The onchain metrics around the Coldcard incident reinforce how important self custody is to the resilience of Bitcoin as an asset class.
In the couple of days around the hack:
- 2.1k BTC was stolen
- 22k moved to exchanges
- 233k moved out of long term holder wallets in on chain transactions
We at Casa know (based on actual customer conversations) some of the 233k was people moving from non-Coldcard single sig (ie Ledger, Trezor) to multisig wallets, because they realized single sig wasn’t secure enough for their needs. And other coins were moved from multisig->multisig as people removed Coldcard from their keyset.
So somewhere between ~10x-100x the amount of bitcoin stolen was moved to safety as people sounded the alarm.
This is a giant flashing neon sign showcasing the resilience that self custody adds to the network. If all that BTC was held at a custodian and the custodian was hacked instead, those numbers would have been flipped. A little bit might have gotten out the door to safety, and most would be stolen. As it was, the thieves had to crack one wallet at a time (and are still going), earning a little BTC each wallet, instead of cracking one wallet and getting a massive payday. And the asset price (and confidence) would have certainly taken a much bigger hit.
Self custody is not just good for Bitcoiners, it is good for Bitcoin.
H/t to
@_Checkmatey_,
@intangiblecoins,
@SaniExp for the data