Key Highlights
- Bitcoin exchanged hands just under $65,000, gaining 0.61% to reach $64,986
- BTCPay Server security flaw enabled hackers to compromise Lightning node credentials and extract funds
- BIP-110 hard fork proposal threatens to trigger minority blockchain and expose users to replay attacks
- American spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted approximately $1 billion in inflows this week, marking their strongest performance since April
- Blockchain analytics revealed 2.27 million fresh wallet addresses emerged — a 12-month peak
Bitcoin maintained positive momentum on Saturday, climbing 0.61% to $64,986 and trading within striking distance of the $65,000 threshold, even as two distinct security challenges captured the attention of market participants and the development community.
Malicious actors capitalized on a critical security weakness in BTCPay Server during late Friday hours, compromising authentication credentials that governed Lightning nodes operating LND infrastructure. The exploit enabled unauthorized parties to obtain “macaroon” authentication files — powerful tokens capable of controlling Lightning wallets, terminating payment channels, and transferring assets.
BTCPay’s development team acknowledged the theft of user funds and issued an urgent advisory for node operators to immediately upgrade to version 2.4.2 or temporarily shut down their servers. The organization has not yet revealed the number of impacted users or quantified the total Bitcoin losses.
⚠️ALERT: An actively exploited BTCPay Server flaw is draining merchant Lightning nodes.
Attackers can remotely grab credential files from BTCPay deployments running LND and empty the node, with hardware wallet maker Foundation among the confirmed victims, per CoinDesk.
BTCPay… pic.twitter.com/558xdhTbjm
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) August 8, 2026
Foundation, a prominent hardware wallet manufacturer, verified that its BTCPay Lightning node suffered complete drainage, although its primary on-chain hot wallet remained secure. Bitcoin-focused media outlet Citadel21 similarly disclosed losses from a compromised Lightning node.
Traditional on-chain wallets integrated within BTCPay remained unaffected by the breach. Nevertheless, Bitcoin held in LND node on-chain wallets may continue to face exposure.
Potential BIP-110 Chain Split
Another developing situation centers on the BIP-110 hard fork proposal, which may trigger around block height 961,632 during this weekend. The modification aims to restrict non-payment information embedded within Bitcoin transactions.
BIP-110 Minority Fork Falls 18 Blocks Behind Bitcoin Main Chain
A minority fork backed by BIP-110 supporters emerged after Bitcoin block height 961,632. The BIP-110-supporting pool Roughnecks had produced only blocks 961,632 and 961,633, while the Bitcoin chain had advanced to… pic.twitter.com/higWmYqZRn
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) August 9, 2026
Mining pool support registered approximately 2.6% on Friday, falling significantly short of the necessary 55% consensus threshold. Despite insufficient backing, nodes operating BIP-110 client software will automatically reject blocks from non-participating miners after reaching the designated activation height, potentially spawning a minority blockchain.
Should a blockchain division materialize, cryptocurrency holders would possess identical balances across both networks. Software engineer Kevin Loaec cautioned that attempting to liquidate forked tokens without properly isolating balances could leave genuine BTC vulnerable to replay exploits.
Record-Breaking ETF Performance
Eric Balchunas, Bloomberg’s ETF research analyst, documented that American spot Bitcoin ETFs secured approximately $1 billion in net capital inflows throughout the week — representing their most impressive showing since April and ranking as their third-strongest weekly performance since October 2025.
Balchunas additionally speculated that the Coldcard hardware wallet security incident, which resulted in approximately $116 million in Bitcoin theft stemming from a firmware vulnerability affecting key generation algorithms, might have influenced certain investors toward regulated ETF products. He observed, “long-term I can’t imagine there aren’t some who migrate over,” while emphasizing that this correlation remains speculative.
Santiment, a blockchain intelligence platform, documented that Bitcoin’s network expansion generated 2.27 million new address creations during the past week — representing the most significant surge in annual terms. Santiment connected this dramatic increase partially to the Coldcard security crisis, explaining that major security incidents prompt users to relocate assets, reconfigure custody arrangements, and establish new wallets, thereby substantially elevating network activity. The analytics firm further observed that Bitcoin whales have traditionally leveraged periods of heightened retail engagement to intensify their accumulation strategies.
🔐 Bitcoin has just posted a huge on-chain week. Network growth reached 2.27M new wallets, the highest level of the past year, while 751K active wallets marked the strongest reading in 10 months.
📈 The biggest catalyst is the Coldcard wallet chaos. Security shocks pressure… pic.twitter.com/fBEGeSPbNO
— Santiment Intelligence (@SantimentData) August 7, 2026
Bitcoin most recently changed hands at $64,933, registering a modest $74 decline for the session.
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