custody

According to Forbes, the scale of the theft in the Coldcard hardware wallet vulnerability incident has risen to approximately $130 million, involving about 2,000 BTC and over 5,200 addresses, reigniting the industry's debate over who should hold private keys. Data from Bitcoin Magazine shows that in the days following the incident, the net inflow into U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs was $626 million, with some opinions suggesting that the vulnerability may drive more funds towards ETFs.Reports indicate that supporters of self-custody remain undeterred. Casa co-founder Jameson Lopp stated that confidence in self-custody should not be lost due to recent events, as custodial institutions also rely on random number generators. Bitcoin core early developer Peter Todd noted that the historical record of self-custody is far better than that of third parties. Another viewpoint argues that both reflexive choices have flaws. Onramp co-founder Michael Tanguma stated that if the only answer is Coinbase or ETFs, it poses a serious problem, as centralizing what should be decentralized assets undermines their foundation, advocating for a multi-institutional custody solution where keys are held by multiple regulated entities.

The Korean National Police Agency has selected Upbit's parent company, Dunamu, through public bidding to be responsible for the custody of seized virtual assets, with a contract period of 1 year.The confiscated digital assets will be managed through the digital asset custody service Upbit Custody, responding in real-time to regulatory infrastructure and conducting custody and management within 365 days. This service employs 100% offline cold wallets, 24/7 monitoring, and introduces MPC, DKG multi-key management, and multi-signature technology to ensure asset isolation and security.

According to Lookonchain monitoring, the mining company MARA, which holds 36,303 bitcoins (worth $2.34 billion), deposited 200 bitcoins, valued at $12.86 million, into the institutional custody platform NYDIG 10 hours ago.The mining company Riot Platforms also continues to send bitcoins to NYDIG, depositing 381 bitcoins, valued at $24.51 million, 10 hours ago.

MetaMask launched the self-custody wallet Agent Wallet on Thursday, allowing AI agents to execute on-chain transactions within user-defined limits, aimed at traders and developers using AI agents to monitor the market, identify opportunities, and autonomously execute trades. Users can set spending limits, approve specific protocols, choose risk settings, and select different levels of automation between Guard Mode and Beast Mode.Agent Wallet supports Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenClaw, Hermes, OpenCode, as well as Hyperliquid and Ethereum Virtual Machine compatible networks. Agent Wallet supports gas abstraction, allowing users to pay network fees with the assets being transferred, without needing to hold the corresponding native tokens of the network. MetaMask stated that supported transactions will undergo transaction simulation, threat scanning, and smart trading MEV protection, and if qualifying transactions incur losses after passing security checks, they can receive up to $10,000 in Transaction Protection coverage per month.

According to Cointelegraph, cryptocurrency service company Blockchain.com has obtained a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) custody license issued by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA), allowing it to provide regulated crypto custody services in the Cayman Islands. The license was approved on July 22, 2026, after CIMA granted conditional approval in December 2025.The license also allows Blockchain.com to offer cryptocurrency to fiat exchange and exchange services between cryptocurrencies. Blockchain.com has held VASP registration in the Cayman Islands since May 2022.Blockchain.com Co-CEO Lane Kasselman stated that the CIMA license continues the company's recent regulatory progress, including obtaining a license under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) in Europe and completing registration with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK.

According to RBC, the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) in Russia is preparing to launch a digital custody platform for cryptocurrency trading (digital custodian). Sources say that the project is currently still in the development stage and is expected to go live as early as the end of 2026 to early 2027.It is reported that this digital custody platform will not be built on the Moscow Exchange itself or the National Settlement Depository (NSD) under it, but will operate as a completely new independent structure. As Russia's regulatory framework for digital currencies is expected to partially take effect from September 1, the market still lacks a clear plan for the custody and registration mechanisms of crypto assets. Various technical models are currently being discussed within the industry.One proposal is to establish multiple liquidity centers for crypto assets, where brokers can access the Moscow Exchange's digital custody platform or conduct related business through their own digital custody systems. Another proposal may involve trading platforms handling trade matching, while the storage and registration of crypto assets are completed by banks or digital custodians under brokers.Previously, several large banks in Russia, including Sberbank, VTB Bank, T-Bank, and Alfa-Bank, have expressed plans to launch digital custody services. With the Moscow Exchange entering this field, competition among traditional financial institutions is expected to intensify and may further enhance crypto asset services.

According to CoinDesk, financial services company BNY announced on Tuesday that it plans to add staking services to its digital asset custody platform in collaboration with digital asset company Galaxy.This service will allow institutional clients to earn staking rewards without moving their assets out of the BNY custody system. BNY's move is the latest action to expand blockchain services for institutional investors.

CZ forwarded Willy Woo's post about Bitcoin loss data, stating that if the data is accurate, from a statistical perspective, exchange-held assets may be safer than self-custodied ones. Exchanges are more likely to be targeted by hackers, making such incidents easier to quantify, while thefts or losses from self-custodied wallets often go unreported, making related data harder to collect.On the other hand, the data from exchanges is also influenced by some exchanges that have already gone bankrupt. Finally, CZ emphasized that no custodial method is absolutely superior; different solutions are suitable for different users, and adopting a balanced asset custody approach may be a better choice. The statistical data previously released by Willy Woo indicates that approximately 1.57 million Bitcoins have been permanently lost due to self-custody. Additionally, around 1.51 million Bitcoins have been lost due to incidents such as hacking attacks and bankruptcies of exchanges.

As the Coldcard hardware wallet exposes firmware vulnerabilities, over 80 million USD in BTC is stolen, and the market re-discusses whether to turn to institutional custody or directly buy Bitcoin ETFs, well-known analyst Willy Woo responded in a post stating that he does not oppose ETFs or custody solutions. They have many benefits in gaining recognition and accessing the traditional financial system, but the uniqueness of Bitcoin lies in the fact that it is the only truly sovereign mature digital asset, without nationality, cannot be blocked, diluted, or confiscated by any country, and only by mastering self-custody can one obtain this attribute.Willy Woo stated that since World War II, the West has mostly lived in a bubble of security, but as Ray Dalio pointed out based on 1500 years of historical research, stability itself is a cycle. When the cycle ends, people will need reserves that can protect them when the world briefly collapses, while custodial assets may fail, and governments may confiscate assets both in the past and in the future. He indicated that we are currently in the later stage of this cycle and recommended allocating 15% of assets to sovereign assets such as Bitcoin and gold.

Bitgo CEO Mike Belshe deposited 100 BTC into a public Bitcoin address, valued at approximately $6.3 million at the time, and invited the Claude model under Anthropic to attempt to transfer the funds from that address. On-chain records show that the wallet received the funds on July 31, and the balance has not been transferred out.Anthropic previously disclosed that during 141,006 cybersecurity assessment runs, 3 incidents were found, with 6 assessment sessions involving 3 models unexpectedly interacting with real organizational systems. The relevant models include Claude Opus 4.7, Claude Mythos 5, and an unpublished internal research model, due to configuration errors by third-party testing partner Irregular that caused the testing environment to connect to the internet.Anthropic stated that Claude Opus 4.7 identified a real website sharing the same name as a simulated company during one assessment, exploited weak passwords and exposed services to recover infrastructure credentials, and accessed a production database containing hundreds of records. The company claimed that the model was attempting to complete assigned tasks and was not actively breaking restrictions or pursuing independent goals. Belshe's challenge involved the Bitgo institutional custody platform, which uses multi-signature or multi-party computation technology to distribute signing authority across multiple independent keys. Anthropic has not publicly responded to this challenge.

Strive Vice President Joe Burnett posted on platform X that the recent weeks may be among the worst in Bitcoin's history. Many people purchased recognized hardware wallets, generated mnemonic phrases offline, and followed established best practices, yet still lost a significant amount of Bitcoin due to a vulnerability affecting COLDCARD wallet that generated mnemonic phrases since March 2021 and beyond. This vulnerability went undetected for over 5 years.Joe Burnett stated that this will permanently change people's confidence in self-custody. Self-custody will still exist, but it has been permanently altered. For those who wish to directly control a large amount of Bitcoin, the standard should be multi-vendor multi-signature, with keys generated independently using different hardware and different software, and stored in different physical locations. If this approach is unacceptable, then institutional-grade custodians should be used.Joe Burnett mentioned that the current wave of Bitcoin adoption is happening through ETFs, treasury companies, and institutional custodians, primarily from individuals who unintentionally become experts in private key generation, hardware security, firmware, backups, inheritance planning, and physical storage. A single key generated by one hardware wallet protecting a large amount of Bitcoin poses excessive concentration risk.Joe Burnett also stated that institutional custody may ultimately lead to excessive Bitcoin concentration in the hands of large companies, resulting in risks of censorship, seizure, and confiscation. However, Bitcoin's portability and settlement attributes provide a crucial counterbalance, allowing users to create wallets and request custodians to send Bitcoin, transitioning from counterparty risk to direct ownership within minutes.Joe Burnett believes that as long as Bitcoin itself remains secure, the failure of any particular custody method does not negate the underlying monetary system, but rather forces the market to develop better tools, stronger standards, and more resilient custody frameworks. This week may ultimately mark the end of an era for Bitcoin custody and the beginning of the next wave of Bitcoin adoption.

According to CoinDesk, Bank of New York Mellon is migrating its core transfer agency records to the blockchain to create a single on-chain ownership ledger and reduce reliance on intermediaries.Initially, this initiative will support clients such as Baillie Gifford, BlackRock, and Dreyfus under BNY, covering the first fully native, UK-regulated tokenized fund and other planned tokenized products. BNY and other large banks are building blockchain-based infrastructure and a tokenized deposit network.The bank expects that traditional systems will continue to coexist in the coming years amid ongoing cybersecurity and smart contract risks.

The South Korean Financial Services Commission stated that it will submit the government bill for the second phase of the "Basic Law on Digital Assets" as soon as possible, and will coordinate the release of guidelines for corporate cryptocurrency asset trading with the legislative process. At the same time, it plans to include digital asset custody under independent business regulation and holds a cautious attitude towards the mandatory separation of custody business from exchanges.In addition, South Korea will refer to the practices of the European Union to provide a more convenient access mechanism for traditional financial institutions applying for virtual asset service provider licenses. Regarding the market's concern about the separation of exchange custody business, the South Korean Financial Services Commission stated that there are currently few cases of mandatory separation overseas and prefers to prevent conflicts of interest through improved behavioral regulation rather than requiring exchanges to operate custody business independently.

According to The Block, Trezor's Chief Business Officer Danny Sanders refuted recent criticisms of cryptocurrency hardware wallets made by blockchain investigator ZachXBT.Earlier this week, ZachXBT posted on Telegram, "All hardware wallets are complete garbage and I do not recommend using them for important tasks such as signing transactions or storing funds," and suggested that users use a dedicated iPhone to store funds and sign transactions.In response, Sanders acknowledged in an interview that firmware/software updates for hardware wallets can sometimes interfere with urgent or large transactions, and that the user experience can indeed be "clunky," understanding the users' frustration. However, he opposed ZachXBT's blanket statement: while hardware wallets may not be the best single solution for advanced users managing large amounts of funds, they are not garbage.He pointed out that compared to hardware wallets, the operating system and connectivity features of an iPhone present more "attack risks." For the average cryptocurrency user, hardware wallets remain the best self-custody option available.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, a certain whale bought and withdrew 21,300 ETH from Fidelity Custody to a new wallet, worth 40.95 million dollars.

According to monitoring by Onchain Lens, Alameda Research FTX transferred approximately 201,000 SOL, worth about $15.14 million, to BitGo custody through multiple transactions within a few minutes, and the funds were distributed to multiple BitGo custody addresses.

According to Finance Magnates, Webull EU has obtained a MiCA license issued by the Dutch regulatory authority. This is also one of the first significant approvals of cryptocurrency licenses in the market after the transition period ended on July 1. Webull plans to use this license to launch cryptocurrency trading and custody services in Europe by the end of 2026.Webull Securities (Europe) CEO Andries van Luijk stated that this move is an important milestone in the company's expansion in the European market, and Webull will provide users with "secure and compliant digital asset services" under the EU's unified regulatory framework. According to reports, after the implementation of MiCA, the number of licensed cryptocurrency institutions in Europe is now close to 200.

A court in São Paulo, Brazil ruled that Coinbase must refund nearly $100,000 to a user who claimed that funds deposited in their Coinbase Wallet disappeared in an unauthorized transaction. Coinbase argued that the wallet's private key is entirely controlled by the user, but failed to prove that the transaction was initiated by the wallet holder, nor did it demonstrate the existence of security measures to prevent this outcome.The court made its ruling based on relevant provisions of the Consumer Protection Law and ordered Coinbase to refund the full amount along with statutory interest.