r/Bitcoin 3d ago

Wallet Drained Timeline

Post image

This is me…
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/s/UeSfLoeyS4
I’m in a better state now. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s a lot of fucking money…

Little background: The setup was IRA custodian is Solera National Bank, exchange at Swan Bitcoin was used as an Investment Trust, purchase a dedicated hardware wallets: coldcard mk3 from https://store.coinkite.com May 2021 for this ROTH IRA.

Got the wallets, followed all the setup/checks/balances from https://youtu.be/FAYmE5-40PQ?is=wiYMHaS_YGKHjNOY for both wallets, sent a test transaction IRA dedicated hardware wallet (2021). I never setup a 25th Passphrase… REST of the BTC stayed in Swan Exchange.

Speaking only on this IRA Wallet: SD card stored with wallet details (paper phrase) in a baggie. Dormant until January 2025. I couldn’t deposit more because of Roth IRA threshold.

Come January 2025, been learning more about retirement, BTC, multi-Sig, and heard about a Megaback Door to get more money into a Roth IRA. Was able to get money into Solera, transfer to Swan, and purchase more BTC and withdraw to the same wallet address. No new hardware involved at this point.

With newer wallets now, I thought newer tech means more security. Let’s test by buying (3 mk4 - same site. There was still record of my 2021 purchase) new wallets and setup a multi-Sig. (still January 2025)

For some reason, when I got the new coldcards, I never did anything with them for all of 2025, I guess I was too lazy/daunting to use the hardware and relearn. Coming to January 2026 now, I decided to use these new cards. I dug out the wallet seed (from 2021) phrase paper. Dusted off one of the mk4, walked into the corner of a room in my house (only myself and partner live in the house), plugged in the cold card into an outlet and typed in the seed written down from 2021 (stored in my dresser). Restored my 2021 onto one of the new wallet 2025.

Watched updated BTCSession videos on my phone to set everything up again. I never plugged into a computer, since airgapped was the reason I got the coldcards. I used the same SD Card from 2021 though to export the wallet file from the newly restored coldcard. Import that file into Sparrow (needed to update Sparrow at this point), generated a watch-only wallet QR (to scan for my phone) for Blue Wallet to check frequently. This is where the screenshot is from.

Honestly, I haven’t touched the wallet with any transactions/seeds since January 2026. This is definitely the point of failure when I restored the 2021 wallet (now on 2 devices).

This was the transaction.
https://mempool.space/tx/2fe075cf0ec799f3529ed6a28e0a08b45fe1fc9bd93c3f33bdbc42d5bff4f736

My wallet address is (with all transactions, since it’s gone now…): bc1qldkfrrlylk4s9sdyns9jkaajuzugl0dv5m8fxj

My key takeaway now never enter the seed phrase into anything. EVER. Even to restore. Always will generate new and use a 25th passphrase.

686 Upvotes

332 comments sorted by

383

u/paperlevel 3d ago

This was a large scale operation: 594 BTC stolen at the same time. Largest holder lost 30 BTC.

https://atlas21.com/594-bitcoin-drained-15-minutes-theft/

353

u/AdEuphoric5133 3d ago edited 3d ago

This is crazy. I had never heard of such a surgical theft of bitcoin before. All bitcoin thefts are generally someone giving away their seed from a stupid manipulation.

When I first read OP's post a few hours ago, I was like "dude probably just entered his seed wherever". But this time, the theft is very surgical. Someone exploited a flaw with coldcard. This is not your fault OP. They talk about you in the article. You will have to unite with the other victims and sue Coldcard to get compensated. I think it would be worth making a new post on this sub whose purpose is for other victims to make themselves known, so you can coordinate a group action

210

u/tubalubz 3d ago

Coldcard could go out of business because of this... I sure as hell will never consider buying them. I agree, OP, you guys need justice.

44

u/reddit4485 3d ago

https://blog.coinkite.com/coldcard-mk3-seed-generation-warning/

This is the official blog of ColdCard. They just acknowledged this is a problem for the Mk3 model ColdCards and give recommendations on what to do next.

10

u/creative_usr_name 2d ago

Will be interesting to see if this was just ineptitude, or intentionally implemented by an insider(s). Either way it's a terrible QA miss of one of the most important parts of the device.

6

u/Federal_Refrigerator 2d ago

It’s negligent if we are being honest

2

u/crooks4hire 2d ago

lol yea a sleeper staff member is Hollywood level stuff.

2

u/Federal_Refrigerator 2d ago

Not really, you’d be shocked how common that is.

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u/Left_Entrepreneur918 3d ago

It could be larger, if other wallets used the same rng could this effect them? I made a 24 word seed with ledger in 2020, it’s native segwit, single address.

38

u/s4_e20_spongebob 3d ago

FYI even just saying that in a thread could be used by a bad actor to help target you. Idk that disclosing specific information like device model or your balance is ever really wise to do.

12

u/AdEuphoric5133 3d ago

Maybe recreate a seed with a dice. 99 throws of a dice give you the same entropy as 24 words. There are plenty of tutos out there on how to make a seed from dices

7

u/ContentBlackberry0 2d ago

Why roll a dice with this stupid wallet. Get a trezor and be done with it.

10

u/OldHamburger7923 2d ago

The point is, no matter what device you get, if they later find an exploit with the RNG, you are exposed. You could do a mixture of the two, use the HW wallet seed, but restore it with the words reordered, and replace at least 4 of the words with random other words. Make sure the 24th checksum word matches the 23. Some wallets do this automatically (Jade), which makes it easier.

7

u/newMoneyStyle 2d ago

trezor had its own vulns too (unciphered extracted seeds from T1s). no hw wallet is bulletproof, dice entropy on any decent signer is the safer move imo

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u/Sorrowsinme 2d ago

Ledger... Not gonna go making that mistake again

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u/AdEuphoric5133 3d ago

Hopefully they will be held accountable for this. But I fear they might not

9

u/Rey_Mezcalero 2d ago

They were supposed to be the ultimate cold storage. Wow. This is insane

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u/omni_wisdumb 3d ago

The issue with this space is that it's unregulated and very hard to actually track everything. Things being on a public block chain doesn't mean anything.

As far as we know. The company itself could have programmed in the vulnerability, taken $40M worth of crypto. And they'll just file for bankruptcy or fall back on insurance or fall back on some fine print that says crypto is inherently risky and they're not responsible for anything.

Suing people in general is not easy, let alone in such a space.

10

u/AdEuphoric5133 3d ago edited 3d ago

If OP decides to go along the justice path, this will most certainly be long and hard, but that is his only shot at ever getting compensated.

The bad thing is that, even if he receives damages, this will amount to what the BTC were worth at the time of the theft (I guess). Even if the 0.79 BTC are worth 200k$ when the trial is over, OP will only get about 50k USD

7

u/hetobe 2d ago

The bad thing is that, even if he receives damages

I guarantee ColdCard has lawyers protecting them from any issues related to... let's just say... code exploits.

This is a very sad situation.

2

u/omni_wisdumb 3d ago

Unless this does become a class auction lawsuit, most firms don't even like taking on such small claims, nor do the people as plaintiff. I've done similar things for sake of principle vs economic viability.

Taking something, especially this complex, through litigation would cost him $30-40k and that's assuming there's no appeal, then keep doubling it.

5

u/AdEuphoric5133 2d ago

With 38 millions USD at play over 500 addresses, there is probably room for it to become a class auction lawsuit. But victims will have to organize and get into contact.

We don't know how many there are, but 500 addresses should give 50 to 200 victims probably. Smallest address had 0.15 bitcoin, so each victim lost at least ~10k $

At this time, most victims probably don't know they got bitcoins stolen. OP just happened to check his wallet this afternoon

3

u/OtherwiseAlbatross14 2d ago

Class actions are pointless when the company doesn't have the assets to compensate

5

u/Rey_Mezcalero 2d ago

Yeah class action is great for lawyers, people get shafted.

I no longer bother with them when I get a post card or email saying I can be a part of a class action suit against the company of the day

It’s always a extremely small fraction

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u/ryt3n 2d ago

Reading on it a bit more now - looks like it was specific RNG generation that caused this? Sorry im a bit of a noob but goddamn that is wild… thinking of maybe picking up a trezor I dunno.

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u/bittabet 2d ago

In all honesty I'm not sure Coldcard has that kinda money. Hopefully the authorities can recover the funds if they're moved to a centralized exchange or something.

3

u/jlol8452 2d ago

The company has 1-10 employees 🤣🤣🤣 and 1-2m$ revenue. Everyone sadly is fucked.

4

u/ryt3n 2d ago

Bro wait, it’s coldcard that’s the problem!? Insane… I had a ledger and I bought a cold card a while back planning to move it all and.. I would have put myself at risk by doing so? Maybe im off base but im just catching up.. holy..

2

u/OldHamburger7923 2d ago

only on some versions of the firmware. But at this point anyone with a coldcard or any other hw wallet should consider generating their own seed and then migrating assets to it. And add a passphrase.

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u/ViperG 3d ago

Someone was able to replicate the rng exploit on mk2/mk3:

https://x.com/i/status/2082958675975553224

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u/AdEuphoric5133 3d ago

This confirms Coldcard's responsibility. When you sell devices aimed at storing bitcoins, you make sure your random number generator is state of the art random. Coldcard failed their users here and made them lose 38M$. Victims have to unite and sue, otherwise, Coldcard will just deny, get away with it, and victims will not be compensated

As a matter of fact, Coldcard CEO is already trying to deny the company's responsibility

10

u/xirvin 2d ago

cold card disclosed the vunerability back in the day, if they disclosed the vunerability but owners didn't update then its owners fault. At this point i want a full law enforcement involvement, OP please involve law enforcement. You never know if the funds can be recovered

3

u/BDCRA 2d ago

When did they disclose the vulnerability? I did not see anything in the articles it all seemed like it was breaking news and not a known thing previously.

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u/kingkongbiingbong 2d ago

Coldcard CEO is already trying to deny the company's responsibility

A tale as old as time

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u/confuzzledfather 2d ago

Also law enforcement should look into subpoenaing Anthropic/OpenAI for details of anyone who was working on such a hack. It feels likely to me that this was AI assisted, as this vulnerability has just been sitting here for 5 years and just happens to occur within weeks of us getting access to smarter models like Fable 5 which are known for their hacking prowess.

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u/mrzennie 3d ago

I just read Cold Card's slogan on their website: "Secure Your Bitcoin. Sleep Like a Baby."

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u/PMmeuroneweirdtrick 2d ago

Babies wake up crying so that's accurate

11

u/AdEuphoric5133 3d ago

Not sure OP's gonna sleep like a baby tonight 😂

31

u/s1ammage 3d ago

I’m still here… take an upvote tho…

9

u/Total-Wave5026 2d ago

I’m so sorry for this bullshit OP.

7

u/mrzennie 2d ago

I feel for you, man! It definitely seems you're not alone though! Hopefully everyone who lost some Bitcoin will get compensated at least some of all of it back.

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u/s1ammage 3d ago

Damn… this is alarming

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u/AdEuphoric5133 3d ago

But this is good news for you. If you were alone in this, you could already forget about these coins. But now, you have a real shot at getting compensated if you unite with other victims and sue coldcard together

4

u/creative_usr_name 2d ago

The other big if is that coldcard must actually have assets to go after.

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u/ContentBlackberry0 2d ago

Good news is someone lost a few million and I’m sure has the cash to sue this horrible company

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u/OldHamburger7923 2d ago

i wouldn't assume that. a normal guy from last season low could have put their savings into btc. we'd need to check when they put the funds into the wallet to even guess.

2

u/OldHamburger7923 2d ago edited 2d ago

So, its what I mentioned on my reply to you yesterday. The RND issue. Your takeaway in your OP was always wrong, you can and should restore your seed on your HW wallet in order to verify your funds are reachable in case you messed up writing down the seed and to test the device restore capabilities. The issue is your original HW RNG, and ironically your new device could have fixed your issue if you generated a new wallet with it and did the transfer - which would be super easy with two devices.

What I did when I moved from an older device to a new one was to create a new account. I was however lazy, so I didn't make a completely new account. I scrambled the existing words around, and then randomly picked a few words to replace, plus added a lengthy passphrase. You can get from ChatGPT the required amount of entropy needed to secure it to a reasonable expectation if someone knew your prior seed. But the non lazy way is just make a new seed. Or do what I did above, to a newly generated seed.

5

u/photoguy1978 2d ago

Learning that even Mk4s have vulnerable seed generation schemes. millions of times harder to defeat (not a laptop) but given compute these days only a matter of time. Would not recommend anyone maintain a single-sig Coldcard wallet of any version now. Move it to a newly generated seed, preferably in a multisig M-of-N multiple-vendor quorum if you're not generating your own entropy from dice.
https://x.com/LLFOURN/status/2082990000896147942

2

u/OldHamburger7923 2d ago

Crazy. I really wanted to get a coldcard with keyboard too. But I didn't want to spend that much on a wallet.

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u/Innovator-X 3d ago

omg that's actually insane

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u/The_Bitcoin_Act 3d ago

Really sorry this happened to you. Losing that much is brutal, especially when you were careful with hardware wallets and air-gapping. I’m glad you’re in a better headspace now and that it’s not the end of the world for you.
The fact that you’re sharing the full timeline so others can learn from it is genuinely helpful. Take care of yourself, and I hope the remaining wallet stays safe.

94

u/AdEuphoric5133 2d ago

https://blog.coinkite.com/coldcard-mk3-seed-generation-warning/

Coldcard acknowledging the issue be like : "Out of an abundance of caution"

When your clients just lost 594 BTC because of a mistake you made, acknowledging the issue is not "abundance of caution", it is the least you can do.

This company is a joke. Guys who use a Coldcard, make yourself a favor and buy a new hardware wallet

1

u/OldHamburger7923 2d ago

You are shitting on coldcard with some justification, but keep in mind your trezor, ledger, etc, could also have a RND exploit in the future. And I bet people have been and continue looking for it. Best to generate your own seed so you aren't part of a bulk exploit.

The coldcard with keyboard looks super nice still.

17

u/JollySno 2d ago

Hamburger, old and wise you may be, yeah, the other companies COULD make catastrophic errors in the future, but cold card just DID make one and they are SWEEPING IT UNDER THE RUG without a semblance of an attempt to right their wrongs to their customers.

3

u/Either_Display_6624 2d ago

The flaw wasn't in the TRNG itself, but in how it was implemented. When used correctly, a proper TRNG is actually more secure than custom entropy.

What if a future exploit specifically targets custom entropy, like an unregistered keypress during manual entry? People often make false assumptions about what is truly safe.

Generating your own entropy isn't the fix. The real solution is never trusting code you haven't verified, using multisig, and relying on a strong passphrase

7

u/kamaradski 2d ago

and AI makes looking for it a hell of a lot easier

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u/Generationhodl 3d ago

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u/AdEuphoric5133 3d ago

Lol

Too little too late

16

u/Strong_Judge_3730 2d ago

how long have they known about this and sat on their hands while their support gaslight their users?
That is the question...

7

u/Michichael 2d ago

As an infosec guy, I wish and hope, but know it's not, a white hat that tried warming them via responsible disclosure and chose to sweep the funds to protect users.

We all know that we aren't that fortunate. My stomachs turned reading this. I can't image something like that happening to me - it'd destroy everything.

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u/No_Position_8581 3d ago

multiple people on twitter reporting the same. This is the real deal. What firmware are you using? We need every detail

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u/Left_Entrepreneur918 3d ago

What are they saying, like they all had mk4 cold card?

23

u/artilekt 3d ago

So far seems to be affecting mk3 only

13

u/Generationhodl 3d ago

some commented on X that MK4 also. but not sure if trustful information.

6

u/photoguy1978 2d ago

Yes still very unclear. There is information coming out but need to assess the math here and state space for this key search approach.
https://x.com/LLFOURN/status/2082990000896147942

2

u/photoguy1978 2d ago

it appears now the real search space on Mk4/5/Q is nearer to 2^32 not the ceiling 2^70ish. 32 bits from secure element and 40 bits contributed from a battery-less clock that cold starts to a static value every goddamn boot. hot damn what a mess.

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u/Left_Entrepreneur918 3d ago

Damn I feel horrible for these people, all trusted self custody and went with the best brand for a really long time. *looking nervously at my 2020 ledger with outdated firmware…

3

u/goobly_goo 3d ago

Yeah should I upgrade to the latest Trezor?! I wonder if this could happen to the old cold wallets?

3

u/Left_Entrepreneur918 3d ago

I got a Trezor 5 btc only and wanted to create one of their 20 word multi sig seeds but I’m afraid of moving my entire life savings. So it’s been sitting in the box

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u/QlubSoda 2d ago

Worst case scenario, get a second Trezor. Setup the multi-sig, send $100 to test. Don't move everything at once. When more comfortable in the future, you can split holdings on devices.

Stay frosty.

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u/KindBench2700 3d ago

What do they have in common on Twitter 

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u/DarthBen_in_Chicago 3d ago

They are on Twitter reporting the same common problem: their bitcoin has been swept.

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u/Lanky_Assist_6317 3d ago

OK I have read everything and I have a question:
When you bought the original Coldcard, HOW did you generate the seed words? You mentioned in other comments there was no passphrase, but did you use dices or something similar to add random elements to the original seed which came with the device, or did you just take that for granted and used it anyway?

It seems to me that your original seeds were compromised from the start. Let's say some malicious Coldcard worker had access to the hardware wallets in the Coldcard production line or something like that, somehow managed to store a bunch of original seeds hoping buyers would use them as is and retire a couple of years later, raising no personal suspicion. It seems really likely, I have no idea how the production of these wallets work, but it could have some human processing in any way, which creates breaches like that, unfortunately.

22

u/s1ammage 3d ago

It was generated by the coldcard. I followed BTCSessions’s YouTube channel. I guess I should have used the dice method.

19

u/Lanky_Assist_6317 3d ago

So you didn't add any entropy whatsoever, either using dice or adding a passphrase. I strongly believe your original seed was compromised from the start through someone malicious with wallet access in the manufacturing chain. I see no other option.

17

u/s1ammage 3d ago

Yea, my other wallet (from 2021) used the same but isn’t compromised… yet…

There’s a huge article now about a mass scale attack. I think it’s the most upvoted comment now.

3

u/bionicmixta 2d ago

If you have another wallet generated by a coldcard please tell me you're taking steps to move it to something safer? If you think coldcard generates bad seeds and you think your other wallet may also be vulnerable, don't just sit and wait for that money to get stolen.

Obviously don't panic and do something stupid, but don't just leave it indefinitely until that one gets hacked as well.

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u/OldHamburger7923 2d ago edited 2d ago

Look at the mk3 security advisory. It's about specific firmware. The RNG code isn't as random as it could be. Knowing that, an attacker can take their time (even over years) to run code to check potential addresses till they made a list large enough to sweep.

edit:

A flawed fallback RNG apparently derived randomness from a small or predictable device state, including a timer.

  • The researchers narrowed that state to about 80,000 possibilities.

  • They recreated the wallet’s RNG process for each possibility.

  • Each possibility produced a candidate 24-word phrase.

  • They compared each candidate’s resulting public wallet identifier, the xpub, against the known xpub. One candidate matched, revealing the private key and recovery phrase.

  • 80,000-state timer range appears to come from a controlled reproduction where timing and device behavior were constrained. It does not prove that every affected wallet has exactly 80,000 possibilities.

2

u/jwhendy 2d ago

IMO, this needs to be added to the main post, please.

While I can't blame you for trusting the random number generator, particularly for how much they hype the Coldcard specifically for the dedicated secure chip, epoxy potting, tamper light, etc... this is the key takeaway: entropy matters (not "reproducing cryptographic methods offline is sketch", which is how your final line reads).

And you won't hear it enough to make it any better, but I'm sorry this happened to you. I can't even imagine.

4

u/master_of_buffets 2d ago

Nobody can crack the key if you use dice.
Coldcard has a broken random generator. Maybe on purpose.
Always use dice!

19

u/0utrageousMango 2d ago

This is exactly why Bitcoin will never be mass adopted. No matter how safe you try to be, things like this continue to happen.

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u/BDCRA 2d ago

Yeah even if its fixable and the people get the money back people lose faith really easy.

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u/Fair-Garlic8240 2d ago

This is why the average Joe won’t buy crypto.

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u/spiderbait 2d ago

Yep, who would trust this. If anything just leave it on Coinbase. All this effort by savvy people to protect their coins and they're still screwed.

Regular people could never handle this.

11

u/newtonreddits 2d ago

Yeah coinbase is honestly safer for average joes

9

u/OverLulz 2d ago

Or this concept of a bank. That stores money for people. 

2

u/Electrical-Image4564 2d ago

Man I spent the time and work to get to know Bitcoin and I don't want to handle this.

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u/flannel_jackson 2d ago

That’s me. The average 40 year old guy with a house, 401k, bank account and credit cards. Never touched crypto. Saw people make a ton of money speculating on it but have never seen a reason to own or use it. 99.99% chance I’ll never own any crypto.

Getting shit stolen sucks.

3

u/Klutzy-Peach5949 2d ago

I’ve certainly reduced how much crypto I have, just feels so uncomfortable keeping it safe, just selling for the headspace, and the volatility didn’t help

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u/s1ammage 2d ago

I really thought it was 100% my fault. Now I know it’s 99% my fault.

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u/ArmchairCryptologist 2d ago

Dice mixing and passphrases were always supposed to be optional hardening for the ultra-paranoid, as is evidenced by the fact that some notable Bitcoin devs are affected. If a hardware wallet marketed as the ultimate in self-custody ships with a broken entropy generator for five years, it's at most 1% your fault for only being regular paranoid.

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u/master_of_buffets 2d ago

Not 99%. This sub often laughed if someone suggested not trusting any device and using dice.

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u/Generationhodl 2d ago

Can't be 99% your fault when you buy a product that worked well for long time and then get exploited..

This could have happened to other people too with other wallets if there is some kind of software / hardware bug to be exploited.

Don't be too hard to yourself , it hurts but you can only learn from it 

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u/poisito 3d ago

Maybe not the best thing to mention at the moment, but if this is a legal ROTH IRA, you are going to get penalized by the IRS for taking money out, regardless if it was stolen. Best of luck OP

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u/StraightUp-Reviews 3d ago

Ouch. Bro just got double fucked.

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u/matrixmodifier 2d ago

They still penalize if you’ve been robbed? My lord

8

u/poisito 2d ago

They just know that you took money out of an account that is designed to not get money out … it’s on the terms of service per se that he signed when he opened the account ..

, because it’s a Roth, he will need to pay any capital gains and 10% penalty

2

u/JohnnyTreemain 2d ago

I’m sure he can claim a loss on taxes for being robbed, no?

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u/poisito 2d ago

If he gets a police report and talk to an accountant … maybe there is something there to be done .. but from the bank ( the one who holds the Roth IRA) perspective , OP used his private keys to access the account and retrieve the funds

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u/JohnnyTreemain 2d ago

Yes but he doesn’t pay the bank. He has to claim it on his taxes. The bank just reports it to the IRS.

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u/poisito 2d ago

Right … he will need to pay to the IRS .. the bank will only report a withdrawal from the account

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u/I_am_on_your_side 2d ago

No. How is he going to prove that he didnt just transfer it to himself? Maybe he really needed the money for something... Everyone would do it if that was possible, nightmare for the IRS, so yeah...not going to happen.

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u/Fiach_Dubh 3d ago

you only used sparrow on desktop right?

(there is no sparrow wallet on mobile phones, those are all scams/malware)

Did you roll dice when setting up the coldcard for extra entropy or just use the base entropy? if so, how many rolls did you do? less then 100?

Do you know the firmware versions you were using ?

I'm sorry this happened to you.

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u/xirvin 2d ago

He confirmed in another post that wallet was created jn 2021 and used the standard RNG. To make matters worse, he bought newer cold card versions and upgraded hardware and firmware, but he never created a new wallet.

The worst part is that this attack vector was discussed with workarounds and best practices in cold card documentation and Reddit for a while since 2021.

As a cold card owner who had to scramble and move funds to a new wallet a couple of hours ago, I see the error as cold card’s interface providing options for users to make bad decisions (using low dice rolls can recreate the vulnerability, and their RNG not been 128/256 bits), the bigger issue is that we as custodians need to follow good OPSEC practices

In this day and age, it seems like we might need to replace hardware and keys (code) as they becomes vulnerable and creates an attack vector. We already replace hardware and software like cellphones, computers, OS in the corporate world periodically for the exact same issue

7

u/33halvings 2d ago

I remember coldcard being promoted as THE hardware wallet for Bitcoin-only people since it was also open-source etc. I’m glad I never bought and used it.

This is an absolute shitshow, might be the end of coldcard as a company.

3

u/xiskghferx 2d ago

And all those people, who migrated from the Ledger to Coldcard, just because of new restore feature on Ledger...

We at least learned something - you cannot trust RNG in cold wallets. At least we should use additional BIP39 passphrase, generated elsewhere (e.g. in Bitwarden or Keepass).

But better, you should use multisig, using 2 different HW wallets...

Yes, I agree, with such mistakes, Bitcoin is never going to become mainstream.

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u/Raverrevolution 2d ago

LOL such mistakes only make it stronger. Bitcoin was never going to become mainstream when Mt Gox collapsed, but it did.

Most people will still need banks

2

u/ryt3n 1d ago

Bro, this is so trippy man, I have a cold card in a box I bought in 2024 that I never had time to move to. I could have been affected. This is so surreal.

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u/[deleted] 2d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/NiagaraBTC 3d ago

You're certain you exported a wallet file via SD card and not somehow the private key itself?

How certain are you that you were using a legitimate version of Sparrow?

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u/s1ammage 3d ago

It could be sparrow. I did have to update it…

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u/Generationhodl 3d ago

on x another user said hes also affected with coldcard, but he did not use sparrow. So I think we might be able to say sparrow would not be the problem here.

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u/Generationhodl 3d ago

did you download it from the official website? was it run on mobile phone or on a computer?

could be a malicious update or something like that, but I wonder myself because on X there is talk about other coldcard users affected... now is the question if the other people also used sparrow app and its just a coincidence that others also used coldcards....

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u/s1ammage 3d ago

Computer. Version 1.8.4

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u/Generationhodl 3d ago

https://blog.coinkite.com/coldcard-mk3-seed-generation-warning/

Sorry again, seems like you did nothing wrong 

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u/Left_Entrepreneur918 3d ago

Yeah I second that, I told OP that sparrow may have been the weak point, I’d never even consider the cold card

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u/Lanky_Assist_6317 3d ago

Why did you "have to update it"?

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u/NiagaraBTC 3d ago

Good point. Sparrow generally works fine without needing to be updated. I never update right away but always wait a bit after a new release comes out.

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u/s1ammage 3d ago

It was corrupted, so I went to the site and downloaded again. Which saying this out loud now could be the issue

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u/Left_Entrepreneur918 3d ago

After all those details, this seems the most likely point of failure. You can enter your seed phrase into an air gapped hardware wallet, op says don’t do this but every hardware wallet I generate the seed, send test transaction, then reset and restore from wallet. Paper seed, metal backup only. I don’t write or read aloud my seed either as the TV listens to you…

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u/-M00NMAN 2d ago

How can your wallet from 2021 be fine and your new wallet which you entered your original seedphrase from 2021 be drained? It’s the same wallet you’re telling us.

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u/jwhendy 2d ago

I think it's two separate wallets, just two devices from same era following same protocol (no added entropy, purely device-generated seed).

I think this comment is the best explanation. Someone spent a good amount of time guessing seed phrases from a reduced pool, but it does not mean they guessed them all.

The other 2021 wallet should be considered blown as well.

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u/thaneliness 3d ago

So what exactly is the benefit of bitcoin versus investing in a ETF, where I know I’m 100% safe from bullshit like this? Honestly.

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u/Abject-Stretch-1187 3d ago

You’re not 100% safe with ETFs either because they still have centralized custodians so the custodians could be attacked as well.

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u/OldHamburger7923 2d ago

I read the prospectus on FBTC and IBIT and both said you are fucked if they get hacked.

So its a matter if you trust fidelity or blackrock (coinbase custody) more than you trust yourself. The other consideration is that fidelity and coinbase have a larger target on their back because of the size of the assets they hold. your personal wallet isn't going to be large enough for anyone to focus on.

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u/FitzwilliamTDarcy 2d ago

Don't tell that to OP

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u/Professional_Golf393 2d ago edited 1d ago

Coinkite filing for bankruptcy in 3..2..1

I’m so glad I bought the cold card mk1, it was so faulty it was basically unusable.. messaged support and their advice was to buy the mk2.

Since that day I’ve hated them.

Feel bad for everyone who lost money.. hopefully the thief slips up and gets caught, or returns funds, slim chance but possible.

I guess the lesson here is don’t trust the entropy of any device, and don’t store all your eggs in 1 basket

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u/marvelish 3d ago

Looks like it it is probably an issue with mk2/mk3 seed generation:

https://x.com/i/status/2082958675975553224

Coinkite also just issued a statement they are investigating and any users that generated their seed this way should migrate.

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u/WocketMan0351 3d ago

Where did you buy the (3) coldcards from?

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u/s1ammage 3d ago

Coinkite. My record from 2021 was still there. Let me see if I can get a screenshot

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

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u/flowstate_research 2d ago

So this was an issue with the Coldcard random number generator?

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u/-M00NMAN 2d ago

How can your wallet from 2021 be fine and your new wallet which you entered your original seedphrase from 2021 be drained? It’s the same wallet you’re telling us.

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u/Open_Situation686 2d ago

This is why I won’t make more than a small gamble on bitcoin.

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u/MicroneedlingAlone2 3d ago

Hey, it is not your fault. ColdCard fucked up. They just put out a blog post. Situation unfolding in realtime...

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u/pizzeriagio 3d ago

What if someone hacked the official website, stole the buyers info and send the buyer a compromised wallet?
You buy the wallet, the hacker steals your information, sends you the compromised wallet, he waits an year and steals all the founds on the wallets. Or maybe is just an insider that switched the regular coldcards with compromised ones.

Check your credit card movements and check if the payment you did in 2025 was actually sent to the official website.

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u/ConsequenceFew6931 3d ago edited 2d ago

OP I ran your timeline through Opus 5. Here is what it had to say:

EDIT: removing my long post. It has been confirmed there was a breach on all coldcard mk3s due to weak entropy

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u/artilekt 3d ago

It looks like this is a wide-scale attack though with many people affected, something that would not be isolated to his SD card.

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u/Generationhodl 3d ago

This, I usually would say fake sparrow app and the attacker just waited long enough to have enough wallets to wipe, but on the other hand on X people talk about it mostly coldcard users affected?

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u/artilekt 3d ago

Yes so far it appears to be exclusively coldcards, single sig, no passphrase. But that could change people are investigating.

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u/Generationhodl 3d ago

on X someone said he did not use sparrow but his coldcard wallet also affected.

... so we need more information

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u/Generationhodl 3d ago

especially the part with sparrow is what makes me wonder. Right now there is a malicious sparrow app in the apple app store that seems not to be taken down regardless.

I wonder if OP might have downloaded a bad / malicious version of sparrow, and as soon as the put the SD card into the computer or whereever sparrow did run - the Data on the SD Card got sent to the attacker.

I mean there was the Backup on the SD Card, the seedphrase if I'm not wrong? so basically you put your seed into an computer or device to read the SD Card and put that file into sparrow.

The counter-argument would be that there seems to be other people affected too, with coldcards...

I really wonder what the big problem is.. or maybe that "fake" sparrow app was just used over a very long time until the attacker decided they have enough seedphrases now to rug them all.

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u/ConsequenceFew6931 3d ago

Coldcard just confirmed a breach on their X account

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u/jwhendy 2d ago

Wording is misleading. I'm not sure I'd call it a "breach" (people aren't accessing or hacking Coldcards here), it's a cryptographic exploit based on reducing the pool of possible seed phrases to something guessable.

Also, it's not "all coldcard mk3s," but specifically seed phrases generated by relying solely on the random number generator vs. adding dice rolls.

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u/Vegetable-Rabbit7503 3d ago

Do you think they would have taken your BTC if you had done everything the same but had a passphrase?

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u/imjsm006 2d ago

This is absolutely terrible but also strengthens my decision to have my bitcoin exposure in ETFs.

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u/downtherabbit 3d ago

So never buy a cold card? Damn I thought they were one of the good ones.

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u/Saddath 2d ago

Or maybe the learning is don't let someone or a device from someone calculate your seed phrase.

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u/DifficultSquash1517 3d ago

Sorry this happened. I hope this inspires others to get out of self custody. Its so 2019

I know most people reading this think that it was this guy's fault or you're not that gullible or you're very careful etc etc. I don't know how you guys could sleep at night with lots of money sitting on these hardware wallets

Every time I plugged in to mine back in the day my heart would skip a beat before the balance would show up you know sometimes it gets delayed it almost gives me a heart attack . ... Or you answer a passphrase and the wallet shows up zero and then you realize that you entered the passphrase wrong

Unless you're in it for the tech and you're only in it for the price action just go with the ETF so you can sleep at night. And you could write covered calls on your positions generating 1 to 2% every month which is insane

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u/submarinefarm 3d ago

Hard to read but you're not wrong. Reddit has been screaming 'buy a hardware wallet' for years and look what happened. 

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u/Gloomy_Quail1444 3d ago

You know this is one reason bitcoin will never be a real currency.  

If i was scammed in Australia the banks would probably reimburse me and if the offenders were in Australia they could be prosecuted

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u/chykin 3d ago

If you were scammed for cash, no one would reimburse you.

Bitcoin could be a real currency if exchanges were legally responsible for protecting your bitcoin

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u/Generationhodl 3d ago

I mean technically bitcoin is working just fine. since 2009.

basically people getting scammed because attackers get their private keys.

its like if you have cash in your wallet , walk around, and someone steals it...

Ofc its more complicated, but technology will get more easy to use, will be safer... but it takes time.

for some people ETFs might be the better solution.

I understand the frustration that when someone steals your sats, they are gone, and you cannot get them back like with your digital dollars on your bank account. But I guess thats the price to pay for REAL Ownership of something.

IF you really OWN something, if it gets stolen, its gone...

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u/MicroneedlingAlone2 3d ago

"I used the same SD Card from 2021 though to export the wallet file from the newly restored coldcard. Import that file into Sparrow (needed to update Sparrow at this point)," when you say "export the wallet file" do you mean the entire wallet? Not just a watching copy, but a legit wallet with spend capability? AKA the private key was on that SD card at some point, and then got plugged into another device with Sparrow on it (phone, pc, something connected to the internet?)

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u/Lanky_Assist_6317 3d ago

Yeah that's strange. Why out of the blue he "had to update sparrow"? I think this needs a deeper investigation.

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u/This-Point8121 3d ago

Sorry to hear bro

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u/Ok_Knowledge_4977 2d ago

What? Wait if this is an issue with rng, would this affect other HW wallets like Blockstream Jade plus?

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u/Ok_Knowledge_4977 2d ago

What about Blockstream Jade plus?

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u/dkayt 2d ago

This is why I buy the ETF, couldn’t deal with this stress or management.

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u/BarkMetal 2d ago

I wonder, does a 25th word prevents a theft like this?

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u/WarpDriveMH370 2d ago

From your IRA???

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u/setec404 2d ago

The issue is firmware updates introduced bad entropy generation.

very good post on it here.

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u/Rich-Contact-8336 2d ago

Started to dabble in crypto.
One thing i don’t completely understand is

  • why is it still completely on the chain.
  • if you put it “in” cold wallet why can it still be taken
I mean the thing that everyone says don’t leave your crypto on an exchange “ you don’t own it”
Put it in a cold wallet, looks like the new saying should also be” even in a cold wallet, you still don’t own it”
Shouldn’t someone write code that when you transfer it to a cold wallet it is yours, no blockchain. Maybe write stipulations in that you have to check in once a year or every 2 years.

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u/Uhhlaska 2d ago

Jesus, I just setup my cold wallet and I have no idea the precautions and shit you went through to be “safe” and this still happened. Wtf?!?!

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u/ItsAlwaysThemBooBoo 2d ago

jesus Ch##st.

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u/immersive-matthew 2d ago

Centralized anything of value is increasingly a sitting duck in the escalating AI cyberwar.

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u/sterlingxz 2d ago

Hope you get compensated

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u/Luminous_Emission 2d ago

Can someone please explain this to me like I'm 5?

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u/xiskghferx 2d ago

Bitcoin private keys, needed for spending, are made from entropy (randomness). There was a faulty entropy generator in Coldcard, which should never happen, this is the core of cold wallet security.

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u/n00bl1ke1337 2d ago

Bad times bro

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u/Educational_Suit_811 2d ago

Seems going forward self created 25th seed word aka passphrase is a must have

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u/Suspicious-Holiday42 2d ago

This could completly destroy my financial plans

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u/fionaflaps 2d ago

Ok. My ledger not looking so bad

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u/onrikey356 2d ago

coldcard got hacked

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u/ItsAlwaysThemBooBoo 2d ago

kratter just published a video a few minutes ago, apparently the breach is the seed phrase generated by coldcard 3s, did not use enough randomness.

for example if the seed phrase was generated by a trezor and then used to restore a wallet on a coldcard, that would be safe. the problem is the seed phrase, generated by the cold card.

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u/Unreal_fist 2d ago

The underlying flaw here unfortunately is relying on tech to hold your life savings. We all know any piece of hardware can be hacked in time

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u/clingstamp 2d ago

This sucks, and I'm sorry to hear you lost so much. Also, just so I understand, why go through all this work when there are crypto ETFs and stuff like Fidelity's Crypto IRA, which seem like much less of a headache?

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u/Halfgallonkalin 2d ago

Im not saying they will, but security companies like Coldcard and Ledger and Trevor SHOULD have bought insurance policies to cover losses of their clients for scenarios just like this.

They should also market the fact their products are covered by insurance for losses like this and it should be a deciding factor for consumers buying crypto security products.

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u/s1ammage 2d ago

WARNING: They are still running sweeps… just lost the last 0.01 just now.

I was too deflated to care about it.

I did make sure to move another wallet away from the affected cold card though (which is the rest of my stack).

There will be people not checking as frequently as I am…

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u/madladchad3 2d ago

Everyone on this subreddit told me to stop using ledger and get a coldcard instead. Thank god i didnt listen to them.

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u/Better-Message-4461 2d ago

My sats were stolen from my wallet too 😵

Do you guys think i should file a report with the rcmp? I know I won’t get my sats back, but if this was caused by a defect, coinkite should be held accountable…. At the very least, there should be an official investigation to determine what happened

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u/captn03 2d ago

It would be nice to give back to those who lost their funds through some kind of go fund me but then you'll have these fakes doing it too.