The COLDCARD Hack Was Bitcoin’s 9/11

The COLDCARD exploit was an emperor-has-no-clothes moment for Bitcoin. In this episode of the Hell Money Podcast, Casey Rodarmor and Erin Redwing break down what happened, how AI may have changed the balance between attackers and defenders, and what the fallout exposed about Bitcoin security and culture.
“Don’t trust, verify” is one of Bitcoin’s core principles — but over time, heuristics like Bitcoin-only, open source, self-custody, and trusted developers became ways of deciding what to trust instead of actually verifying. So what happens when those heuristics fail?

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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 COLDCARD bug exploit explained
4:00 Did the attacker use AI?
8:10 Bitcoin Red Team
14:53 AI, eclipse season, and what breaks next
16:48 A 9/11 moment for open source and self-custody
23:39 AI defense for open source software
29:19 The crisis for Bitcoin self-custody
30:54 What does it actually mean to be a sovereign individual?
34:26 Self custody is worth fighting for
39:50 The cultural coddling of COLDCARD
45:43 “Strong opinions, weakly held” found dead
48:15 Coinkite’s development practices and the warning signs
56:59 Outro