"You stole, please return some."

The Coldcard hacker's wallet is now a public message board. The $114M breach could be a gift for bitcoin ETFs. And crypto's PAC went 5-1 in yesterday's primaries. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ SPONSORED BY Wednesday, August 5, 2026 "You stole, please return some." Coldcard hacker's wallet becomes a graffiti wall of pleas and hustles The wallet holding $36 million in stolen bitcoin from the Coldcard hardware wallet exploit has become an unlikely public message board — victims and opportunists alike are paying to leave permanent notes via Bitcoin's OP_RETURN function, which embeds a small text string into the blockchain alongside any transaction. Messages range from genuine-sounding pleas ("you stole, please return some," "80% of my 5 BTC back") to outright hustle ("I clean btc, do kyc and cashout. I take 10%") to abstract poetry. At least one sender used the hacker's newfound spotlight to beg $1 BTC from strangers with no connection to the hack at all. It's a story about Bitcoin's architecture as much as the theft: OP_RETURN entries are permanent, timestamped, and publicly verifiable — meaning every message is now part of the blockchain forever. The total confirmed losses from the Coldcard exploit have since grown to more than $120 million across more than 5,200 affected addresses. Read more → A message from CME Group We are proud to announce that Nasdaq CME Crypto Index futures are now live and available to trade 24 hours a day, seven days a week.   Combining Nasdaq's expertise in world-class indexing with our liquid, transparent and CFTC-regulated marketplace, this launch continues to deepen our partnership.   The result is a groundbreaking new way for you to gain exposure to a significant portion of the cryptocurrency market — including bitcoin, ether, XRP, Solana, Cardano, Stellar, Chainlink and newly added Bitcoin Cash — all within a single, financially settled transaction.   Why trade Nasdaq CME Crypto index futures? Broad exposure, simplified: Instead of trading multiple assets, you can access a basket of the world's leading cryptocurrencies in one trade. Capital efficiency: Control a larger position with a smaller capital outlay and benefit from potential margin offsets. Right-sized trading: Choose between larger- or Micro-sized contracts to precisely scale your strategy — anywhere, anytime. Find out more Tech Coldcard exploit could boost demand for regulated bitcoin exposure, analysts say The $120 million Coldcard breach may carry an unintended silver lining for bitcoin ETFs and regulated custody providers. Cantor sees a positive read-through for COIN, HOOD, BTGO, BLSH, ETOR, and GEMI — arguing that token flows toward custodians will increase as Coldcard users seek alternatives. FRNT Financial echoed the point: while the self-custody community is heartbroken, the exploit exposed a hard tradeoff — holding your own keys still means trusting the hardware and software that generates them. For investors unwilling to accept that operational risk, spot bitcoin ETFs are increasingly the natural alternative. Read more → Policy Crypto's campaign efforts see rare loss, but crypto roster in Congress likely to grow Fairshake, the crypto industry's top PAC, went 5-1 in Tuesday's primaries — backing winners in Michigan and Washington while losing its $2 million bet on CLARITY Act co-sponsor Rep. Shri Thanedar, who was upset in his Detroit Democratic primary by progressive challenger Donavan McKinney, endorsed by Bernie Sanders. Thanedar's loss means a crypto ally in the House is replaced by a blank slate; McKinney is untested on the issue. But five other PAC-backed candidates prevailed, and the crypto caucus in the next Congress is still expected to grow. With the CLARITY Act's Senate floor vote hanging on a last-second ethics deal, every seat matters. Read more → Know someone who should be reading this? Share this newsletter See all of CoinDesk’s newsletters    CoinDesk, Inc., 61 9th Avenue, 5th Floor, New York,NY,10011,USA, Unsubscribe Manage Preferences   Copyright © 2026 CoinDesk, All rights reserved.