Coldcard exploit nears $114M as Bitcoin slips below $63,000 and fear deepens

The dominant story today was the Coldcard hardware wallet exploit, which has now grown from an $89M breach to a potential $114M loss as attackers conducted at least a fourth round of wallet sweeps. Coldcard is a widely used cold-storage device among security-conscious Bitcoin holders, so an exploit of this scale carries psychological weight beyond the dollar figure — it undermines confidence in self-custody at a moment when the market was already fragile. Bitcoin broke below $63,000 during the session despite some optimism around Iran diplomatic developments, which would normally provide a mild tailwind. The fact that geopolitical good news couldn't hold the price above that level illustrates how heavily the security crisis is weighing on sentiment. The Fear & Greed Index sits at 28 — firmly in fear territory — and has not recovered meaningfully since the exploit first surfaced. The SEC's decision to keep Nasdaq's bitcoin options approval on hold, while granting a review to CME, added a secondary layer of institutional uncertainty. Nasdaq options approval had been seen as a potential catalyst for broader derivatives market development; the delay signals that regulators remain cautious about expanding crypto derivatives access, even as CME's existing products receive continued scrutiny. Ethereum fell 1.9%, broadly in line with Bitcoin. Ondo, which operates in the real-world asset tokenization space, took a harder hit at -5.6% — RWA and DeFi-adjacent tokens tend to see amplified selling in risk-off sessions because they carry both crypto market risk and protocol-specific risk. Figure Heloc also dropped 3.1%, consistent with that pattern.

• –The Coldcard exploit has now potentially reached $114M in total losses as a possible fourth wallet sweep emerged, up from the $89M figure reported the prior day.
• –The SEC delayed Nasdaq's bitcoin options approval while granting a review to CME, a split decision that signals continued regulatory caution around crypto derivatives.
• –Robinhood secured FCA crypto registration in the UK ahead of the incoming regulatory framework, expanding its presence in a key institutional market.
• –Trump Media transferred $165M in Bitcoin to Crypto.com — which it says was not a sale — but analysts suggest the firm's remaining 4,261 BTC may now function primarily as loan collateral.