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To investors,
Hackers have stolen more than $100 million of bitcoin from over 5,000 wallets in the last few days. This theft is particularly noteworthy because it is happening to users who were using Coldcard, a type of cold storage device that was previously thought to be the most secure way to store your bitcoin.
It is important to call out that the bitcoin network was not hacked, nor does this hack disprove the importance and efficacy of self-custody and cold storage. Instead, this hack was due to a software flaw with a specific vendor (Coinkite) related to the way their random number generator worked.
These details won’t matter though as the mainstream media reports headlines like “Hackers Hit Bitcoin’s Safest Hiding Place In Ongoing Attack.” That type of coverage will obviously not help bitcoin’s adoption. But more importantly, this hack strikes at the heart of the true bitcoin believers. The people who took the time to learn self-custody, and spent the time to implement it, are not casual investors.
These are the most hardcore bitcoiners. And now a hacker has been able to siphon away their bitcoin through an attack vector that most bitcoiners didn’t even know existed.
I don’t believe bitcoin will ultimately suffer long-term from this. There could be a few rocky weeks ahead though depending on the fear driven by mainstream media coverage. Bitcoin has been through worse and it will once again prove how resilient it can be.
I also think this incident will drive renewed interest in the bitcoin ETFs or other third-party, multi-sig arrangements. People are willing to pay for security when security is a concern. And this Coinkite situation is going to make security a VERY big concern.
In addition to my opinion on how this situation will impact the market, I shared a few other thoughts with the bitcoin community over the weekend. Here they are in no particular order:
1. This is devastating for a lot of people. They lost their hard-earned economic value in a way most didn’t realize was possible. Not everyone is a technical genius, but almost all are merely looking to build a better life for themselves and their family. I feel for these people and their new reality.
2. I have personally lost bitcoin in the past and it is never fun. The only lesson I can impart from my personal experience on those going through this is that you are unlikely to change the past. Don’t spend immense time thinking about what could have been, but rather focus on a plan moving forward. You can only control your actions and response, so focus on how to come back stronger.
3. People will inevitably attack the various investors in Coldcard, or the podcasters promoting the product, but that anger is misplaced and unproductive. I saw this phenomenon first-hand with the BlockFi situation. Even though I wasn’t involved in the company’s operations, people wanted someone to blame and they came for those who were the most accessible. To those who are angry, don’t waste your time attacking those who are not responsible. To those who will be unjustly attacked, this too shall pass.
4. This incident highlights the difficulty with self-custody. I fundamentally believe in an individual’s right to have true sovereignty over their assets. It is one of the core value propositions of bitcoin. But we must also recognize that self-custody is a technically complex topic that some, but not all, are prepared to take on. Better education and better technology can help bridge this gap in the future.
5. The mainstream media hasn’t picked up this story yet, but I am sure they will at some point. They can’t resist the “bitcoin was hacked!” storyline. Obviously bitcoin was not hacked and there is no known security vulnerability with the protocol. This was a third-party issue, but that won’t stop the misinformation, so it is important to combat the misinformation with facts.
6. Sentiment in the bitcoin industry is very bad right now. This is normal in a bear market, so it is not surprising. But a security incident like this is equivalent to throwing a match on gasoline. There will be more anger, in-fighting, and unproductive nonsense. If this is your first time experiencing it, welcome to the arena. If you have seen it before, you know the negative sentiment will eventually evaporate and the sun will shine again over the next 12-18 months.
7. There are very real ramifications to the acceleration in AI technology. I am not sure if AI played a part in this hack, but it wouldn’t surprise me if that was the case. Every developer should take this new capability seriously and consider how they can enhance their security practices accordingly.
8. The bitcoin community is just as resilient as the network itself. We have been through insane, painful moments throughout the years. This is another one. The only way forward is to go through the fire.
In conclusion, this situation sucks for everyone affected. I genuinely feel for them and intimately understand the pain from my own past experiences. If you are one of the affected folks, keep your head up and continue walking forward. For those who own bitcoin and were not affected, understand there will be a lot of noise in the coming days, but nothing about bitcoin or its future outlook has changed.
Hope everyone has a great start to their week. I will talk to you tomorrow.
- Anthony J. Pompliano
Founder & CEO, ProCap Financial (Nasdaq: BRR)
Jordi Visser is a veteran macro investor with 30+ years of experience and the author of the VisserLabs Substack.
In this conversation, we break down the Leopold Aschenbrenner hedge fund unwind, the market crashes in South Korea and Japan, Kevin Warsh and the Fed's next move, and the case for compute scarcity as AI demand outpaces supply. We also discuss tokenization and why bitcoin remains the ultimate hedge and store of value in a world being reshaped by AI.
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