Bitcoin Drops Below $63,000 as Coldcard Wallet Exploit Dwarfs Iran-Driven Macro Tailwinds

Oil and Treasury yields fell after fresh U.S.–Iran talks eased inflation fears, but major cryptocurrencies failed to catch a bid as an expanding Coldcard hardware wallet exploit pushed observed losses to nearly $89 million.

Major cryptocurrencies fell on Monday despite improving macroeconomic conditions, with bitcoin slipping about 1% to $62,800 and ether dropping to $1,858. The declines came as a widening exploit of Coldcard hardware wallets drained roughly 1,367 bitcoin — nearly $89 million — from approximately 4,585 addresses across three attack waves that have shown no sign of containment.

The weakness in digital assets contrasted sharply with falling oil prices, lower Treasury yields, and rising stock futures, suggesting the downward pressure stems from market-specific security fears rather than broader economic forces. Coldcard, produced by CoinKite, has been one of the most widely recommended hardware wallets among bitcoin self-custody advocates — users who store private keys offline rather than trusting exchanges — making the exploit's reach particularly unsettling for a segment of the market that considered hardware wallets the safest available storage method.

Crypto Market Movements

BTC dropped from a Sunday high of $63,600 to $62,800 on Monday, down 1% on the day and 4% over the past week. Ether fell over 1% to $1,858 and has not breached $1,900 since last week, marking a 5% decline on the seven-day chart.

XRP slipped almost 1% to $1.07, solana lost half a percent to nearly $73, and dogecoin declined by a similar margin to just under 7 cents. BNB was the only major token in the green, flat on the day and up 1.6% on the week. Hyperliquid's HYPE fell 1% to $52.52 and is down 12.8% over seven days — the worst performance among the top ten.

Macro Backdrop Turns Supportive

The macro tape pointed in the opposite direction all morning. Brent crude futures for October dropped as much as 7.3% to $81.55 a barrel after President Donald Trump said he had called off a strike on Iran and would open fresh talks Monday, with Saudi Arabia among the allies pushing for a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Treasuries rallied across the curve as the oil decline eased inflation concerns, sending the 10-year yield down four basis points to 4.69% after it reached its highest level since January 2025 last week. Nasdaq 100 futures and European share futures both gained 0.8%. Gold added 0.3% to approximately $4,060 an ounce.

Falling oil, falling yields, and rising stock futures typically provide a tailwind for cryptocurrencies. This time, bitcoin ignored all three signals — because the pressure is originating from a compromised hardware wallet rather than from macroeconomic conditions.

Coldcard Exploit Continues to Spread

As CoinDesk reported Sunday, a third wave of sweeps against Coldcard-generated addresses was discovered over the weekend, bringing observed losses to 1,367 bitcoin — nearly $89 million — across 4,585 addresses.

The average haul per address has decreased with each wave, suggesting the attacker has already worked through the largest balances and has since moved on to emptying wallets worth only a few thousand dollars. Wave one took 1,083 bitcoin from 1,196 addresses on July 30, while wave three took 208 BTC from 1,912 wallets — more wallets, but roughly a fifth of the bitcoin. The growing address count across successive waves indicates the compromise is not limited to a handful of individual users but appears to affect the wallet-generation process itself, broadening the population of potentially exposed funds.

Unusual Fund Flow Split

Meanwhile, ether funds recorded small inflows on Friday while bitcoin funds saw outflows — an unusual divergence for a market where bitcoin typically sets the direction and ether follows. Ether's ecosystem, which includes staking and decentralized finance activity, can at times create demand drivers that operate independently of bitcoin's price trajectory.

Whether bitcoin can hold $62,000 through the Iran talks will be a key level to monitor. A deal that reopens the Strait of Hormuz would likely push oil lower again, giving cryptocurrencies a second chance at the same favorable macro setup they just missed. If bitcoin still fails to catch a bid under those conditions, it would confirm that the drag is originating from within the crypto market rather than from the macroeconomic environment.

Source: CoinDesk