Heres what happened crypto: Coldcard, BNY and US-UK
Heres what happened crypto markets today: Galaxy Digital tied at least 15 attackers to the Coldcard wallet exploit with losses nearing $100–130 million, Boltz paused Bitcoin swaps after AI-assisted attacks, Jim Cramer said he plans to sell Bitcoin over quantum fears, BNY teamed with Galaxy on institutional staking, and US-UK talks reaffirmed stablecoin support. Security headlines dominated, even as Bitcoin rose about 1.6% and regulators signaled continued digital-asset cooperation.
Key Takeaways
- Galaxy Digital identified at least 15 attackers behind the Coldcard wallet exploit, with estimated losses at $100 million and potentially $130 million.
- Non-custodial swap service Boltz suspended operations after a surge in AI-assisted hacking attempts.
- Jim Cramer said he plans to sell his Bitcoin over quantum computing concerns raised by IBM's CEO.
- BNY partnered with Galaxy to offer institutional crypto staking inside its custody platform.
- US and UK officials reaffirmed support for stablecoins and tokenization after July FRWG talks, summarized Aug. 4.
What did Galaxy uncover about the Coldcard exploit?
According to Cointelegraph's daily roundup, Galaxy Digital said it identified at least 15 attackers who exploited a Coldcard wallet vulnerability. Estimated losses reached about $100 million and could climb toward $130 million across four attack waves.
Galaxy research head Alex Thorn said new victim reports helped uncover previously unknown actors, including one that allegedly siphoned 12 BTC from 126 addresses after a victim reported losing less than 1 BTC. The decentralized nature of the exploit made it harder to map every attacker than a typical exchange hack.
The episode also fueled debate over AI and hardware-wallet security. Dragonfly's Haseeb Qureshi argued cheap AI hardening might have helped, while Tokenomist's Tatsapat Saerejittima cautioned that such claims lacked rigorous testing. Castle Labs co-founder Francesco said a firmware issue reducing Coldcard's private key entropy likely made the bug easier to exploit.
Why did Boltz pause swaps, and what did Cramer say?
Boltz, a non-custodial Bitcoin swap service, said it is disabling swaps until further notice after months of rising "automated AI-assisted probing." In a Monday post on X, the team said security scans and active targeting by resourceful groups meant it cannot responsibly reopen while racing to deploy fixes.
Separately, CNBC's Jim Cramer said he plans to sell all his Bitcoin, citing quantum computing fears after IBM chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna told him to get "paranoid" about crypto risks in the next three to four years. Bitcoin was up roughly 1.6%–1.7% and trading above $63,500, though still down about 27% year to date, per TradingView data cited by Cointelegraph.
How are institutions and regulators moving on crypto?
BNY and Galaxy unveiled a partnership letting eligible institutional clients stake supported proof-of-stake assets without moving them out of BNY custody. Galaxy will supply staking infrastructure and act as a design partner; the firms did not name which assets will be supported. The offer aims to combine custody, staking, reporting and tax services in one package.
On the policy side, an Aug. 4 joint statement summarized the July 8 UK-US Financial Regulatory Working Group meeting in London. Officials discussed GENIUS Act stablecoin implementation, US digital asset market structure, tokenization, payment modernization and the G20 Cross-border Payments Roadmap. No new rules were announced, but both sides struck a supportive tone on responsible innovation. More detail is in Cointelegraph's US-UK regulation report.
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