The Daily: Coldcard hack losses could hit $130M, Senators seek Trump memecoin probe, and more

The following article is adapted from The Block’s newsletter, The Daily, which comes out on weekday afternoons.

Happy Tuesday! Bitcoin is still moving in step with U.S. equities but continues to lag the record stock rally, with markets now looking ahead to September's Fed decision after what could be a typically subdued late-summer period, Block Scholes analyst Thahbib Rahman told The Block.

In today's newsletter, Galaxy Research says Coldcard bitcoin losses could swell to $130 million, U.S. senators again seek an SEC probe into President Trump's memecoin, Mastercard completes the acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure firm BVNK, and more.

Meanwhile, the Blockchain Association countered the National Sheriffs' Association claims that the Clarity Act would make it harder to protect against financial crimes as a pivotal week for the bill unfolds.

👀 P.S. Don't forget to check out our new reader poll later in the newsletter.

Bitcoin losses from Coldcard hack could swell to $130 million, Galaxy Research says

Galaxy Research said losses from the Coldcard bitcoin hardware vulnerability could reach 2,000 BTC, or around $130 million, if including an unconfirmed fourth wave of attacks.

• The firm has identified 1,596 BTC stolen from 7,300 addresses across three confirmed waves so far, plus a further 14 smaller security incidents.
• The attacks stem from an ongoing flaw affecting seeds generated on Coldcard Mk3, Mk4, Mk5, and Q firmware, which developer Coinkite has since patched via emergency updates.
• Galaxy said it was reasonably confident that the potential fourth wave is "substantially comprised of" one attacker, but noted that it lacked sufficient victim confirmation.
• Galaxy Head of Firmwide Research Alex Thorn later posted on X that the firm now estimates that at least 15 different attackers have exploited the vulnerability overall.
• "90% of stolen coins have not moved. 100% of coins in Waves 1, 2, and 3 have not moved," Galaxy said. "It is essential that we continue to identify additional attacker addresses, especially as new, opportunistic attackers emerge, so that we can report their addresses to authorities."
• Galaxy warned the attack is still ongoing, urging Coldcard users to move their funds to a safe address and generate a new seed on a secure device.

Senators seek SEC probe of President Trump's memecoin

Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal urged the SEC to investigate President Trump's memecoin, accusing him of a "rug pull" and asking the agency to determine if securities laws had been violated.

• In a letter to SEC Chair Paul Atkins, the senators pointed to recent reports claiming that nearly 1 million crypto wallets have lost a combined $3.8 billion since the TRUMP memecoin's January 2025 launch, and that the president made $636 million from it.
• The letter comes as the White House mulls the latest ethics compromise to move the Clarity Act forward, after a prior version was rejected by Democrats over its DOJ-only enforcement provision.
• The window for Clarity Act progress is closing quickly, with senators set to leave on Friday for an August recess before attention shifts to the November elections.

Mastercard completes BVNK acquisition to expand stablecoin payments infrastructure

Payments giant Mastercard completed its acquisition of stablecoin infrastructure firm BVNK to strengthen its ability to connect crypto assets with traditional payment rails.

• Mastercard said it will use BVNK's technology to help financial institutions, fintechs, and enterprises scale stablecoin and tokenized-asset use cases across B2B payments, settlement, and treasury flows.
• Mastercard did not disclose the final financial terms of the deal, though it previously agreed in March to buy BVNK for up to $1.8 billion.
• In a separate blog post, BVNK said the deal won't affect its existing operations or clients.
• Mastercard has pushed further into the crypto sector in recent months, having expanded stablecoin settlement to USDC, PYUSD, and RLUSD in June and launched an 85-company crypto partner program in March.

BlackRock debuts tokenized share classes for select European money market funds

Asset management behemoth BlackRock launched Ethereum-based tokenized share classes for select European money market funds in partnership with Kinexys by JPMorgan, enabling 24/7 peer-to-peer transfers between approved investor wallets.

• The rollout covers 12 tokenized share classes across six ICS funds, representing a combined $311 billion in assets under management as of June 30.
• Kinexys' tokenization platform acts as a translation layer between onchain activity and traditional fund registers, with each token representing an underlying fund share.
• The launch continues BlackRock's tokenization push, coming just a day after it debuted two tokenized money market products for stablecoin reserves.

Binance launches bitcoin-backed 'Lite Loan' with $1,000 borrowing limit

Crypto exchange Binance launched "Lite Loan," a BTC-backed product allowing eligible users to borrow up to 1,000 USDT without selling their bitcoin.

• Lite Loan is aimed at users with small, short-term borrowing needs and doesn't trigger price liquidations during the initial 30-day term — unlike Binance's existing loan products.
• Ledn research shows 88% of crypto holders would consider borrowing against their assets, but only 14% do so given the current volatility and liquidation concerns Binance's product aims to ease.

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In the next 24 hours

• U.S. mortgage data is released at 7 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
• Fed Governor Lisa Cook speaks at 4:05 p.m.
• Ethena and IOTA are among the crypto projects set for token unlocks.

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