Large-scale Coldcard compromise (1360.23 BTC stolen so far)

[LoyceV]

The community in general is still "lucky" that the stupidity came from the ColdCard developers.

This is one of the reasons I'm always careful paranoid when a new wallet (be it hardware or software) is released. It took me years to trust Ledger (until they broke that trust), and now I only have Trezor left on my personal preferred list of hardware wallets.
The fact that this Coldcard flaw was around for 5 years makes it only harder to trust anything.

Personally I don't consider saving cost is important when I buy a hardware wallet because I understand its importance and there are free open source software wallets to use. If I spend money to buy a hardware wallet, I buy a best one and don't mind to save cost that possibly puts my fund at risk if I buy a bad hardware wallet.

Paying more doesn't guarantee a better hardware wallet, Coldcard wasn't cheap.

Verify, don't trust. Easier said than done.

[EstherBtc]

Got this from X https://x.com/COLDCARDwallet/status/2084596971268956161

Someone's comment on this post made me sad, he said "Thank you cold card and coinkite for destroying trust in hardware device manufacturers for an entire class of Bitcoiners. Your lesson will be taught for decades to come".

Coldcard should just refund those affected. Unfortunately, some users who are not online don't even know that their bitcoin is under attack and has been wiped or about to be.

[asUHWEceyc]

This certainly appears to be an exit scam with good plausible deniability when you look back at JWWeatherman_ badgering coldcard to add external entropy via dice rolls to their quick start guide in the 2020-2021 period, which they refused to do.

It also casts a shadow on their podcast promoters, who were most likely mere useful idiots.

The company is obviously done, through reputational damage and/or lawsuits, but someone has the coins

[Cookdata]

I have seen some creepy tweets of old posts from Coldcard but I don't think this company is worth defending.



https://x.com/coldcardwallet/status/1447213375398846473

I don't think I'm overreacting right!

[Lucius]

What's wrong with a laminated paper wallet rolled up in a sealed PVC pipe filled with rice and buried in backyard?

It's okay if you don't have a dog that likes to dig, and you haven't dug deep enough - or if you have a neighbor who watches you just for fun and decides to dig around your yard when you're not home. In addition, in some countries there are laws that say that the owner of the land is the owner of what is found up to a certain depth, and everything else is owned by the state. This is how they protect oil and gas deposits from ordinary people.

The ground settles over time, so if you bury something to a depth of, say, half a meter, it will slowly sink over time, especially if the soil is moist and there is a lot of rainfall.

[philipma1957]

This certainly appears to be an exit scam with good plausible deniability when you look back at JWWeatherman_ badgering coldcard to add external entropy via dice rolls to their quick start guide in the 2020-2021 period, which they refused to do.

It also casts a shadow on their podcast promoters, who were most likely mere useful idiots.

The company is obviously done, through reputational damage and/or lawsuits, but someone has the coins

lets say inside job.

the issue is any other wallet company can do the same.

firmware 2027 for ledger makes a bug
and in 2028 ledger hacked.

right down the road.

so  back to core only?

since if core is bad it is all dead.

[abaeze]

This certainly appears to be an exit scam with good plausible deniability when you look back at JWWeatherman_ badgering coldcard to add external entropy via dice rolls to their quick start guide in the 2020-2021 period, which they refused to do.

It also casts a shadow on their podcast promoters, who were most likely mere useful idiots.

The company is obviously done, through reputational damage and/or lawsuits, but someone has the coins

lets say inside job.

the issue is any other wallet company can do the same.

firmware 2027 for ledger makes a bug
and in 2028 ledger hacked.

right down the road.

so  back to core only?

since if core is bad it is all dead.

The Coldcard hacking incident is actually challenging the entire Bitcoin ecosystem, no one can say exactly what will happen in the future, but self-custody, which was people's last resort to keep their digital assets Bitcoin safe, is now distrusted. You are right that there is no guarantee that other companies will not do the same in the near future. Without people's trust and confidence, no security system is effectively secure, no matter how much companies say "your assets are 100% safe through our products", the public and companies must understand these things.

[Danish Ali]

Seedsigner looks good by passing 10 tests there.
https://walletscrutiny.com/hardware/seedsigner/

It is recommended by Jameson Lopp in his list of recommended wallets but honestly I don't know and I am unsure because he recommended Coldcard and has yet removed this terrible hardware wallet from the list.

In this What are best Bitcoin wallets, there is no recommendation for SeedSigner.

Personally I don't consider saving cost is important when I buy a hardware wallet because I understand its importance and there are free open source software wallets to use. If I spend money to buy a hardware wallet, I buy a best one and don't mind to save cost that possibly puts my fund at risk if I buy a bad hardware wallet.

That recommendation list on Lopp's is losing trust is fair concern. However, SeedSigner trust model is quite different from that of Coldcard. Risk of Coldcard was centralized decision of a company owned maker. SeedSigner does not have maker, it's made out of everyday parts, so that type of failure is not relevant.
Price factor plays a different role here as well. It is not about cost of the product you are buying, it is about removing risk from your shipping and parts supply. That is different type of benefit.
It is still on Lopp's list and WalletScrutiny passes it, that is pretty good starting point for open source hardware.

[asUHWEceyc]

This certainly appears to be an exit scam with good plausible deniability when you look back at JWWeatherman_ badgering coldcard to add external entropy via dice rolls to their quick start guide in the 2020-2021 period, which they refused to do.

It also casts a shadow on their podcast promoters, who were most likely mere useful idiots.

The company is obviously done, through reputational damage and/or lawsuits, but someone has the coins

lets say inside job.

the issue is any other wallet company can do the same.

firmware 2027 for ledger makes a bug
and in 2028 ledger hacked.

right down the road.

so  back to core only?

since if core is bad it is all dead.

I can only recommend storing coins safely at MtGox, BTC-e or FTX at this time

All wallets are hardware wallets; some consist of electronic, analog and/or auditable components. Bitcoin has been more or less "working" for a long time and is highly scrutinized, with fewer LOC and less stuff bolted on the farther you go back. Intel CPUs commonly relied on, on the other hand, are implicitly un-examinable.

If someone's selling a cheap turnkey solution it might be too good to be true. It seems reasonable that a company marketing such a product in the future may need to insure every device sold with an implementation loss warranty up to some nominal fiat amount.

[vapourminer]

I can only recommend storing coins safely at MtGox, BTC-e or FTX at this time

you jest but at least mtgox people got ~20% of their btc/bcash back

[LoyceV]

Hypothetical: it just occurred to me that even if Coldcard knew about this vulnerability, they couldn't have warned users about it. The moment they issue a warning, potential attackers would know about it too, and their warning would have been the catalyst to losing funds.
So once the bug was out there, all they could reasonably do was offer updated firmware and remove the vulnerability from newly sold devices.