Bitcoin Faces Double Whammy From $89M Security Breach and Strategy Sale — Barrons.com

By Mackenzie TatananniIt isn't getting any easier for Bitcoin.The world's largest cryptocurrency by market value has fallen over 20% in 2026, dragged lower by softening institutional demand, geopolitical tensions, and a steep selloff in late May. Prices remain far below the peak of over $120,000 reached late last year, having slipped below the $60,000 mark as recently as last month.Now, crypto investors have yet another reason to be concerned: A major security breach over the weekend revealed that the technology designed to safeguard Bitcoin has chinks in its armor.Hackers drained over 1,000 Bitcoins from 1,196 digital wallets on July 30, according to Galaxy Research. The exploit occurred in under an hour. Galaxy identified two subsequent waves of suspicious activity, which brought the total estimated losses to roughly $89 million.The issue centers on Coldcard, a hardware wallet that stores Bitcoin offline. The handheld device serves as an alternative to keeping funds on a crypto exchange and is meant to protect assets from hackers online. Security researchers at Block traced the exploit to a coding error in Coldcard's random-number-generation software.The security scare is only the latest blow for investors grappling with Bitcoin's ongoing slide. The price of the cryptocurrency has risen 0.7% over the past 24 hours to $63,812, according to CoinDesk data.Yet that temporary bump isn't enough to pull Bitcoin out of its broader downtrend. The crypto has already slipped below the average price paid last week by Strategy, the world's largest corporate holder of Bitcoin.The company formerly known as MicroStrategy disclosed Monday that it sold 1,638 Bitcoin between July 27 and Aug. 2 at roughly $63,957 each, or $104.73 million in total.Strategy said half the proceeds were used to fund dividends on its preferred stock, while the other half went toward repurchasing STRC — the high-yield, perpetual preferred stock commonly known as "Stretch" — under the company's buyback program.The sale extends Strategy's monthlong break from buying Bitcoin. The company has sporadically sold crypto since late June, when it laid out a new financial framework detailing its plans to repurchase and sell its own shares.Last week, Strategy sold $290.6 million worth of common stock and simultaneously bought back $81.2 million of STRC preferred. Shares of the software company-turned-crypto whale were up 1.7% on Monday.Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at [email protected] content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.