The AI threat to Bitcoin wallets 🤖

Ledger's CTO told Decrypt that the Coldcard debacle raises broader questions about how hardware wallet security is evaluated.

Author

Stephen Graves
August 05, 2026

📝 What you need to know

The Coldcard wallet exploit stands as a stark reminder of how AI is changing cybersecurity, with attackers now able to identify and exploit vulnerabilities “at machine speed,” according to Ledger CTO Charles Guillemet.

The exploit, which has cost Bitcoin holders some $130 million so far, saw attackers use AI to identify a bug that had sat unnoticed in Coldcard’s public code for more than five years, Guillemet noted, calling it a “reminder that being open and being reviewed are two different things.”

Frontier AI models are unearthing such crypto bugs at a rapid pace, leaving whitehats racing to patch them before AI-equipped hackers can take advantage of the gaps in crypto projects’ security. Just this week, Bitcoin bridge Boltz was forced to shut down indefinitely amid a “steady rise” in AI-assisted probing of its infrastructure. It’s unlikely to be the last such closure.

Ledger Says Coldcard Exploit Shows Bitcoin Wallet Security Must Adapt to AI

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