Max Galka
@galka_max
Founder & Expert in Blockchain Analytics | Cryptocurrency Tracing · Entity Attribution · Research · Investigations · Expert Witness
2.2K Following 42.2K Followers
Several Coldcard honeypots were cracked by thieves and their BTC was swept to fresh, single-use addresses.
Why is this concerning?
Because on the blockchain, transfers like these are indistinguishable from Coldcard owners rescuing their coins, so these cases would likely not be counted in the current loss estimates (~$116m).
So how much bigger could the actual loss be? How many other transfers match this profile?
Answer: ~36k transactions totaling ~$2.1bn of BTC. These transfers are equally consistent with an owner rescue or a theft, and nobody can determine which.
The actual Coldcard loss could be *much* larger than current estimates.
See how these numbers were determined:
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Here is information on all the mk3 wallets I created, that HAVE BEEN SWEPT by attackers:
Seed phrase only (swept instantly):
bc1qqh58wf33u6vcpurh493j46d23zz7jyn5s06sqn
Seed phrase + 1 word passphrase (swept in 6d 9h):
bc1q4nhqvhyvs342m52h46qw0mkjsejpcncwx4y46t
Seed phrase + 2 word passphrase (swept in 6d 9h):
bc1quz3e7l8ln8dh6e4q2xslzwk7kxn0qh5stqjjjc
Seed phrase + 3 word passphrase (swept in 6d 11h):
bc1q8u657zxp084pxgm5fcr5rgfqyyw4uvq8jzm87d
Seed phrase only, random account number (swept in 2d 2h)
bc1q4gj72x6zz3ax7q6fh4gefamcjjuhu6q0jpf03h
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as of now:
median dormancy 3.5 years
88% of coins stolen were 1+ year old
by address:
median loss 0.014 BTC
mean loss 0.212 BTC
victim reports received: 250+
by victim (as reported):
median loss 1.022 BTC
mean loss 4.04 BTC
loss range across all reports: 624 sats to 58.97 BTC
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New research: We rebuilt the Coldcard attacker map, then measured what everyone else missed: a ~$2.3B dormant coin migration. The theft is the small part.
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Great report by @galka_max on RWA holdings.
"Five tokens are 91 percent of all DeFi volume, and two Maple credit tokens alone are about 60 percent of it."
@maplefinance
Who actually holds the $14 billion in tokenized real-world assets? We checked wallet by wallet and named 83% of it. It is not who the headlines say.
Nvidia $NVDA vs Intel $INTC: 2014 to today
2023 was a major year for Bitcoin and stablecoins.
Be sure to check out our collaborative year in review report with @elementus_io:
There were a lot of questions about the recent price action in $BTC at @money2020. The main driver of this shift is news of a pending $BTC ETF approval. I spoke w @RemyBlaireNews from @fintechtv to discuss why an ETF would be a game-changer.
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Claims Market: $200m of claims traded in over 300 transactions. Thursday's sale of $4.8m Genesis got us past that milestone.
Sellers are increasingly drawn to Claims-Market's positive user experience. Liquidity is provided by hedge funds competing to offer the best price.
#FTX# #celsiusnetwork# #genesis# #crypto# #bankruptcy#
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2023 is starting out with a bang for @elementus_io! Excited to share we’ve raised $10m in a Series A2 led by @ParaFiCapital. Check out my blog to find out how our infrastructure will help spur the next phase of growth in web3 :
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After bootstrapping our cybersecurity firm w/ my cofounder @halbornsteve to a staff of 100+ and a client count of 200+, @HalbornSecurity announced our $90m Series A!
A thread on our journey 🧵👇
#Ransomware# has evolved from indiscriminate breaches of personal computers to targeted attacks on critical infrastructure
Avg ransom in 2015: $293
Avg ransom in 2021: $623,000
For the full history see our new interactive visualization:
via @elementus_io
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#Ransomware# has evolved from indiscriminate breaches of personal computers to targeted attacks on critical infrastructure
Avg ransom in 2015: $293
Avg ransom in 2021: $623,000
For the full history see our new interactive visualization:
via @elementus_io
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Thanks @NYSE for inviting me to share my thoughts on crypto, analytics, and risk
Max Galka, CEO & Founder of #blockchain# and #crypto# data analytics firm @elementus_io, tells us how his company is helping banks and other regulated financial service providers mitigate risk.
#NYSEFloorTalk# @galka_max
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Some big news for @Gemini Frontier Fund portfolio companies:
@TheSandboxGame raises $93M led by Softbank
@notabene_id raises $10.2M to help exchanges comply w/ global regs
@Elementus_io raises $12M for crypto intel platform
@SpruceID raises $7.5M for decentralized identity
and
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Video of elderly Lebanese woman at her home playing the piano while surrounded by broken glass and rubble, captures the spirit or #Beirut#.
This city doesn’t give up and keeps rising from the ashes:
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It is possible to believe racism exists, most cops are good people, bad cops exist, protesting is our right, looting & violence is bad, the system is broken, we can fix it together, all humans should feel safe, and everyone can have a life of wealth & happiness.
Love you all 🙏
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This week in crypto:
1. Bakkt launched futures product
2. @BinanceAmerica launched
3. SoFi launching crypto trading
4. Harbor wins crypto broker-dealer
5. @SDinwiddie_25 tokenizes income
6. @elementus_io raises $3.5 million
7. Bitcoin is still not dead :)
Onwards!
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There is one team that tracked down the funds from the QuadrigaCX exit scam and uncovered the $2+ billion PulseToken Ponzi scheme.
Stopping these bad actors and nonsense is important to the institutional adoption of Bitcoin.
@elementus_io 🙏🏽🙏🏽
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