matters for the narrative.

The users moving bitcoin to exchanges are not panicking retail investors. Many are technically sophisticated holders who chose Coldcard specifically because it was the most security-conscious option. They are making a rational calculation: the counterparty risk of an exchange is now quantifiable and insured, while the self-custody risk of a hardware wallet with a five-year entropy bug is neither.

That calculation is the narrative shift. Self-custody was supposed to eliminate counterparty risk entirely. The Coldcard exploit demonstrates that self-custody introduces its own category of risk: supply-chain risk, firmware risk, entropy risk, and the risk that the device you trust with your private keys is not doing what its manufacturer claims.

Who benefits: the treasury company model The companies that hold bitcoin through institutional custody benefit directly from the narrative shift. Strategy, the largest corporate holder with over 550,000 BTC as of its latest disclosure, uses institutional custodians including Coinbase Custody and Fidelity Digital Assets. These custodians use multi-signature arrangements, hardware security modules, and geographic distribution that do not depend on any single device’s entropy quality.

The treasury company thesis is built on the argument that holding bitcoin through a publicly traded company is safer than holding it yourself, more liquid than holding it in a hardware wallet, and more capital-efficient because the company can borrow against its holdings. The Coldcard exploit strengthens the first claim in a way that no marketing campaign could.

Evernorth, the XRP treasury company preparing to list, faces a similar dynamic. Prospective investors who might have preferred self-custody of XRP now have a concrete example of what can go wrong with hardware wallet security. The listing calculus shifts when self-custody carries visible, quantifiable risk.

The broader pattern extends to every institutional custody provider. Coinbase Custody, BitGo, Fireblocks, and Anchorage reported inquiries surging after the first Coldcard wave. The product these companies sell is the elimination of exactly the risk that Coldcard exposed: the risk that a hardware implementation error, invisible for years, can make your private keys guessable.

The insurance gap and what it reveals The Coldcard exploit has exposed an insurance gap that the industry has not addressed. Regulated exchanges and custodians carry insurance against theft, operational failure, and in some cases, hot-wallet compromise. The coverage limits vary, but the principle is established: if an exchange loses your bitcoin through its own failure, there is a claims process.

Self-custody has no equivalent. If a hardware wallet generates a weak key and an attacker drains the funds, the user has no insurance claim. Coinkite is a private company in Toronto. No product liability framework for hardware wallet entropy failures exists. The affected users can sue, but collecting meaningful damages from a hardware startup is a different proposition from filing a claim against an insured custodian.

The insurance gap is not a new observation, but the Coldcard exploit makes it concrete. A user who lost 10 BTC from a Coldcard has no recovery mechanism. A user who lost 10 BTC from Coinbase Custody would have a claim against the custodian’s insurance. The risk-adjusted comparison now favors institutional custody for any holding above the threshold where insurance matters.

The AI dimension and what it means for future exploits Coinkite said the attacker used AI to discover the firmware flaw, and that Coinkite’s own AI audit of the same code weeks earlier found nothing. If that assessment is correct, it introduces a new variable into the self-custody risk model.

Hardware wallet security has historically rested on the assumption that open-source code is safer because more eyes can review it. The Coldcard firmware was public for five years. Thousands of developers could have inspected it. Nobody found the entropy bug. An AI model did.

The implication is that the advantage in firmware analysis has shifted from defenders to attackers. If AI can find subtle build-system errors that human reviewers miss, then every open-source hardware wallet is potentially vulnerable to the same methodology. The attacker does not need to find a new type of bug. They need to find a new instance of the same type of bug in a different codebase.

Block, Trezor, and Ledger have confirmed their products are unaffected by the specific Coldcard vulnerability. But “unaffected by this specific bug” is not the same as “provably secure against AI-assisted firmware analysis.” The assurance gap is structural, and the Coldcard exploit is the first public demonstration of it.

The self-custody argument is not dead, but it is wounded The self-custody philosophy will survive the Coldcard exploit. Multi-signature arrangements that do not depend on any single device, hardware wallets from manufacturers with different codebases, and cold storage practices that incorporate dice rolls for entropy remain valid approaches. Coinkite itself noted that seeds created with at least 50 fair dice rolls are not considered exposed by this RNG issue.

What the exploit has damaged is the simplest version of the self-custody argument: buy a hardware wallet, generate a seed, store it safely, and never worry about counterparty risk again. That version assumed the hardware wallet worked as advertised. For five years, Coldcard did not.

The result is a more nuanced custody landscape. Self-custody for small amounts remains practical. Self-custody for significant holdings now requires either multi-signature setups, multiple hardware vendors, external entropy sources, or regular security audits that most individual holders cannot perform. For holders who cannot or will not take those steps, institutional custody has become the lower-risk option. And that is exactly the argument the treasury companies have been making all along.

What to watch Exchange inflow data. If the net transfer from self-custody to exchanges continues beyond the initial Coldcard panic, it signals a durable shift in custody preferences rather than a temporary reaction. Coinkite’s liability exposure. Any class-action filing against Coinkite will establish precedent for hardware wallet manufacturer liability. Watch for suits in US and Canadian courts. Institutional custodian onboarding numbers. Coinbase Custody, BitGo, and Fireblocks quarterly reports will show whether the Coldcard exploit translated into sustained new business. Strategy and Evernorth share price behavior. If treasury company stocks outperform bitcoin in August, the market is pricing the custody-narrative shift into equities. New firmware audit disclosures. If other hardware wallet manufacturers commission independent AI-assisted audits and publish results, it signals the industry is taking the supply-chain risk seriously. Frequently asked questions How much bitcoin has been stolen from Coldcard wallets? Galaxy Research estimates approximately 1,816 BTC across four coordinated attack waves affecting 5,294 addresses since July 30. The figure is based on blockchain analysis and has not been confirmed by Coinkite or law enforcement.

Is the Coldcard exploit still ongoing? Yes. Galaxy identified the fourth wave on August 3 and warned that vulnerable seeds will continue to be drained until affected users migrate to new wallets with fresh seeds on patched firmware.

Does updating Coldcard firmware fix the problem? No. The firmware update fixes seed generation going forward, but it does not repair seeds already created on vulnerable firmware. Users must generate entirely new seeds and transfer their funds.

Are other hardware wallets affected? Block, Trezor, and Ledger have confirmed their products are not affected by this specific vulnerability. However, the exploit demonstrates that firmware-level entropy bugs can persist undetected for years in any open-source codebase.

Why are people moving bitcoin to exchanges instead of other hardware wallets? Regulated exchanges and custodians offer insurance, multi-signature security, and professional monitoring that individual hardware wallets do not. The Coldcard exploit made self-custody risk visible and quantifiable, changing the risk comparison.

Do treasury companies like Strategy use hardware wallets? Strategy and other institutional holders use professional custodians like Coinbase Custody and Fidelity Digital Assets, which employ multi-signature arrangements and hardware security modules rather than single consumer hardware wallets.

Can affected users recover stolen bitcoin? Recovery is extremely unlikely. The attacker controls the private keys. Bitcoin transactions are irreversible. Users with unconfirmed transactions may attempt Replace-by-Fee to redirect funds, but this window is narrow and not guaranteed.

Is self-custody still safe? Self-custody remains viable with proper practices: multi-signature setups across multiple hardware vendors, external entropy from dice rolls, and regular security audits. Single-device, single-signature self-custody for significant holdings now carries documented risk.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice. Loss estimates are based on third-party blockchain analysis and have not been confirmed by the manufacturer or law enforcement. Published August 3, 2026.

Key Takeaways Table of Contents

Key TakeawaysWhat shorting crypto meansThe main ways to short cryptoHow a perpetual or margin short actually worksHow to place a short — step by stepWhy shorting is riskier than going long — the short squeezeFAQCan you short crypto?What does shorting crypto mean?How do you short Bitcoin?Is shorting crypto risky?What is a short squeeze?Can you lose more than you invest when shorting?Do you need to own crypto to short it? Shorting means profiting when a price falls rather than when it rises — the opposite of the buy-low, sell-high trade most people know. On modern crypto platforms you short through derivatives, so you never have to borrow or own the coin; you simply open a short position on its price. The main ways to short are perpetual futures or a margin short, dated futures, options, and inverse ETFs or tokens. A perpetual or margin short is the most common route: flexible, leveraged and with no expiry date. Shorting is riskier than going long. A long position can only fall to zero, but a short can lose far more, because a price can keep rising. A short squeeze — a sharp rally that forces shorts to buy back — is the specific danger, which is why a stop-loss matters even more on the short side. Liquidation, funding every eight hours, and mark-price quality all apply to shorts exactly as they do to longs. Almost everyone learns to make money the same way: buy something, wait for it to rise, sell it for more. But crypto falls at least as often as it rises, and shorting is how traders profit when it does. It sounds exotic, yet the mechanics are straightforward once the idea clicks. This guide explains what shorting crypto actually means, the main ways to do it, how a typical short works step by step, and why the risk is shaped differently from a normal buy.

Traditionally, short selling meant borrowing an asset, selling it at today’s price, then buying it back later — hopefully cheaper — and returning it, pocketing the difference. It is the buy-low, sell-high trade run in reverse: you sell high first and buy low afterwards.

On modern crypto platforms you rarely borrow an actual coin. Instead you short through derivatives — contracts that track the price — so you open a short position that gains value as the price falls and loses value as it rises. You never hold the underlying asset, never manage a wallet for it, and can close the position whenever you like. The profit is the same idea: you win when the market goes down.

The main ways to short crypto There are four common routes, differing in leverage, complexity and who they suit.

Method Leverage Complexity Best for Perpetual futures / margin short Yes, adjustable Moderate Most traders — flexible, no expiry Dated futures Yes Moderate Traders wanting a fixed timeframe Options (buying puts) Built in High Defined-risk bets on a fall Inverse ETFs / tokens Usually low Low Hands-off exposure without a derivatives account For most active traders, a perpetual futures or margin short is the default: it carries no expiry date, lets you adjust leverage, and can be opened and closed in seconds. Options give defined risk but demand more knowledge, while inverse ETFs and tokens offer simple, hands-off exposure at the cost of flexibility. The rest of this guide focuses on the perpetual or margin short, since it is both the most popular and the most flexible.

How a perpetual or margin short actually works Opening a short mirrors opening a long, just in the opposite direction. You post margin, choose leverage, and open a short position sized at margin multiplied by leverage. From there, every fall in the price adds to your profit and every rise subtracts from it.

Take a worked example. You open a $2,000 short on Bitcoin with $200 of margin at x10. If Bitcoin falls 5%, the position gains $100 — a 50% return on your margin. If Bitcoin rises 5% instead, that same $100 comes out of your margin. Two familiar costs apply: trading fees on entry and exit — on Margex, a 0.019% maker and 0.060% taker fee — and funding, exchanged between longs and shorts every eight hours for as long as the position stays open. As with any leveraged trade, the platform liquidates the position against a mark price if losses approach your collateral; on cross margin, Margex triggers that once the margin level falls to 10% or below.

How to place a short — step by step Choose a platform. You need a venue that supports derivatives or margin trading, with a mark price built from several independent sources, a fee schedule you can live with, both margin modes and a demo to practise in. You can short crypto on Margex, for example, with leverage from x5 to x100 and a mark price aggregated from 12 liquidity providers. Fund and pick a margin mode. Deposit, then choose isolated margin, which ring-fences one position, over cross margin, which backs every trade with your whole balance. Beginners should start isolated. Size from equity. Decide the share of your balance you can lose on this trade — 1–2% is a sensible ceiling — and set leverage and size to fit, not the reverse. Set a stop-loss. This matters even more on a short than a long, because the loss on a short is not capped. Place the stop before you open. Open the short. Select short, confirm direction, leverage and size, and place the order. Entry, liquidation price and fees are all shown first. Monitor funding and liquidation. Watch your margin level and remember funding is charged every eight hours. If the price rises toward your liquidation level, add margin or cut the position. Close. Buy back to close, or let your stop or take-profit do it. The difference, after fees and funding, settles to your balance. Why shorting is riskier than going long — the short squeeze There is one asymmetry every short seller must understand. When you go long, the worst case is that the asset falls to zero — you lose 100% and no more. When you short, the price can keep rising with no ceiling, so your potential loss is theoretically unlimited. That is not a technicality; it is the defining risk of the trade.

The sharpest version of this is a short squeeze: a rapid price rise forces short sellers to buy back to limit their losses, and that buying pushes the price higher still, forcing yet more shorts to cover. The move feeds on itself and can be violent. It is exactly why a stop-loss and modest leverage are not optional on the short side.

Upside: you can profit in falling markets, hedge existing holdings, and act on a bearish view without selling coins you want to keep. Downside: losses are uncapped in theory, funding costs accrue while you hold, and leverage makes liquidation quick. These are leveraged derivatives, not spot ownership, and generally sit outside retail investor protections. FAQ Can you short crypto? Yes. Most derivatives and margin platforms let you open a short position that profits when the price falls, without owning or borrowing the underlying coin.

What does shorting crypto mean? Taking a position that gains value when a crypto asset’s price drops. It is the reverse of buying: you profit from a decline rather than a rise.

How do you short Bitcoin? Open a short position on a platform that offers Bitcoin derivatives or margin trading: post margin, choose leverage, and place a short. You close by buying back, and your profit or loss is the difference in price minus fees and funding.

Is shorting crypto risky? More so than going long. A long can only fall to zero, but a short’s loss is theoretically unlimited because a price can keep rising. Stops, modest leverage and small position sizes are essential.

What is a short squeeze? A rapid price rise that forces short sellers to buy back their positions, whose buying pushes the price up further and squeezes remaining shorts. It can cause sudden, outsized losses for anyone caught short.

Can you lose more than you invest when shorting? On most crypto venues, liquidation closes your position before your balance goes negative, so losses are usually capped at your margin (isolated) or your account balance (cross). Without those safeguards, a short’s loss can in principle exceed the initial stake.

Do you need to own crypto to short it? No. Shorting through derivatives means you never hold the coin — you hold a contract on its price, which is what makes shorting quick and wallet-free.

WSJ: Hyperscale Data Establishes Bitcoin-Backed DeFi Financing Program Through Morpho Protocol; Current Borrowings Approximately $30 Million at 4.9% to Support Michigan AI Data Center Expansion

Coldcard, a producer of Bitcoin hardware wallets manufactured by Coinkite, is facing mounting losses as a critical firmware flaw has enabled a series of large-scale thefts. Galaxy Research, a blockchain analysis firm, reported that a fourth wave of attacks occurred over the weekend, resulting in the unauthorized transfer of 448.7 Bitcoin from 709 addresses suspected to belong to affected users.

Widespread Losses and Ongoing VulnerabilityAcross all four attack waves, Galaxy Research estimates that 1,815 Bitcoin has been drained from 5,294 addresses. This figure is based on observed transaction patterns and does not account for overlapping victims, nor is it officially confirmed by Coinkite or law enforcement. Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy, labeled the addresses as “likely Coldcard victims” based on their transaction behavior, rather than direct confirmation from device records.

The timing and structure of many attacks suggest a coordinated effort to exploit vulnerable wallets before their owners could update firmware or secure funds. Coinkite has not confirmed the exact scale of the losses, but the ongoing risks have prompted urgent warnings from the security community.

Despite multiple waves of thefts, some suspicious transactions remain unconfirmed and are still visible in Bitcoin’s memory pool, offering a potentially brief window for users to recover their funds by issuing a replacement transaction with a higher fee.

Origins of the Security FlawCoinkite attributes the issue to a cryptographic library change applied in March 2021. This update inadvertently routed wallet seed creation to a software-based random number generator instead of using the secure hardware-based system the device was designed for. According to Coinkite’s internal report, the weaker generator existed in the code base and was triggered without the team’s awareness, leading to a significant decrease in wallet seed entropy.

Multiple versions of the Coldcard hardware—including Mk2, Mk3, Mk4, Mk5, and the Q—were affected, with each model experiencing varying degrees of reduced randomness in seed generation. Block, a financial services and digital payments firm, verified that the firmware had relied on the fallback generator, and agreed that prompt disclosure was vital in light of the mounting theft reports, even without full testing to determine the exploitability of the flaw.

Mini dictionary: Entropy, in cryptography, refers to the randomness collected by a system for use in cryptographic operations, which is essential for generating unpredictable keys and seeds.

User Guidance and ResponseCoinkite has issued fixed firmware for affected models, but the update does not fix wallets that have already generated seeds with insufficient entropy. Users who created wallets before the patch must generate new seeds using the updated firmware, test with a small transfer, and then move any remaining funds. Seeds made using at least 50 dice rolls or secured with a strong passphrase are not exposed to this specific vulnerability.

Kraken’s chief security officer, Nick Percoco, highlighted that the incident exposes the absence of independent and standardized testing for hardware wallets—a practice already common with other cryptographic devices. He emphasized the need for the industry to implement verification standards to ensure the correct random number generators are operational in production units.

The Coldcard flaw reveals a significant oversight in hardware wallet verification, calling attention to the industry’s lack of established standards for independent testing of cryptographic components.

Coinkite responded by halting all Coldcard shipments, destroying unsold devices running the vulnerable firmware, and urging affected users not to discard their hardware, as these could aid in future investigations and fund recovery efforts.

The company also stated that its legal team will collaborate with law enforcement agencies in multiple jurisdictions as the investigation progresses.

Attack WaveBitcoin StolenAddresses AffectedFirst–Third Waves1,366.3 BTC4,585Fourth Wave448.7 BTC709Total1,815 BTC5,294Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.

Cover image via depositphotos.com Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.

The Coldcard firmware incident, in which hackers drained $88 million worth of BTC from users' wallets, brought a fundamental crisis of trust in the industry to the forefront. 

While skeptics such as Bruce Fenton use this case as evidence of the failure of the "be your own bank" idea, early Bitcoin developer Peter Todd argued that the scale of even such a hardware failure pales in comparison with the systemic risks posed by centralized platforms.

You Might Also Like

HOT Stories

Historically, the infrastructure collapse of exchanges has cost investors many times more than any technical software defect, and the case of the Canadian platform QuadrigaCX, which resulted in losses of $200 million, is direct proof of this, according to the developer.

In fact, the damage caused by a single centralized platform was more than twice the losses from the large-scale Coldcard hardware failure, directly demonstrating that handing control of private keys to third parties remains the main systemic risk to capital.

Are crypto investors too lazy for financial sovereignty?The problem of securing personal funds does not lie in the complexity of blockchain architecture, but in the absence of a basic culture of handling sensitive data. 

Peter Todd therefore reduces key protection to an elementary skill comparable to storing physical documents such as a birth certificate — users simply need to write down 12 words and avoid losing them.

As his main argument, Todd draws a comparison with driving a car, where operating a vehicle requires hundreds of hours of intense concentration and where the cost of a mistake can be a human life.

Two very obvious strategies that any adult would consider.

If it was finding hiding spots for cash in your house, you'd consider not putting everything in one place too.

— Peter Todd (@peterktodd) August 3, 2026 You Might Also Like

Against this background, self-custody appears to be an incomparably simpler process, and the developer believes that introducing multi-week educational courses, similar to conventional driving schools, could reduce the percentage of critical mistakes caused by human error to almost zero.

In the context proposed by Todd, the risks of poor entropy or unforeseen circumstances still exist, but they do not negate the superiority of sovereign custody: the vulnerability lies in users' lack of responsibility, not in Bitcoin's code.

In This Article How a Broken Random-Number Generator Broke Cold StorageCrypto Hack: Which Wallets Are Affected and What Owners Must Do NowThe Bigger Picture: Self-Custody Moves Risk, It Doesn't Erase It A crypto hack targeting a firmware flaw in the Coldcard Bitcoin hardware wallet has drained at least 1,367 BTC, worth approximately $86M at current prices, from more than 4,500 cold storage addresses across three waves of attacks. The exploit never required physical access to a single device; it rebuilt private keys from scratch using mathematics.

Galaxy Research: Three Suspected Attacks on Coldcard-Generated Addresses Drain 1,367 BTC

Galaxy Research said its Bitcoin on-chain analysis identified three suspected attack waves targeting addresses generated by Coldcard, involving 4,585 addresses and a total of 1,367.05 BTC… pic.twitter.com/JdSz4W1TIk

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) August 1, 2026

The central problem: Bitcoin self-custody promises that a key stored offline is unreachable. This attack proved that an unreachable key can still be unguessable, or not.

This story has unfolded as BTC USD sits at around $62,250, down -1.4% on this Monday morning as rumors swirl of Saylor lining up to dump more Bitcoin and the CLARITY Act deadline nearing, with no breakthrough looking likely.

$BTC is back into the $62,000-$62,500 level.

Hold this level, and Bitcoin could rally towards $65,000.

Lose this level, and BTC could drop to $60,000. pic.twitter.com/O877SmIdMU

— Ted (@TedPillows) August 3, 2026

How a Broken Random-Number Generator Broke Cold Storage Coinkite, the Canadian maker of the Coldcard, confirmed that a March 2021 firmware error caused a vulnerability in its pseudo-random number generator (PRNG) during seed phrase creation.

Instead of using a hardware random-number generator, the firmware relied on the chip’s serial number and clock registers, reducing the potential keys from cryptographically vast to countable.

This allowed attackers to generate candidate seeds, derive corresponding Bitcoin addresses, and check them against the public blockchain without involving the victim’s device.

Galaxy Research detailed the first wave of attacks, where 1,082.65 BTC was stolen from 1,196 addresses in just 41 minutes on July 30.

A subsequent wave added around 208 BTC from 1,912 addresses using more sophisticated techniques, like batching multiple victims in a single transaction. Galaxy believes the attacks are orchestrated by a single operator but has not linked all three waves.

$1.6 million dollars in Bitcoin was drained from my account on July 29th in the Cold Card wallet hack.

My Bitcoin was in cold storage. My keys were on a ColdCard device kept in a safety deposit box that had never been connected to the internet.

This part's nerdy, but here's… pic.twitter.com/Lf9kJv9Jo4

— Jonathan Goodman 🇨🇦 (@itscoachgoodman) August 1, 2026

Trade BTC Markets on Kalshi and Claim Your FREE $25

Crypto Hack: Which Wallets Are Affected and What Owners Must Do Now Coinkite initially warned users of Mk3 devices running firmware version 4.0.1 or later, later expanding this to include certain Mk4, Mk5, and Coldcard Q firmware versions. Emergency firmware updates were released, and CEO Rodolfo Novak apologized, taking “full accountability” for the bug.

However, updating the firmware does not fix the issue if a seed was generated on a vulnerable build; users must create a new seed and migrate funds to a new wallet. This incident highlights that the quality of entropy implementation is more crucial than brand reputation for hardware wallet security.

Jan3 CEO Samson Mow urged all Coldcard users to migrate their funds due to ongoing attacks. Block’s Clay Garrett noted that a paid account was used to identify source addresses during these attacks, and this information has been passed to authorities.

The Bigger Picture: Self-Custody Moves Risk, It Doesn’t Erase It This crypto hack incident reflects a broader trend observed in 2026, where infrastructure and key compromise incidents, though fewer in number, lead to most dollar losses in the industry.

Speculation on X suggests AI tools may have played a role in discovering or exploiting the flaw, but this has not been confirmed by Coinkite or Block.

The Coldcard episode underscores a crucial principle: a hardware wallet’s strength relies on the randomness used for key generation. As noted by Galaxy Research, the decreasing cost of analyzing weak key spaces means the industry must improve its standards for entropy verification.

For those holding Bitcoin in self-custody, it’s essential to check your Coldcard firmware against Coinkite’s advisory, generate a new seed on updated firmware, and migrate funds to ensure safety.

EXPLORE: Best Crypto Presales With Asymmetric Upside in the Current Market

#Bitcoin News Today

Why you can trust 99Bitcoins

10+ Years

Established in 2013, 99Bitcoin’s team members have been crypto experts since Bitcoin’s Early days.

90hr+

Weekly Research

100k+

Monthly readers

50+

Expert contributors

2000+

Crypto Projects Reviewed

Follow 99Bitcoins on your Google News Feed

Get the latest updates, trends, and insights delivered straight to your fingertips. Subscribe now!

Subscribe now

Alex Ioannou

On-Chain Journalist

Alex is a seasoned cryptocurrency trader and market analyst with over seven years of active experience in the digital asset space. Since entering the markets in 2017, Alex has specialized in identifying emerging "meta" trends and high-volatility narratives. Notably, Alex... Read More

Free Bitcoin Crash Course Enjoyed by over 100,000 students. One email a day, 7 days in a row. Short and educational, guaranteed!

Table of contents

Coldcard users are facing a fourth wave of organized theft, and the numbers are no longer rounding errors. Alex Thorn, Head of Research at Galaxy Research, flagged a fresh burst of malicious activity that siphoned approximately 388.9 BTC from 462 victim addresses in just 14 blocks—between 960,778 and 960,792. The attack generated 218 transactions funneling bitcoin into 216 previously unseen destinations. Transaction volume spiked to roughly 45 times the pre-incident baseline, leaving little doubt that this was a deliberate, structured operation.

The warning came via the original report, which also notes that some of the stolen funds have already been traced to second-hop addresses. Similar transactions remain pending in the mempool, indicating the sweep isn’t fully processed. Confirmed on-chain activity shows a signaled opt-in for Replace-by-Fee (RBF), a detail that could offer a narrow escape path for victims who act fast.

The Latest Attack Wave What separates this wave from opportunistic theft is the speed and coordination. The 462 addresses were hit in a tight block window, with the outflow moving to destinations that hadn’t been used before. That pattern—fresh addresses, high-velocity consolidation, and volume far above normal—suggests pre-planned scripts rather than a manual actor. The theft occurred on a weekend, when many users may not have been monitoring transactions. Galaxy Research noted that some funds were already swept to second-hop wallets, complicating track-and-trace efforts and making recovery unlikely without immediate intervention.

The RBF flag offers a lifeline, but only for those who notice the attack while their transactions are still replaceable. Users with pending, unconfirmed outgoing transactions that haven’t been broadcast with a low fee could potentially accelerate a competing transaction to a safe address. It’s a slim window, and it requires technical awareness. For most victims, the funds are already gone.

Pattern of Organized Theft This isn’t the first ride for Coldcard owners. According to Galaxy Research, earlier waves identified three separate attack campaigns targeting Coldcard-generated addresses. Cumulatively, those waves drained 1,367.05 BTC from 4,585 addresses—worth roughly $88.6 million at the time of the thefts. The earlier incidents pushed Coldcard to acknowledge a firmware vulnerability that allowed attackers to derive private keys from seeds created on affected devices.

The hardware manufacturer halted shipments and destroyed all remaining COLDCARD devices with the vulnerable firmware. Satscard, Opendime, and Tapsigner products were unaffected. Coldcard released a patched firmware that protects newly generated seeds, but the fix is not retroactive. Any seed created on the vulnerable firmware remains compromised. The firm’s guidance is blunt: create a new seed on patched firmware and move all funds off old seeds immediately. The fourth wave shows that many users have not yet done so, and attackers are exploiting that inertia systematically.

Coldcard’s Response and User Guidance Coldcard’s decision to halt shipments and destroy inventory was a drastic but necessary step that other hardware vendors rarely take publicly. It signaled that the vulnerability was not a theoretical edge case. Yet the patch rollout exposes the friction inherent in self-custody. Users must generate a new seed phrase, a process that forces a complete change of wallet addresses and often requires updating connected software wallets, multisig setups, and backup procedures. That migration is not trivial, and the ongoing attack waves are punishing anyone who delayed.

For those still holding funds on a seed that originated on the vulnerable firmware, the advice from Galaxy Research is urgent: move funds off Coldcard devices now, use higher-than-usual fees to push transactions through, and exploit RBF if your wallet supports it. The address drain in the fourth wave indicates that attackers are actively monitoring the network for remaining balances.

Broader Implications for Self-Custody The Coldcard episode is more than a hardware bug—it exposes the supply-chain and lifecycle risks baked into self-custody. Users trust firmware that ships from a manufacturer, and even open-source verification processes can be skipped. When a seed generation flaw goes unnoticed for months, the subsequent cleanup is messy and slow. The fact that four distinct attack waves could occur, each months apart, suggests that the attacker is patient and has a reliable method for matching seeds to addresses, likely from a dumped extract of the weak randomness period.

What’s still unclear is whether the attacker holds all of the compromised seed list or only a subset, and whether additional vulnerabilities exist in earlier firmware versions that Coldcard hasn’t disclosed. The sustained nature of the attacks indicates that the list may be large, and the 462 addresses in this wave may be only the latest batch. If the attacker continues sweeping systematically, total losses could climb further. For the broader hardware wallet market, the fallout is a reminder that firmware audits and transparent vulnerability reporting are not optional—they are the core of the product’s security promise.

AUTHOR

Max delves deep into the cryptocurrency realm, with a passion for altcoins and NFTs. Convinced of crypto's transformative potential, he envisions a decentralized financial future. Max's background in the financial sector grants him unique insights into global monetary systems. In his leisure, Max embraces the thrill of adventures and is an avid sports enthusiast, finding balance and rejuvenation away from work.

The crypto market is becoming increasingly selective. Instead of chasing speculative tokens, institutional investors are focusing on projects with real revenue, tokenization infrastructure, AI, decentralized trading, enterprise adoption, and payment networks. While Bitcoin continues to dominate market sentiment, several altcoins are quietly strengthening their fundamentals through major partnerships, protocol upgrades, and growing on-chain activity. Here are the top altcoins to watch this August.

Ethereum (ETH): Institutions Continue ReturningEthereum remains the backbone of decentralized finance, stablecoin settlements, and tokenized real-world assets. It continues to dominate institutional blockchain adoption, with major financial firms using Ethereum as the preferred settlement layer for tokenized securities and treasury products.

July marked a major turnaround for institutional sentiment. Spot Ethereum ETFs attracted $365.17 million in net inflows after recording $528.99 million in outflows during June. Since launch, cumulative ETF inflows have now crossed $11.21 billion, signaling renewed confidence from large investors.

Even prominent investor Arthur Hayes has resumed accumulating ETH, purchasing 1,337 ETH after transferring $2.5 million USDC through Galaxy Digital.

Solana (SOL): Expanding Beyond MemecoinsSolana continues evolving into one of crypto’s fastest-growing institutional blockchains. Beyond its thriving DeFi ecosystem, the network is seeing increasing adoption across payments, gaming, tokenized stocks, and real-world assets.

Its upcoming Alpenglow upgrade, designed to deliver near-instant transaction finality, addresses one of Solana’s biggest historical concerns while strengthening its institutional appeal. Developer activity also remains robust as the Firedancer validator upgrade moves closer to deployment.

Although SOL remains a higher-risk, higher-beta asset than Ethereum, its expanding ecosystem continues positioning it as one of the strongest Layer-1 networks for institutional adoption.

XRP: Building Financial InfrastructureRipple continues expanding XRP’s role far beyond cross-border payments. Alongside RLUSD stablecoin growth, Ripple is steadily building tokenization infrastructure for banks and financial institutions.

Rather than relying solely on payment volumes, Ripple is increasingly positioning XRP within a broader financial ecosystem that includes tokenized assets, enterprise settlement, and institutional blockchain services. Growing enterprise partnerships continue supporting XRP’s long-term outlook.

Hyperliquid (HYPE): Revenue Model Keeps Standing OutHyperliquid has rapidly become one of crypto’s largest decentralized perpetual futures exchanges.

Unlike many recently launched tokens, HYPE continues outperforming dramatically. According to CryptoRank, only 8 out of 113 major tokens launched since 2024 still trade above their launch prices. HYPE leads the group with a remarkable 1,519% gain since its November 2024 token generation event.

The protocol recently surpassed $1 billion in cumulative revenue, while approximately 99% of trading fees continue funding open-market HYPE buybacks.

Tokenized real-world assets now account for roughly 54% of Hyperliquid’s weekly trading volume, representing nearly $26 billion in activity.

However, investors should also monitor monthly token unlocks extending into 2027 and recent regulatory attention from Singapore’s MAS and UK authorities.

Ondo Finance (ONDO): Leading the Tokenization RaceOndo Finance continues strengthening its position as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the tokenized asset boom.

The protocol now controls more than 70% of the tokenized equities market, while total value locked has climbed above $4 billion.

Recent milestones include launching the SEC-supported third-party custodial tokenization model alongside BlackRock’s IVV ETF, expanding tokenized securities through MyEtherWallet, launching Ondo Network, introducing Ondo Perps, and reportedly exploring a $250–500 million wealth-tech acquisition.

Institutional momentum also accelerated after Ondo participated in DTCC’s tokenization initiative involving BlackRock, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs while successfully completing a cross-border settlement pilot with Kinexys, Mastercard, and Ripple.

The recent governance proposal to permanently burn 100 million ONDO tokens further strengthens its long-term tokenomics.

Bittensor (TAO): AI Narrative Remains StrongBittensor continues leading the decentralized artificial intelligence narrative.

Growing subnet activity, expanding AI infrastructure, and increasing developer participation continue strengthening the ecosystem. As AI remains one of crypto’s strongest long-term themes, TAO continues attracting attention as decentralized machine-learning applications mature.

Chainlink (LINK): Infrastructure Behind TokenizationChainlink remains the dominant blockchain oracle provider while expanding into institutional finance through its Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP).

As tokenization accelerates globally, Chainlink continues supplying the critical off-chain data infrastructure required by financial institutions entering blockchain markets.

SUI: Institutional Adoption AcceleratesSUI recently recorded one of its biggest institutional achievements after Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala tokenized a $75 million private markets fund directly on the network.

The launch of Hashi’s Bitcoin lending testnet for institutional BTC-backed credit markets further strengthens SUI’s positioning in regulated financial infrastructure.

Rather than competing solely in retail DeFi, SUI increasingly appears focused on enterprise blockchain adoption.

Hedera (HBAR): Stronger TokenomicsHedera enters this market cycle with a healthier supply structure after completing most of its long-term token dilution.

Combined with its extensive enterprise partnerships, improving tokenomics position Hedera more favorably than previous cycles while maintaining exposure to real-world business applications.

Uniswap (UNI): On-Chain Activity Picks UpUniswap’s recently activated v4 fee switch has reignited ecosystem activity.

Following the launch of the protocol’s fee switch and buy-and-burn mechanism, UNI rallied nearly 19%, but the more important development occurred on-chain.

According to Santiment:

New wallet creation nearly doubled versus July averages.Active addresses reached their highest levels of the month.Whale transactions above $100,000 surged as larger investors accumulated UNI.The sustained increase in users and network activity shows the upgrade is driving genuine adoption rather than short-lived speculative buying.

Final TakeAugust 2026 is increasingly becoming a market driven by fundamentals instead of hype. Institutional capital is concentrating around projects delivering measurable utility, sustainable revenue, enterprise partnerships, and tokenization infrastructure.

Ethereum continues dominating institutional blockchain settlement, Ondo is emerging as the leader in tokenized securities, Hyperliquid is redefining decentralized derivatives through strong revenue generation, Solana and SUI continue expanding institutional use cases, Chainlink remains essential infrastructure for tokenized finance, XRP is broadening its enterprise payment ecosystem, TAO leads decentralized AI, Hedera benefits from stronger tokenomics, and Uniswap is seeing renewed adoption following its latest protocol upgrades.

Rather than expecting every top altcoins to outperform together, this cycle increasingly favors projects backed by real-world adoption, institutional demand, and sustainable network growth.

Story Ends Here

Trust with CoinPedia:CoinPedia has been delivering accurate and timely cryptocurrency and blockchain updates since 2017. All content is created by our expert panel of analysts and journalists, following strict Editorial Guidelines based on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). Every article is fact-checked against reputable sources to ensure accuracy, transparency, and reliability. Our review policy guarantees unbiased evaluations when recommending exchanges, platforms, or tools. We strive to provide timely updates about everything crypto & blockchain, right from startups to industry majors.

Investment Disclaimer:All opinions and insights shared represent the author's own views on current market conditions. Please do your own research before making investment decisions. Neither the writer nor the publication assumes responsibility for your financial choices.

Sponsored and Advertisements:Sponsored content and affiliate links may appear on our site. Advertisements are marked clearly, and our editorial content remains entirely independent from our ad partners.

Read the Next News

Coinbase increased its Bitcoin holdings during the first half of 2026 even as the overall value of its digital asset portfolio declined. The latest figures show the exchange continues to strengthen its Bitcoin treasury while slightly reducing its Ethereum exposure, signaling a cautious shift in its balance sheet strategy as market conditions remain volatile.

Bitcoin Holdings Rise While Ethereum SlipsAs of June 30, Coinbase held 17,311 BTC, up 12.5% from 15,389 BTC at the end of 2025. The company added 1,922 BTC during the first six months of the year, reinforcing its long-term confidence in Bitcoin.

Ethereum holdings, however, moved in the opposite direction. Coinbase ended the period with 150,279 ETH, down 0.6% from 151,175 ETH at the end of last year. While the reduction is relatively small, it highlights a noticeable divergence in the company’s allocation between the two largest cryptocurrencies.

Despite accumulating more Bitcoin, the fair value of Coinbase’s crypto portfolio dropped from $1.99 billion to $1.47 billion, reflecting the broader decline in digital asset prices during the first half of 2026.

Stronger Treasury, But Business Faces PressureCoinbase recently reported its second-quarter financial results, offering more insight into the company’s performance before entering August.

Revenue came in at $1.22 billion for the quarter ended June 30, down 14% quarter-over-quarter and 19% year-over-year as crypto trading activity slowed across the industry.

The company posted a GAAP net loss of $359 million, although much of the loss stemmed from non-operating items, including a $209.5 million non-cash markdown on crypto assets, $52.4 million in restructuring charges, and $238 million in stock-based compensation.

On an adjusted basis, Coinbase remained profitable, reporting Adjusted EBITDA of $208 million.

Although overall crypto trading activity weakened, Coinbase continued gaining market share. Its share of global crypto trading volume increased to 10.3%, up from 9.1% in the previous quarter, setting a new company record.

The exchange also continued expanding beyond trading. Subscription and services revenue reached $555 million, accounting for 48% of total net revenue. Coinbase noted that 88% of its net revenue now comes from businesses outside Bitcoin spot trading, including staking, stablecoins, subscriptions, derivatives, and other products.

August Remains a Key TestOn the other hand, Coinbase stock entered August after gaining 6.76% in July, recovering from June’s weakness. However, August has historically been its weakest month since listing on Nasdaq.

The stock fell 19.28% in August 2023, 18.27% in August 2024, and 19.38% in August 2025, making this month another important test for investor sentiment.

Wall Street also remains divided. Rosenblatt maintained an Outperform rating with a $240 price target, expecting growth from derivatives and prediction markets. Meanwhile, JPMorgan lowered its target from $283 to $196, citing concerns that Coinbase’s revenue-sharing agreement with Hyperliquid could reduce future income from USDC reserves.

With Bitcoin holdings increasing and Ethereum exposure remaining largely unchanged, Coinbase’s treasury strategy is showing a stronger preference for Bitcoin. Whether that allocation trend continues through the second half of 2026 could become an important development for the market.

Story Ends Here

Trust with CoinPedia:CoinPedia has been delivering accurate and timely cryptocurrency and blockchain updates since 2017. All content is created by our expert panel of analysts and journalists, following strict Editorial Guidelines based on E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). Every article is fact-checked against reputable sources to ensure accuracy, transparency, and reliability. Our review policy guarantees unbiased evaluations when recommending exchanges, platforms, or tools. We strive to provide timely updates about everything crypto & blockchain, right from startups to industry majors.

Investment Disclaimer:All opinions and insights shared represent the author's own views on current market conditions. Please do your own research before making investment decisions. Neither the writer nor the publication assumes responsibility for your financial choices.

Sponsored and Advertisements:Sponsored content and affiliate links may appear on our site. Advertisements are marked clearly, and our editorial content remains entirely independent from our ad partners.

Read the Next News

Ethereum vient de connaître son meilleur mois depuis un an : L’ETH peut-il poursuivre sa progression en août ?

Coldcard Bitcoin Exploit Enters Fourth Wave With 462 New Suspected Victims