News linked to both this project and an event.
According to Cointelegraph, cybersecurity company Rapid7 has disclosed a cryptocurrency phishing campaign named "Operation Asterix" targeting approximately 885,000 phone numbers, aimed at luring users into visiting fraudulent Ledger, Trezor, and Exodus wallet apps or websites to steal mnemonic phrases and crypto assets.
Odaily News Rapid7, a cybersecurity firm, has disclosed a crypto phishing campaign named Operation Asterix that targets approximately 885,000 phone numbers across multiple countries, redirecting victims to fraudulent wallet service websites. A total of 5,576 phone numbers have been matched with Binance user accounts and placed on the attack queue.The attackers steal seed phrases through fake apps impersonating Ledger, Trezor, and Exodus, while also contacting victims via fraudulent customer support emails and phone calls. Rapid7 also found that among over 316,000 phone numbers in Germany, 43,066 were matched with crypto trading accounts, representing a hit rate of approximately 13.6%.The related attacks also include a bulk phone number verification tool targeting Kraken accounts, and the investigation revealed that AI tools are being widely used in phishing operations. According to data from blockchain security firm Hacken, phishing attacks and social engineering scams caused $306 million in losses in the first quarter of this year, accounting for the majority of the $482 million total losses in the crypto industry. (Cointelegraph)
Odaily News, DefiLlama founder 0xngmi, of the crypto data analytics platform, stated that the team spent months asking Apple to remove phishing apps impersonating DefiLlama from the App Store, which delayed the mobile app's launch until all such counterfeit apps had been removed. 0xngmi noted that after the team downloaded one of the malicious apps and documented a small crypto wallet being stolen, Apple removed it within days. In 2024, the App Store also saw counterfeit apps impersonating Rabby Wallet and Curve Finance; in November 2023, a fake Ledger Live app on the Microsoft Store siphoned off $588,000 across 38 transactions. (Cointelegraph)
据 Cointelegraph 报道，比特币政策研究所（BPI）联合 Anchorage Digital、BitGo、Bitwise、Blockstream、Kraken、Ledger、MARA、Trezor 等多家加密机构，发布公开信敦促各大前沿 AI 实验室为比特币及开源软件开发者建立或扩展可信访问计划。 信中指出，Bitcoin Core 等开源维护者目前缺乏对 AI 实验室网络安全程序的访问渠道，被迫依赖能力较弱的开源模型，而比特币网络当前保护着逾 1 万亿美元资产，任何开源基础设施漏洞均可能危及用户毕生积蓄。BPI 同时披露，已收到多份报告显示包括潜在境外势力在内的复杂攻击者正借助先进 AI 能力持续发动攻击。
Odaily News: Hardware wallet Coldcard has suffered a hack, with no confirmed total loss amount yet. Blockchain analytics platform CryptoQuant has confirmed losses of 1,432 BTC, while Galaxy Research places a high-confidence minimum estimate at 1,730 BTC. Other analyses suggest the scale of losses could be even higher. Research firm Galaxy Research stated that its earlier estimate of 1,816 BTC represents a potential figure, not a confirmed total. As of Tuesday, the firm's confirmed high-confidence minimum loss stands at 1,730 BTC, with over 450 BTC directly confirmed based on victim reports. Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs estimates that the attacker moved approximately 1,816 BTC from more than 5,200 addresses in four phases. CryptoQuant stated that its confirmed figures only include addresses publicly disclosed by victims and verified through on-chain patterns, meaning the tally could rise as more victims come forward with information. (Cointelegraph)
According to Cointelegraph, AnchorWatch CEO and Bitcoin Red Team founder Rob Hamilton stated that after integrating OpenAI Trust & Cyber capabilities into the Bitcoin Red Team's security research work, he faced access restrictions the next day and was forced to switch back to using Chinese open-source AI models to continue research. The Bitcoin Red Team has currently discovered 1,288 critical and high-risk vulnerabilities in the Bitcoin ecosystem, and research work significantly accelerated after the Coldcard hardware wallet was hacked (over $100 million in Bitcoin stolen). Hamilton commented on this: "Black-hat hackers face no restrictions, while white-hat researchers dedicated to reducing risk are excluded."
据 Cointelegraph 报道，区块链初创公司 Quantus 创始人 Christopher Smith 警告称，量子计算破解现代加密技术的首个信号，可能并非高调盗取中本聪比特币，而是一系列无迹可查的钱包资产异常转移——攻击者无需入侵设备或交易所系统，仅凭链上暴露的公钥即可推算出私钥。Smith 指出，若攻击发生，"唯一的法证证据就是没有任何入侵痕迹"。 在攻击目标方面，Smith 认为加密领域最具价值的目标或为 Tether 铸币密钥，量子攻击者可凭此凭空增发 USDT 并迅速抛售套利。Blockchain Capital 安全研究员 Sean Cheetham 则认为，攻击者更可能优先针对交易所热钱包，以避免引发广泛警觉。 在时间线方面，Smith 给出 2028 年前实现量子破密的概率为"五五开"，Cheetham 认为 2030 年代初"几乎确定"会到来。Google 已于今年 3 月将后量子迁移时间表提前至 2029 年。
According to Cointelegraph, former U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper wrote in the Financial Times, calling on the Senate to pass the CLARITY Act as soon as possible and emphasizing that the bill is not only a financial services bill but also a national security bill. Esper pointed out that China is heavily investing in state-led payment systems to bypass U.S. regulation and undermine the dominance of the U.S. dollar, while weak digital asset regulatory rules also provide loopholes for North Korean hacking organizations such as the Lazarus Group to evade U.S. financial controls. He stated that the CLARITY Act will expand the Treasury Department's special measures authority under Section 311 of the USA PATRIOT Act and is a powerful weapon to combat malicious actors.
According to Cointelegraph, BTCPay Server has temporarily restricted public remote connections to Lightning Network nodes due to attackers exploiting a critical vulnerability in LND (Lightning Network Daemon) to steal node credentials and transfer funds. Version 2.4.2 has upgraded to LND 0.21.1 and automatically rotates macaroon credentials in standard installations. The project team reminds operators to check for abnormal payments, channel closures, and balance changes as soon as possible; if nodes are exposed via self-built reverse proxies, Tor services, or port forwarding, relevant credentials must also be manually replaced. Currently, Foundation and Citadel21 have reported node fund losses, but the specific scale of losses has not yet been disclosed.
Odaily News: Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) conducted surprise raids on 9 unregistered cryptocurrency exchange service providers in Moscow, alleging they were involved in transferring funds obtained through fraud abroad via crypto assets. More than 20 employees were detained at the Moscow International Business Center.The FSB stated that these exchanges converted stolen funds from Russian phone scam victims into cryptocurrency and transferred them to accounts of what it claims are Ukrainian processors. The operation was carried out jointly by the FSB and the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.Russia's Ministry of Internal Affairs has launched a criminal investigation into large-scale fraud, which under Russian law carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. The FSB said it is continuing to identify victims and assess potential compensation. (Cointelegraph)
According to Cointelegraph, Bitcoin Lightning Network self-custodial wallet Zeus Wallet voluntarily took its infrastructure offline following a cybersecurity attack on Wednesday and is currently conducting a comprehensive audit of the system, with services to be restored upon completion. Zeus founder Evan Kaloudis stated that the attack was contained within hours, no customer fund losses were found, and there was no evidence that the Lightning node software was affected; the scope of the incident was limited to Zeus's own infrastructure. For users forced to close LSP channels during this incident, Zeus promised to provide replacement channels after services are restored. The company has not yet disclosed the specific nature of the attack or a timeline for resuming operations. Zeus stated that this incident will further drive its security development on Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) and Validating Lightning Signer (VLS) projects.
Galaxy Digital Head of Research Alex Thorn stated that based on new victim reports received following the incident, the number of attackers exploiting the Coldcard vulnerability has reached at least 15.Thorn noted that information provided by victims helped the research team uncover previously unidentified attack activity. Unlike thefts from centralized exchanges, correlations between the attackers in this vulnerability exploit require confirmation through on-chain analysis and victim feedback.He added that a single victim reporting less than 1 BTC stolen helped the team discover a previously unknown attack, which siphoned approximately 12 BTC from 126 addresses.According to Galaxy Research's earlier estimates, the Coldcard vulnerability has led to at least three rounds of attacks, with losses amounting to approximately $100 million in BTC. Additionally, Galaxy has identified a suspected fourth round of attacks, which could bring total losses to approximately $130 million.Meanwhile, the incident has also sparked discussions regarding the security of Bitcoin self-custody. Dragonfly Managing Partner Haseeb Qureshi stated that "AI security hardening costing around $2" could potentially have prevented this vulnerability, and noted that some AI models were able to rediscover related vulnerabilities within a relatively short timeframe. However, industry insiders pointed out that current claims about the speed of AI discovering vulnerabilities lack rigorous blind testing and verification.Researchers believe that as AI model capabilities improve, the costs of vulnerability discovery and attacks in the crypto industry may continue to decline, requiring wallet developers to further strengthen code audits and security protections. (Cointelegraph)
According to Cointelegraph, Coinkite, the manufacturer of Coldcard hardware wallets, disclosed that its devices have contained a random number generator (RNG) vulnerability persisting for up to five years since March 2021. The vulnerability stemmed from a firmware upgrade that mistakenly routed wallet seed generation to a less secure MicroPython pseudo-random number generator (PRNG), rather than the originally designed true random number generator (TRNG). Since code reviews only verified the existence of TRNG code without confirming whether it was actually invoked, the vulnerability remained undetected for a long period. To date, over 4,500 addresses have been compromised, with nearly $90 million worth of Bitcoin stolen. Kraken Chief Security Officer Nick Percoco stated that this incident should serve as a "wake-up call" for the hardware wallet industry, calling for the introduction of independent third-party testing mechanisms to mandate verification of whether the entropy sources actually invoked by production firmware are certified. Coinkite has suspended all device shipments and destroyed affected inventory after confirming the vulnerability, and stated it will cooperate with law enforcement agencies across multiple countries to trace the responsible parties.
据 Cointelegraph 报道，加拿大比特币硬件钱包制造商 Coinkite 警告 Coldcard Mk3 用户立即迁移资金，受影响固件版本为 2021 年 3 月发布的 4.0.1 至最终版本 5.0.3，Mk4、Q 及 Mk5 不受影响。与此同时，比特币安全专家正在调查一起涉及 594.48 枚 BTC（约 3830 万美元）的异常清仓事件，涉及 1324 个 UTXO 在三个区块内通过 500 笔交易被转移，所有地址均为单签名地址。
According to Cointelegraph, Singapore stablecoin payment company Triple-A confirmed its treasury wallet was accessed without authorization, with on-chain investigator Specter estimating losses at approximately $11.8 million. The company stated that customer funds are held in separate trust accounts and were not affected by this incident, and the relevant losses will be covered by the company's own financial reserves. Triple-A has currently restored all services and is collaborating with cybersecurity experts, blockchain forensic agencies, and the Singapore Police Force to investigate and track the stolen assets.
According to Cointelegraph, the cross-chain bridging and atomic swap protocol Garden Finance temporarily took its application offline after detecting abnormal activity on July 27. Blockchain security firm Blockaid disclosed that attackers exploited a vulnerability in Garden Finance's Hash Time Locked Contracts (HTLC), stealing a total of approximately $450,000 worth of USDT across four networks: Ethereum, Base, Arbitrum, and BNB Smart Chain.
Rob Witoff, Platform Leader at Coinbase, stated that currently, over 95% of the company's code is written or completed with the assistance of AI, a significant increase from the 40% figure announced in February this year. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Coinbase Platform Leader Rob Witoff said: "In fact, 100% of Coinbase employees use AI every day." Witoff noted that most Coinbase engineers currently run 5 to 10 AI Agents simultaneously. The combined work capability of these AI Agents is equivalent to approximately 1,200 employees.He predicts that by 2030, Coinbase's AI Agents could handle a workload equivalent to 100,000 employees. However, he stated that key areas such as core cryptography will still require human involvement, with AI primarily used for code testing, vulnerability checking, and prototyping. (Cointelegraph)
the Major County Sheriffs of America (MCSA), in a letter to U.S. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott and Senator Elizabeth Warren, stated that after some of its concerns regarding Section 604 of the bill were addressed, it has shifted its stance on the CLARITY Act to "neutral." Section 604, concerning the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, aims to protect developers from liability for illegal activities conducted by users on their decentralized platforms. The MCSA had previously stated that Section 604 could provide loopholes for criminals to exploit, making it more difficult for law enforcement to investigate crypto-related crimes. The MCSA indicated that it still hopes the CLARITY Act will amend Section 309 to include state law enforcement agencies. This section requires the U.S. Treasury Department to study decentralized finance and illicit finance risks. (Cointelegraph).
zero-knowledge scaling company StarkWare has released a Starknet quantum resistance roadmap, stating that the roadmap is divided into three phases to address the risk of future quantum computing attacks. StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson stated that Starknet can leverage its architectural advantages to achieve quantum resistance, as its underlying cryptography is based on zero-knowledge STARK proofs. According to reports, the first phase of the roadmap includes replacing part of the existing secure mathematical mechanism, Pedersen hash, with a quantum-resistant version, and adding quantum-resistant signatures; the second phase focuses on migration tools, upgrading existing smart contracts without requiring developers to manually rebuild applications; the third phase involves dependencies that Starknet cannot solve alone, primarily relying on Ethereum's quantum upgrade roadmap. Circle, Ethereum, Solana, Tezos, and Algorand have all proposed quantum resistance roadmaps. (Cointelegraph)
the Coinbase Layer 2 network Base experienced two block production outages last week, with the root cause identified as a vulnerability in the sequencer's block construction logic. This vulnerability allowed outdated log states to persist after transaction validation failed, preventing the sequencer and validator nodes from processing invalid blocks until sequencing was restored.The first incident lasted 116 minutes, while the second, caused by a race condition following a system reset that prevented the sequencer from keeping up, lasted 20 minutes. The team has since fixed the issue by applying a patch to the sequencer, with future plans to improve protocol fuzz testing and build a graceful recovery mechanism. (Cointelegraph)