The cryptocurrency industry is going through a period in which the very concept of "safe storage" is turning into an illusion. A telling case is the loss of funds in three wallets at once in a single night by an investor with ten years of experience who decided to take extra precautions but ultimately lost a significant portion of his capital.

The chronology of events reveals a systemic vulnerability: having learned of the security incident with Ledger, the investor decided to move his assets to a Trezor hardware wallet — a device that stores keys without an internet connection and is considered one of the most reliable solutions. However, token swaps did not work, the device repeatedly demanded firmware updates, and the investor could not recall where the backup was located.

As a result, the funds were transferred to an old "hot" wallet that he had been using for almost two years. That is precisely where the assets were stolen from. Overnight, three wallets were emptied — one on the Solana network and two on Ethereum-compatible networks. The amount of losses is not disclosed but is characterized as significant.

Incidents follow one after another

This case is not an isolated episode. In recent weeks, the industry has faced a whole series of incidents:

  • leaks in Ledger wallets;
  • the Keystone leak incident, confirmed by the manufacturer;
  • the hacking of the Bloom trading bot, which reportedly affected numerous wallets.

Notably, Keystone, like Ledger and Trezor, manufactures hardware wallets. The industry has also been actively discussing vulnerabilities related to PHP — the programming language on which many websites run.

The key question now facing market participants is: how to defend yourself if any tool can fail? According to the investor's assessment, everything carries its own risks — hardware and hot wallets, browser extensions, trading bots, and third-party services.

Cryptalist analysis: The case demonstrates a fundamental problem of the crypto market — the security of assets depends not only on technology but also on user behavior under pressure. Even switching to hardware storage does not guarantee protection if operational procedures and backup are not systematically established. Against the backdrop of a series of incidents involving leading wallet manufacturers, Cryptalist expects growing demand for institutional custody solutions and multi-layered security protocols, which could shift investor trust from self-custody to regulated services.