Canadian Bitcoin hardware maker Coinkite has warned users of its Coldcard Mk3 signing device to move funds from wallets whose seed phrases were generated on affected firmware. 

On Thursday, Coinkite said seeds created on an Mk3 running firmware version 4.0.1, released in March 2021, or any later Mk3 version may put funds at risk. The issue extends through version 5.0.3, the final firmware supporting the Mk3, while the Mk4, Q and Mk5 are not affected, according to the company’s early analysis.

The warning comes as Bitcoin security specialists examine an unexplained, coordinated sweep involving 594.48 BTC from single-signature addresses. However, no definitive public evidence has established that the Mk3 issue caused those transfers.

“Out of an abundance of caution,” Coinkite urged affected users to generate a new seed on an unaffected device, verify its backup and receive address, send a small test transaction and only then move the remaining funds. The company said its investigation is ongoing and promised a formal technical review.

Coinkite said its early analysis indicates that affected seeds used with a BIP-39 passphrase face minimal risk, stressing that this refers to a passphrase rather than the Coldcard PIN.

Experts examine 594 BTC sweep

The sweep attracted attention after a Reddit user said funds had been drained from a wallet whose seed was generated on a Coldcard Mk3 bought in May 2021. 

The user said the seed was later restored onto a Coldcard Mk4 in January 2026, meaning it had subsequently been entered into a second device. The account is self-reported and does not establish a connection between Coldcard and the broader sweep.

In a preliminary analysis posted on Friday, AnchorWatch CEO and co-founder Rob Hamilton said that 1,324 unspent transaction outputs were swept across 500 transactions within a three-block window, moving 594.48 BTC. 

At the time of writing, the 594.48 BTC was worth approximately $38.3 million, based on a Bitcoin price of $64,364.07, according to CoinGecko.

Hamilton said all the addresses involved were single-signature and that 562 BTC was later consolidated into another address. “At a glance, this looks like there was flawed entropy in wallet generation somewhere along the way,” he wrote. 

Related: Thousands of crypto wallets at risk from ‘Ill Bloom’ vulnerability: Coinspect

Separately, Wizardsardine CEO Kevin Loaec said his current hypothesis is that a low-entropy random-number generator, potentially in a software library, secure element or particular device batch or firmware version, produced wallet seeds with insufficient randomness.

He suggested that an attacker who knew of the flaw may have used an AI-generated script to brute-force affected wallets, but searched only a limited range of BIP-84 derivation paths. That could explain why the sweep appears concentrated in native SegWit addresses and why some wallets were only partially drained, though Loaec stressed that the theory remains unconfirmed. 

Loaec warned that, if his hypothesis is correct, wallets that were only partially drained may remain at risk of further theft. He added that funds held in other address types could also be exposed if the attacker expands the scan to include them.

Magazine: Inside the ‘fake police raid’ that forced a $1M Bitcoin transfer

Aave founder Stani Kulechov said on July 30 that the lending protocol plans to retire dozens of low-use asset reserves and wind down its deployments on six blockchain networks.

The changes cover approximately $98.1 million in supplied assets and $15.6 million in debt. However, the measures originate from an Aave governance proposal and require DAO approval before full implementation.

The proposal would remove 50 individual reserves, retire 21 matured Pendle principal tokens and close 25 reserves across Sonic, Scroll, zkSync, Metis, Soneium and Aptos.

Aave’s six smaller markets have lost most deposits

The six complete deployments hold $12.8 million in combined supply and $4.1 million in debt. Sonic is the largest, with $7.6 million supplied and $2.7 million borrowed. Its deposits have fallen 74% over six months.

Scroll deposits declined 86% to $2.2 million, while zkSync fell 88% to $844,000. Metis and Soneium dropped to $297,000 and $173,000, respectively. Aptos liquidity fell 94% over six months, leaving $1.7 million supplied and $719,000 borrowed.

LlamaRisk said these deployments generated too little revenue to cover the cost of maintaining price feeds, monitoring systems and operational support. That conclusion reflects the risk provider’s assessment and remains subject to governance review.

Fifty reserves face removal across larger deployments

The remaining proposal targets 50 low-adoption reserves and 21 matured Pendle principal tokens across 11 Aave deployments. Together, they account for $85.3 million in supplied assets and $11.5 million in debt.

Assets marked for removal include low-use collateral, older bridged tokens and duplicate versions of assets that now have native alternatives. For example, bridged USDC variants would be removed from some markets where native USDC is already available.

The largest affected positions include the FBTC and eBTC wrappers on Ethereum. Together, they hold about $16.3 million in supply but only around $63,000 in borrowing. Their balances have fallen sharply because the expected demand for using them as collateral did not develop.

As previously reported, Aave DAO began exploring Pendle principal tokens in 2025. The latest proposal would retire 21 tokens that have reached maturity while allowing newer maturities to replace them where appropriate.

Aave would initially freeze affected reserves and reduce supply and borrowing caps to one unit. Existing positions could remain open, but users would be unable to make new deposits, borrow more funds or use the affected assets as fresh collateral.

For markets with outstanding loans, the proposal would raise the reserve factor, directing more interest to the Aave treasury and reducing returns for suppliers. Whole-market closures would use a 99% reserve factor and a 5% base borrowing rate to encourage borrowers to repay and depositors to withdraw.

If borrowers do not repay, risk managers could raise borrowing rates further. Liquidation thresholds may also be reduced gradually when officials determine that remaining collateral positions create excessive exposure.

Once positions have largely unwound, Aave plans to replace live price feeds with fixed-price oracles before completely retiring the six markets.

DAO approval remains the next step

The proposal is currently at the Aave Request for Comment stage. Under the standard governance process, an ARFC normally proceeds to an off-chain Snapshot vote before reaching a binding Aave Improvement Proposal and on-chain vote.

Therefore, users do not need to close their positions immediately solely because of Kulechov’s announcement. The exact implementation schedule will depend on community feedback, voting and the preparation of the required technical transactions.

The move marks a retreat from Aave’s earlier push to deploy broadly across emerging networks. Aave previously expanded to Linea after receiving DAO approval.

At the same time, the protocol is concentrating resources on Aave V4, institutional markets and higher-use deployments. As crypto.news reported, the DAO approved $25 million in funding to support that strategy.

Aave remains the largest decentralized lending protocol, with about $14.5 billion in total value locked across 23 chains.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has introduced legislation aimed at creating a dedicated US anti-corruption bureau, arguing that existing oversight is not designed to stop presidents from profiting while in office—an accusation he ties directly to President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency-related investments.

Schumer’s proposal, the Anti-Corruption Bureau Creation Act, would establish a new federal agency with authority to “investigate, enforce, and prevent executive branch corruption,” according to a Thursday announcement from Schumer’s office. The bill also seeks to consolidate key ethics and enforcement bodies under one roof—an approach lawmakers supporting the measure say could strengthen accountability more than the current “patchwork” of watchdogs.

Key takeaways

• Schumer’s bill would create a new federal anti-corruption bureau with investigative, enforcement, and preventive powers focused on executive branch conduct.
• The legislation points to reported Trump earnings from investments, including cryptocurrency exposure, as part of a broader argument for tighter safeguards.
• The proposed bureau would incorporate the Federal Election Commission, the Office of Government Ethics, and the Office of Special Counsel into a single structure.
• Supporters are also pushing the measure alongside continued negotiations over the Senate’s crypto market-structure effort, the CLARITY Act, which still lacks a scheduled vote.
• Even if the bureau legislation clears Congress, Trump could veto it; overriding a veto would require a two-thirds majority in both chambers.

A new enforcement model pitched as a response to crypto-related conflicts

In a statement released with the bill introduction, Schumer said he had introduced the Anti-Corruption Bureau Creation Act to address executive branch corruption more directly. The proposal is built around Congress’ findings—stated in the bill text—that Trump disclosed earning more than $2 billion from investments in 2025, including $1.4 billion associated with cryptocurrency, and that his family holds more than $1 billion in a crypto fund tied to foreign governments.

Schumer framed the new agency as having “real teeth,” emphasizing that it would include enforcement authority rather than acting only as a monitor. He also said the bureau would be staffed by a bipartisan group of seven members confirmed by the Senate.

To address remedies for wrongdoing, the bill includes mechanisms allowing private citizens and state authorities to pursue recovery of funds that Schumer described as stolen from Americans “through corruption.”

“This new bureau is one where these institutions work in symbiosis, strengthening each other and eliminating barriers between them which often got in the way,” Schumer said. “It replaces a broken patchwork of watchdogs, none of which were built for this moment, with one, powerful anti-corruption agency, ready to act anywhere, anytime corruption strikes.”

White House pushes back on conflict claims tied to investment accounts

The anti-corruption push arrives amid persistent Democratic criticism of Trump’s involvement in the crypto industry while in office. Schumer’s office noted concerns that have also hovered over the Senate’s broader crypto policy effort, the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act.

While the White House agreed to certain ethics provisions in CLARITY, many lawmakers have argued those changes do not adequately address potential conflicts of interest.

In a statement to Cointelegraph, White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly reiterated the administration’s position that there were “no conflicts of interest” related to Trump’s investments. Kelly said the investments were “held in fully discretionary accounts managed by independent third-party financial institutions.”

Consolidating ethics and enforcement under one “roof”

A notable feature of Schumer’s bill is its plan to reorganize parts of the federal oversight landscape. The proposal would place the US Federal Election Commission, the Office of Government Ethics, and the Office of Special Counsel “under one roof” within the new bureau.

The intent, as described in Schumer’s remarks, is to reduce the friction between agencies and streamline action when corruption is alleged—an argument he made by contrasting the proposed bureau with what he characterized as outdated or mismatched oversight structures.

Schumer introduced the bill with cosponsors Andy Kim, Alex Padilla, and Jeff Merkley.

What’s happening with the Senate’s CLARITY Act remains uncertain

Schumer’s anti-corruption initiative is moving alongside a separate, more technical fight in the Senate: whether and when the CLARITY Act will advance.

The article notes that the Senate has just over a week before lawmakers break for a month-long state work period. That calendar pressure is heightening uncertainty for pending legislation, including CLARITY, especially as lawmakers face the prospect of competing priorities ahead of the 2026 midterms.

As of Thursday, the Senate had not scheduled a vote on the CLARITY Act, despite encouragement from some Republican lawmakers and industry figures. Former Securities and Exchange Commission official John Reed Stark said the situation is difficult to predict, describing “enormous drama” surrounding the bill and stating that experts he spoke with could not confidently forecast what would happen that week.

Industry leaders have also signaled confidence while acknowledging timing risks. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the bill was at the “one-yard line,” while Senator Cynthia Lummis continued pushing for a vote, according to posts cited in the report.

Legislative math: momentum doesn’t eliminate veto risk

Even if Schumer’s anti-corruption bureau legislation gains traction, it still faces major hurdles. The bill would require Republican support in both chambers to pass, with the party holding only a slim majority in the Senate. If it clears the Senate and House before 2028, President Trump could still veto the legislation.

Overriding a presidential veto would require a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate, leaving the outcome dependent on whether Democrats can sustain enough cross-party backing.

For crypto watchers, the near-term focus is likely to split: whether the Senate can find a path forward on the CLARITY Act before its schedule runs out, and whether Schumer’s anti-corruption bureau proposal gains enough bipartisan traction to survive both legislative and veto thresholds—especially given the ongoing dispute over how (or whether) current ethics arrangements address potential conflicts tied to crypto.

Samsung SDS has identified stablecoin infrastructure as the first major collaboration area under its investment in Dunamu, outlining plans to combine blockchain, AI and cloud technologies as part of its digital asset strategy.

According to Samsung SDS during its second-quarter earnings conference call on Wednesday, the company has been discussing stablecoin infrastructure, AI-powered next-generation payments and virtual asset financial system integration with Dunamu, the operator of South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Upbit.

Samsung SDS has outlined how its Dunamu investment will be used

Samsung SDS President Lee Joon-hee said the company’s stake in Dunamu was made to enter the digital asset infrastructure business rather than as a financial investment. He said Samsung SDS intends to combine Dunamu’s blockchain operating experience with its own IT services, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and cybersecurity capabilities to strengthen digital financial infrastructure.

Lee added that the companies are considering business opportunities spanning stablecoin infrastructure, AI-based payment systems and system integration services built around virtual assets. According to Samsung SDS, discussions are continuing as both sides work toward developing concrete business models.

The comments provide the clearest description yet of Samsung SDS’s plans after it invested in Dunamu earlier this year.

In May, Samsung Securities, Samsung SDS and Samsung Card agreed to acquire a combined 4% stake in Dunamu for 612.8 billion won, or about $408 million, by purchasing 1.39 million shares from Kakao-linked entities. Samsung SDS acquired a 1% stake, while Samsung Securities purchased 2% and Samsung Card acquired the remaining 1%.

At the time, Samsung SDS said it planned to combine its AI, cloud, security and data management services with Dunamu’s blockchain expertise, while Dunamu said it expected cooperation on blockchain investment products, payment infrastructure and AI-related blockchain applications.

Stablecoin plans extend Samsung’s digital asset push

The latest comments come less than a week after Samsung Electronics disclosed plans to bring stablecoin support to Samsung Wallet.

During the Galaxy Unpacked event on July 24, Samsung Electronics said the wallet application will support stablecoins alongside payments, rewards and digital assets, although it did not disclose launch dates, supported tokens, blockchain networks or regional availability.

Product manager Lee Dinham said at the event that Samsung Wallet would expand beyond conventional payment functions to include stablecoins, allowing users to transfer digital value directly from compatible Galaxy devices.

Together, the wallet announcement and Samsung SDS’s latest remarks indicate that Samsung’s digital asset initiatives now extend from consumer payment products to the infrastructure supporting blockchain-based financial services.

The direction also differs from Samsung’s response to Open Standard’s proposed OUSD stablecoin consortium earlier this month. According to South Korean newspaper Chosun, Samsung said it had not held formal consultations with Open Standard and did not know what role it was expected to play after being listed as a founding consortium member. Dunamu, Shinhan Bank and K-Bank also told the newspaper they were still reviewing the proposal and had not approved participation.

Cloud growth has supported Samsung SDS results

Samsung SDS disclosed alongside the conference call that second-quarter revenue increased 5.9% year over year to 3.7178 trillion won, while operating profit rose 0.7% to 231.8 billion won. Net profit climbed 4.6% to 184.1 billion won.

IT services revenue reached 1.7625 trillion won, up 5% from a year earlier.

Cloud operations remained the fastest-growing segment. Revenue from the cloud business increased 17% to 779.4 billion won, while external cloud business revenue jumped 75% year over year.

According to Samsung SDS, cloud service provider revenue grew 24% as demand for Samsung Cloud Platform increased and GPU-as-a-Service deployments expanded across public-sector and enterprise customers. Cloud management services revenue also rose 17%, supported by AI transformation projects in the financial sector and enterprise resource planning deployments within South Korea’s shipbuilding industry.

AI infrastructure expansion will also support blockchain services

Alongside its blockchain plans, Samsung SDS said it continues expanding AI infrastructure and enterprise AI offerings.

The company said it was recently selected as a core operator under South Korea’s government-backed GPU infrastructure program and launched an NPU-as-a-Service product based on FuriosaAI’s Renegade neural processing chip. It has also secured AI-related projects with Woori Bank and the Export-Import Bank of Korea while maintaining partnerships with OpenAI, Anthropic and Google Cloud for generative AI services.

Samsung SDS currently operates about 110 megawatts of AI infrastructure and plans to expand capacity to 230 megawatts by 2029. According to the company, that figure is expected to exceed 800 megawatts by 2031 when design, construction and operational projects are included.

The infrastructure buildout accompanies Samsung SDS’s strategy of pairing its cloud and AI capabilities with Dunamu’s blockchain platform as the companies continue discussions around stablecoin infrastructure, digital asset payment systems and virtual asset financial technology services.

The Bank of Korea has successfully completed live cross-border payment tests using tokenized central bank reserves under the Bank for International Settlements-led Project Agora, processing transactions across six currencies and multiple payment scenarios.

According to the Bank of Korea, the central bank participated in the latest round of Project Agora real transaction testing alongside 27 other central banks and private financial institutions, confirming that the platform’s core functions and operating processes worked reliably in an environment designed to mirror real-world payment operations.

The exercise covered the Korean won, U.S. dollar, euro, British pound, Swiss franc and Japanese yen. South Korea’s participating commercial banks included KB Kookmin Bank, NongHyup Bank, Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank and Hana Bank.

Participating institutions processed transactions worth about 800,000 Swiss francs across 17 payment scenarios. 

The Bank of Korea said the tests successfully handled several cross-border payment use cases, including single- and dual-currency settlements between companies and banks, payment-versus-payment foreign exchange settlements and fund transfers within the same financial group.

Project Agora has linked tokenized reserves with cross-border payments

For its domestic test, the Bank of Korea worked with NongHyup Bank and Shinhan Bank to transfer 20 million won between the two lenders using tokenized reserve funds. According to the central bank, it received payment instructions from both banks before issuing, transferring, and redeeming tokenized reserves on the Project Agora platform.

The process also included a manual connection between Project Hangang, the Bank of Korea’s wholesale central bank digital currency platform, and the central bank’s existing financial network to validate interoperability during the transaction.

Separately, KB Kookmin Bank became the first South Korean commercial bank to complete a deposit token payment test with an overseas lender after conducting a yen-based settlement trial with Japan’s MUFG Bank. The bank said the results would support its participation in future phases of Project Agora.

The Bank of Korea said additional live transaction tests would follow as the project expands to cover payment types and operational scenarios that were not included in the latest exercise.

Project Hangang has supported South Korea’s digital payment plans

The latest cross-border testing builds on South Korea’s efforts to extend Project Hangang beyond institutional pilots and into commercial payment infrastructure.

As previously reported, the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Internet & Security Agency launched a 9.6 billion won program earlier this month to connect Project Hangang with the country’s existing payment network. The initiative is led by the Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute and includes nine commercial banks, payment gateway providers and large merchants testing deposit token payments for everyday retail transactions.

Instead of replacing existing payment terminals, the project allows banks to issue deposit token wallets while merchants continue using current point-of-sale systems. Government agencies also plan to test deposit tokens for public-sector payments before integrating the technology with South Korea’s digital public finance platform.

The Bank of Korea has consistently distinguished deposit tokens from stablecoins. Deposit tokens represent commercial bank deposits issued through a wholesale CBDC framework operated by the central bank, while stablecoins are separate digital assets backed by reserve assets under their own regulatory model.

Bank of Korea has continued to prioritize CBDCs alongside Project Agora

The successful testing also follows Governor Shin Hyun-song’s digital finance agenda announced after he took office in April.

In his inaugural speech, Shin said the Bank of Korea would continue expanding Project Hangang while participating in international initiatives such as Project Agora to strengthen cross-border payment infrastructure and support the Korean won in digital finance.

Although lawmakers have continued drafting stablecoin legislation under the proposed Digital Asset Basic Act, Shin’s speech focused on wholesale CBDCs and tokenized bank deposits rather than privately issued stablecoins.

His earlier work at the Bank for International Settlements argued that multiple privately issued stablecoins could fragment payment systems, though later reports indicated he had become more open to stablecoins operating alongside CBDCs under an appropriate framework.

South Korea has advanced stablecoin legislation separately

While the central bank continues testing tokenized reserves and deposit tokens, lawmakers and financial regulators have been developing a separate legal framework for stablecoins.

The Financial Services Commission recently told the National Assembly that it intends to consolidate ten pending digital asset proposals into a single Digital Asset Basic Act covering stablecoin issuance, exchanges, disclosures, governance and operational resilience. The regulator has not published a final draft or announced a submission date.

Separately, a policy report published by Hashed Open Research and the Solana Policy Institute recommended introducing interim licensing guidance for won-backed stablecoins before the full legislation is completed. Participants at the June symposium cited in the report argued that temporary rules could help regulated businesses prepare for stablecoin issuance and payment services while lawmakers continue negotiating the final framework.

The Bank of Korea has maintained that banks should play a leading role in any future stablecoin model because of monetary policy, foreign exchange and financial stability considerations. Ownership rules for stablecoin issuers, however, remain under discussion, with lawmakers and regulators continuing consultations before the proposed legislation moves forward.

Bitget Wallet will launch Assetback on Aug. 1, allowing eligible card users to convert purchase rewards automatically into Bitcoin, tokenized gold, U.S. equity tokens, an exchange-traded fund token or USDC.

The company said users can select one of seven assets: BTC, Tether Gold, tokenized Nvidia, Tesla and Alphabet shares, an S&P 500 product, or USDC. Rewards will be generated from qualifying purchases made with the Bitget Wallet Card.