Victims Pay to Leave Messages on Coldcard Hacker’s Bitcoin Wallet

TL;DR

• The Coldcard hacker’s wallet, holding around $36 million in stolen bitcoin, has been receiving permanent messages via OP_RETURN since July 30.
• The notes range from victim pleas asking for funds to be returned, to money laundering offers and requests unrelated to the theft.
• The Coldcard exploit has accumulated confirmed losses exceeding $100 million, making it one of the largest breaches in the history of self-custody.

The wallet linked to the Coldcard hacker became an unwilling public mural on the Bitcoin blockchain. Since July 30, when the hardware wallet exploit began, the address “bc1qq85v2c926eg6pgxhwp6q7lf6cnsz80qs3fcu9r”, identified by Galaxy Research investigators as one of those controlled by the attacker, received multiple deposits accompanied by written messages. Each arrives with a real, though minimal, payment and is permanently recorded in Bitcoin’s public ledger.

The mechanism behind this dynamic is OP_RETURN, a native protocol function that allows a string of text to be attached to any transaction. The text is permanently inscribed on the blockchain alongside the monetary transfer. Originally designed for developers to timestamp documents or embed small proofs, the function also allows personal use, such as leaving notes directed at a specific address.

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