A $120 million hack of Coldcard hardware wallets that started July 30 has flooded Bitcoin's transaction queue with activity. The mempool hit 89,031 pending transactions on Tuesday, the highest count since February 2025. Users scrambled to move funds to exchanges and alternative wallets, creating the surge.
The breach cut both ways. It exposed real risks for those holding coins directly in hardware wallets, a strategy that gained traction after FTX collapsed in 2022 and left millions questioning exchange safety. Yet the panic also sparked genuine network usage. Active addresses climbed to 712,000 over three months, and whale transactions reached 61,800 in five months, per Santiment data.
Bitcoin itself stayed flat. The token hasn't budged much from its $62,000 $65,000 range despite the mempool noise. Traders are watching two bigger forces instead. The Clarity Act sits in Congress with just a three-day window before the August 10 recess, and betting odds on passage by year-end have tanked to 23% from 75% in May. Longer-term, moves in U.S. Treasury yields will likely matter more than any single hack. Bitfinex flagged that if real yields on the 10-year Treasury spike, the bull case for bitcoin could unwind fast.
This article is informational only and should not be construed as financial advice.
