A reported $120 million Coldcard hardware wallet hack that began on July 30 has coincided with a sharp rise in Bitcoin network activity. CoinDesk cited Blockchain.com and Santiment data showing a jump in pending transactions, active addresses and whale transactions, while BTC remained in a tight trading range.
A reported $120 million Coldcard hardware wallet hack that began on July 30 has coincided with a sharp rise in Bitcoin network activity. CoinDesk cited Blockchain.com and Santiment data showing a jump in pending transactions, active addresses and whale transactions, while BTC remained in a tight trading range.
Higher network activity is often viewed as supportive for Bitcoin’s valuation, but the price reaction was muted in the period covered by the report. CoinDesk said bitcoin remained within its recent $62,000 to $65,000 range rather than making a major move in either direction.
A reported $120 million hack involving the Coldcard hardware wallet has pushed fresh attention onto Bitcoin’s on-chain activity. According to CoinDesk, the incident began on July 30 and was still in progress when the report was published, raising renewed questions about self-custody and hardware wallet security.
The development matters because it appears to have prompted holders to move coins between exchanges and multiple wallets. That activity showed up in Bitcoin’s memory pool, or mempool, where transactions wait before miners confirm them on-chain.
CoinDesk cited Blockchain.com data showing the number of pending Bitcoin transactions climbed to 89,031 on Tuesday, the highest level since February 2025. Santiment data pointed in the same direction, with active addresses reaching a three-month high of 712,000 and transactions by large holders, often called whales, rising to a five-month high of 61,800.
Higher network activity is often viewed as supportive for Bitcoin’s valuation, but the price reaction was muted in the period covered by the report. CoinDesk said bitcoin remained within its recent $62,000 to $65,000 range rather than making a major move in either direction.
Analysts cited by CoinDesk were still watching broader catalysts, including the fate of the Clarity Act and U.S. real yields. Marex analysts described the legislation as the near-term policy variable, while Bitfinex noted that the bullish macro case for bitcoin could weaken if the real yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note moved above 2.5%.
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