# Security Related Articles

HTX News Center provides the latest articles and in-depth analysis on "Security", covering market trends, project updates, tech developments, and regulatory policies in the crypto industry.

Report: Cryptocurrency Owners Lost $30 Million Due to Rising 'Wrench' Attacks Worldwide

**Report: Cryptocurrency Owners Lose $30 Million Due to Rising "Wrench Attack" Threats Worldwide** A new report by Chainalysis highlights the alarming rise of so-called "wrench attacks"—physical crimes like home invasions, kidnappings, and hostage situations targeting cryptocurrency owners—which have resulted in an estimated $30 million in losses. Unlike typical online crypto crimes, these violent, in-person attacks often occur at a victim's doorstep. France has become a global epicenter for this trend. By mid-2026, the country recorded 30 publicly known violent incidents, a significant jump from 19 in all of 2025. French officials have reported over 70 such cases. This surge is linked to major data leaks, where information on wealthy crypto holders—including names, addresses, and asset details—was stolen and sold to criminal groups, fueling targeted attacks. While attacks in France are more frequent, they are also less successful. Only 26% of attempted thefts resulted in a ransom payment by mid-2026, down from 49% in 2025. Attacks have also become more erratic, with criminals increasingly targeting the victim's family or acquaintances instead of the asset holder directly. Once stolen, funds are moved through various channels. Some criminals send assets directly to centralized exchanges (making them easy to trace), while others use decentralized exchanges and bridges to obfuscate trails. A third group appears linked to organized crime, funneling money through laundering networks associated with drug trafficking and terrorism financing. French authorities, via the specialized unit JUNALCO, are treating this as organized crime, having made around 200 arrests and filed 88 charges. The report emphasizes that the risk primarily falls on local residents (93% of French victims were locals), indicating careful planning by attackers using leaked data, social media, or blockchain tracking. The advice for crypto owners is clear: avoid publicly flaunting large holdings, secure asset storage details, and treat any personal data leak as a direct security threat. The latter half of 2026 will reveal if France's countermeasures can curb this violent crime wave.

cryptonews.ru08/06 20:16

Report: Cryptocurrency Owners Lost $30 Million Due to Rising 'Wrench' Attacks Worldwide

cryptonews.ru08/06 20:16

Security Analyst Points Out Vulnerability in Tether's Blockchain Transaction Freezing Process

A blockchain security analyst has pointed out a vulnerability in Tether's transaction freezing process. Darcy, co-founder of FlashRescue, revealed that targeted funds were drained from a wallet while Tether was in the process of freezing it. This criticism highlights a significant time gap between the freeze request and its final blockchain confirmation, which is managed by a multi-signature wallet mechanism. An analysis of 2,955 Tether freeze events on Ethereum and TRON showed an average delay of 2 hours, 16 minutes, and 15 seconds. During this window, at least 60 addresses managed to completely empty their assets, transferring a total of $20.4 million in USDT, often starting just 14 minutes after the freeze proposal. Another 113 addresses transferred part of their assets, totaling approximately $35.5 million, before the freeze took effect. A notable public example was Tether's action against Iran's central bank in July. Following OFAC sanctions on four TRON wallets holding over $165 million in stablecoins, Tether froze $131 million, but around $34 million had already been moved by the time of the freeze. While Tether is often praised for its speed compared to competitor Circle, which faces criticism for inaction and only freezes wallets based on law enforcement or court orders, this execution gap presents a risk. Tether stated it coordinates directly with investigators during active cases and has collaborated with over 340 agencies across 65 countries, helping freeze assets worth over $4.4 billion. However, analysts warn that once stolen funds are mixed with unrelated money on certain addresses, recovery becomes nearly hopeless as Tether rarely freezes pools with unverifiable origins.

cryptonews.ru08/06 20:10

Security Analyst Points Out Vulnerability in Tether's Blockchain Transaction Freezing Process

cryptonews.ru08/06 20:10

Bitcoin Red Team reports 5K findings in sweeping security audit

A volunteer Bitcoin security group called Bitcoin Red Team, comprised of 16 members, has reported finding nearly 5,000 potential issues during a rapid, AI-assisted audit of Bitcoin ecosystem projects. According to developer Calle, the team averaged about one critical exploit discovery per hour per person. In the first 29.8 hours of operation, they identified 4,962 potential vulnerabilities across 390 projects, with 720 classified as high- or critical-level issues. The campaign follows a recent hack of the Coldcard hardware wallet that resulted in over $100 million in Bitcoin being stolen.

cointelegraph08/06 18:26

Bitcoin Red Team reports 5K findings in sweeping security audit

cointelegraph08/06 18:26

Cosmos Labs and Zeeve enter into a partnership

Cosmos Labs, the developer behind the Cosmos blockchain, has partnered with Zeeve, an enterprise blockchain infrastructure platform. This collaboration aims to assist financial institutions in launching tokenized deposits and digital assets. Cosmos will serve as the foundational layer for ledger management and asset issuance, while Zeeve will handle network deployment and management, data migration support, industrial-grade architecture creation, node and validator operations, and privacy tools via its Privacy Layer. The partnership focuses on simplifying the issuance of tokenized assets and the development of distributed ledger applications, specifically designed to meet the reliability, security, and privacy requirements of major financial institutions.

cryptonews.ru08/06 14:50

Cosmos Labs and Zeeve enter into a partnership

cryptonews.ru08/06 14:50

KITE Halts Transfers on Ethereum Mainnet in Response to Exploit

On August 6, the Kite Foundation announced it detected and thwarted an attack on its $KITE token on the Ethereum mainnet, confirming no tokens were stolen. The incident adds $KITE to a list of DeFi protocols, including Boltz, AQUA, and ZEUS, targeted recently. While the security monitoring system flagged and stopped the unusual transfer activity, the event has drawn attention to the project's declining position. After entering the top 100 cryptocurrencies in early 2026 with a market cap exceeding $363 million, $KITE has since fallen over 67% from its March peak and now ranks 123rd. This attack occurs amidst a surge in AI-powered exploits, as noted in recent incidents affecting other platforms. Commentators warn that AI-assisted attackers are becoming more sophisticated, posing significant challenges for security teams. Kite, which bills itself as an AI-first blockchain payment infrastructure, has emphasized its security audits and bug bounty program. The foundation's response aims to restore trust as the broader DeFi sector grapples with increasing security threats, with total crypto theft reportedly around $16.9 billion.

cryptonews.ru08/06 13:59

KITE Halts Transfers on Ethereum Mainnet in Response to Exploit

cryptonews.ru08/06 13:59

Canadian Users Account for 25% of Losses Related to Coldcard Vulnerability

Canadian Bitcoin users suffered the highest losses, accounting for 25% of the total, from a vulnerability affecting the Coldcard hardware wallet, a situation analysts link to the strong local presence of its parent company Coinkite headquartered in Toronto. Australia followed with 15-20% of losses, while the US and Thailand accounted for 10-15%. Though the exploit hit English-speaking and early Bitcoin-adopting regions hardest, global impact was seen across Western Europe, Latin America, and key African crypto hubs. The total stolen assets reached $116 million. Galaxy Research identified a March 2021 firmware update—specifically the faulty implementation of a new random number generator (RNG)—as the single point of failure. A configuration error rendered the hardware RNG inactive, silently defaulting to a weaker software-based one, which generated private keys with low entropy for over five years before an attacker stole $70 million from 1,200 wallets in 41 minutes. In response, security experts urged manufacturers to eliminate backup RNG mechanisms in production and strictly adhere to validation standards like NIST FIPS 140-3. For incident response, immediate user communication and clear mitigation steps were prioritized alongside rigorous patch testing. For users with compromised seed phrases, a strict protocol was recommended: purchase a new reputable hardware wallet, generate a new seed offline, verify it with a test transaction, transfer all funds to the new setup, *then* attempt to update the original device's firmware. Experts also advised diversifying risk by using hardware wallets from different manufacturers to avoid a single point of failure. The incident sparked a fundamental debate about self-custody security models. Critics argue that offline storage alone isn't foolproof, highlighting that trust is always delegated to third parties, like wallet manufacturers. The consensus is shifting towards multi-vendor setups and mandatory baseline standards like multi-signature or Multi-Party Computation (MPC) wallets. The goal is to move from "trusting one device" to ensuring no single compromised component or entity can move funds, distributing trust across independent organizational and technological failure domains.

cryptonews.ru08/06 13:51

Canadian Users Account for 25% of Losses Related to Coldcard Vulnerability

cryptonews.ru08/06 13:51

Crypto wrench attacks steal more than $30M so far in 2026: Chainalysis

Criminals stole over $30 million through physical "wrench attacks" on cryptocurrency holders in the first half of 2026, putting the year on track to exceed the record $58 million stolen in 2025. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis reported 46 such violent incidents globally by late June, including kidnappings and home invasions, up from 40 in the same period last year. While the attackers' success rate dropped to 26% from 49% in 2025, the report warns the true scale is likely understated due to unreported cases. France remains a major hotspot, with 30 publicly known incidents by mid-2026—a significant increase from 19 in all of 2025. French authorities have counted over 70 cases, with data breaches, including the alleged misuse of tax records and a leak at a crypto tax firm, cited as key drivers. Attack methods vary in sophistication, from directly cashing out stolen funds on exchanges to using complex laundering services, with some cases linked to broader criminal networks.

cointelegraph08/06 12:06

Crypto wrench attacks steal more than $30M so far in 2026: Chainalysis

cointelegraph08/06 12:06

Common S3nse Joins Cypherpunk Week in Amsterdam This September

Common S3nse, a conference and hackathon focused on privacy, security, cryptography, and decentralized systems, will be held in Amsterdam on September 4-5 as a key part of Cypherpunk Week (August 31 – September 6). This community-organized event series in Amsterdam brings together builders, developers, and researchers for open discussion and collaboration. The two-day program features talks, panels, a hackathon, project sharing in the "Otter Tank," and workshops. Cypherpunk Week itself is a decentralized series of independent events where anyone can organize meetups on topics like privacy and censorship resistance. Amsterdam was chosen for its strong privacy-first and Web3 community. Participation in Common S3nse requires tickets, though hackers can apply for free access.

TheNewsCrypto08/06 11:35

Common S3nse Joins Cypherpunk Week in Amsterdam This September

TheNewsCrypto08/06 11:35

Coldcard hackers transfer 64 BTC and 200 ETH to cryptocurrency mixers

Blockchain security firm CertiK reports that approximately 64 Bitcoin ($4.17 million) and 200 Ether ($380,000) linked to the Coldcard exploit were sent to cryptocurrency mixers Wasabi Wallet and Tornado Cash, respectively, this week. These protocols obscure the on-chain trail of stolen funds. The Coldcard attack, now 2026's third-largest crypto hack, drained at least $100 million in Bitcoin from 7,300 wallets, with total losses potentially reaching $130 million. Analysis from TRM Labs and Galaxy Digital suggests multiple attackers, including copycats, exploited a 2021 firmware bug that weakened wallet seed randomness. While some stolen assets have been moved to mixers, most victim funds reportedly remain in attacker-controlled addresses.

cointelegraph08/06 11:31

Coldcard hackers transfer 64 BTC and 200 ETH to cryptocurrency mixers

cointelegraph08/06 11:31

Nearly 5000 issues in over a day: analysts conduct large-scale audit of the Bitcoin ecosystem

In a major security audit of the Bitcoin ecosystem, the Bitcoin Red Team discovered 4,962 potential vulnerabilities across nearly 400 projects over 27.5 hours. The issues included 85 classified as critical and 635 as high severity. The 16-member team, operating 24/7 across time zones, combined manual review with AI-powered tools, averaging 2.31 critical or high-level findings per analyst per hour. Most critical vulnerabilities have already been confirmed by the respective project developers. The team contacts projects directly and verifies the most severe issues by creating and testing proof-of-concept cases in isolated environments before reporting. They acknowledged the audit may have increased stress for developers but emphasized the need for rapid disclosure to prevent exploitation. The team continues to refine its verification process to reduce irrelevant reports. For comparison, the Ethereum Foundation's ETH Rangers program concluded in April 2026 with 17 researchers finding 785 vulnerabilities and returning $5.8 million.

cryptonews.ru08/06 11:27

Nearly 5000 issues in over a day: analysts conduct large-scale audit of the Bitcoin ecosystem