Coinkite released new firmware for its Coldcard hardware wallets on Thursday, three weeks after disclosing the seed-generation failure that let attackers drain more than $114 million in bitcoin. The Canadian company said the review behind the release was AI-assisted, naming Kimi and other frontier models among the tools used to examine the whole system rather than only the faulty randomness path.
That review turned up problems unrelated to the original bug, in the way transactions are approved, how data is handled over USB and how firmware updates are validated. Every newly generated seed now requires user-sourced entropy: at least 65 key presses with unpredictable timing, 50 rolls of a physical six-sided die or 128 coin flips. Coinkite also replaced its backup random number generator, swapping the Yasmarang algorithm for one built on SHA-256. Mk4 and Mk5 owners should install 5.6.1, and Q owners 1.5.1Q.
Installing the update does not make an existing compromised wallet safe. Anyone whose seed was created on affected firmware between 2021 and July 2026 still has to generate a new one on fixed firmware and move the funds across. The July 31 hotfix already corrected seed generation for new seeds; this release gives affected customers a more thoroughly reviewed foundation to migrate onto.
The device now re-verifies a staged transaction immediately before signing, so a computer compromised at the USB port cannot alter a payment after the owner has approved it on screen. Signature modes that leave later outputs editable are blocked by default. Coinkite launched a public security status page listing the current fixed-release matrix and migration guidance, and said law enforcement is still investigating the thefts and working to identify those responsible.
Following the Coldcard exploit, volunteer Bitcoin Red Team, sixteen developers working across time zones, said they have leveraged AI tools to file at least 4,900 findings against 390 projects, including at leasy 85 critical and 635 high-severity issues.
Related Listen: Inside the Coldcard Hack That Drained Over $100 Million in Bitcoin: Uneasy Money
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