The $120 million Coldcard hack lights up Bitcoin's memory pool
A significant hack of the Coldcard hardware wallet has prompted Bitcoin users to move their assets, leading to a spike in network activity and memory pool congestion. While the security breach raises concerns about self-custody, analysts note that the increased transaction volume has not yet significantly impacted Bitcoin's price.
Why it matters
This event underscores the ongoing risks associated with cryptocurrency self-custody and the sensitivity of Bitcoin network metrics to security-related user behavior.
There’s an old saying that “every coin has two sides.” It applies perfectly to the multimillion-dollar hack of the hardware wallet Coldcard that began on July 30 and is still in progress .
On one hand, the hack raised questions about the safety of taking direct custody of coins in hardware wallets as a long-term holding strategy, a technique that became popular following the collapse of the FTX exchange in 2022.
On the other hand — and this is the bright side — it spurred the shuffling and reshuffling of coins to exchanges and multiple wallets alike by holders.
This bright side is evident from key data, starting with the number of transactions sitting in Bitcoin’s memory pool awaiting confirmation from miners. That count has spiked since late July, reaching 89,031 on Tuesday, the most since February 2025, according to data from Blockchain.com (check the Daily Signal).
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