Swan Bitcoin CEO Cory Klippsten sees users embracing stronger safeguards after $100 million Coldcard exploit

Swan Bitcoin CEO Cory Klippsten sees users embracing stronger safeguards after $100 million Coldcard exploit

Markets

Coldcard hack sparks a self-custody security overhaul: Cory Klippsten

The attack exposed a five-year-old firmware flaw. The industry’s rapid response is accelerating the adoption of collaborative multisig security.

By

James Van Straten

|

Edited by

Sheldon Reback

Aug 5, 2026, 9:55 a.m.

2

min read

Make

preferred on

Share

Share this article

Copy link

X icon

X (Twitter)

LinkedIn

Facebook

Email

Make

preferred on

Cory Klippsten (Swan Bitcoin)

Summary

Show

Swan CEO Cory Klippsten said the Coldcard attack prompted bitcoin holders to reexamine their custody decisions.

He said he mobilized his team to help affected holders move their coins to safety, including people who were not Swan clients.

Rather than abandoning self-custody, affected users are migrating toward vaults that prevent any single compromised device from putting funds at risk.

Cory Klippsten was at a wedding in Paris when the messages started coming in.

"It was a brutal weekend for so many who lost bitcoin," the CEO of Swan said in an interview. "I was sending messages at 4 a.m. to help someone on Pacific Time get their coins to safety."

That was last Thursday, when attackers began draining bitcoin from thousands of Coldcard hardware wallets, exploiting a firmware flaw that had sat undetected for five years.

A defect in a March 2021 firmware update for the Coinkite-made wallet left users with private keys that were less secure than they should have been. By the time three waves of attack had rolled through, almost 1,600 BTC valued at over $100 million had been swept from

around 7,300 addresses

, according to Galaxy Research.

Swan, a U.S.-based platform that helps individuals buy, hold and self-custody bitcoin, paused withdrawals for at-risk clients, shipped in-app warnings and opened its migration support well beyond its user base.

"Our team dropped everything to start calling clients, and then we opened it up to anyone who needed help, whether they had ever been a Swan client or not," Klippsten said.

A week on, nearly 90% of the stolen coins remain unmoved onchain, confirmed attacker addresses have been shared with U.S. federal law enforcement and Toronto-based Coinkite has patched every affected device line. A volunteer team funded by OpenSats scanned more than 150 open-source repositories and found no evidence the problem extended beyond Coldcard.

The exploit led some in the industry to

question the value of self-custody

, suggesting investors should consider buying bitcoin through, for example, exchange-traded funds rather than holding it themselves.

Klippsten, however, said clients are not retreating from self-custody. Instead, they’re examining ways of making their bitcoin harder to access.

"People are moving into Swan Vault right now," he said, referring to the firm's collaborative multisig product, where no single device can put a user's funds at risk. "Instead of abandoning self-custody, many are upgrading it."

His verdict on the week is measured optimism.

"It is awful that people lost coins, and they did everything right according to what a lot of well-known people in the industry told them. But Bitcoin is antifragile and the tools are getting stronger by the hour. This might end up being the best thing that ever happened to self-custody."

Bitcoin News

Custody

Latest Crypto News

1

Why bitcoin’s ‘500-day rule’ faces its biggest test yet

1 hour ago

2

Live updates: An AI credit bubble could set up bitcoin’s path to $1 million

1 hour ago

3

The worst chart for bitcoin bulls right now

2 hours ago

4

New Ethereum proposal would cut issuance to zero if staked ETH reaches $112 billion

4 hours ago

5

"You stole, please return some." Coldcard hacker's wallet becomes a graffiti wall of pleas and hustles

5 hours ago

6

Bitcoin flat at $64,000 as stocks print records and Hormuz deal nears

6 hours ago

7

SpaceX tops Wall Street revenue forecast, posts $540 million loss on bitcoin holdings

14 hours ago

8

Open USD rattled Circle's stock, but its key backers still support USDC

16 hours ago

9

Samsung is poised to become a dominant stablecoin distributor, analysts say

17 hours ago

10

Clarity Act sits idle over Trump ethics question as Warren asks SEC to investigate him

18 hours ago

Latest Research

The Evolution of the Crypto CEX Landscape: A Case Study on Binance

The Evolution of the Crypto CEX Landscape: A Case Study on Binance

Binance remains crypto’s leading exchange, expanding from spot and derivatives into RWAs, payments, savings, yield, and broader financial services.

By

CoinDesk Research

Jun 29, 2026

Commissioned by

Binance

Binance remains crypto’s leading exchange, expanding from spot and derivatives into RWAs, payments, savings, yield, and broader financial services.

Why it matters

:

Binance remains crypto’s leading exchange, expanding from spot and derivatives into RWAs, payments, savings, yield, and broader financial services.

View Full Report

More From

Markets

Why bitcoin’s ‘500-day rule’ faces its biggest test yet

Live updates: An AI credit bubble could set up bitcoin’s path to $1 million

The worst chart for bitcoin bulls right now

Crypto

CD20

$1,748.76

CD20 up 0.50 percent

0.50%

BTC

$64,104.25

BTC up 0.62 percent

0.62%

ETH

$1,869.40

ETH up 0.24 percent

0.24%

XRP

$1.06

XRP down 1.14 percent

1.14%

SOL

$73.91

SOL up 0.52 percent

0.52%