Today in crypto, Trump Media & Technology Group extended a series of recent Bitcoin sales by moving 2,628 BTC to Crypto.com, while Galaxy Research reported that losses from the Coldcard wallet incident reached 1,367 BTC ($88.6 million), and former FTX users began receiving funds as the FTX Recovery Trust launched a new $900 million creditor payout, bringing total estimated repayments to around $11 billion.
Trump Media sells another 2,628 BTC, holdings fall to 4,261 BTC
Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind Truth Social, sold another 2,628 Bitcoin worth about $165 million through transfers to Crypto.com.
Blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain said Trump Media bought 11,542 BTC at an average price of $118,522 before beginning to sell portions of its holdings seven months ago.
Source: Arkham
The latest transfers bring Trump Media’s total reported Bitcoin sales over the past seven months to 7,281 BTC, worth about $545 million, according to Lookonchain’s analysis, which calculated an average selling price of $74,855 per BTC. According to Arkham, the company’s remaining Bitcoin holdings stood at 4,261 BTC at publishing time, worth $269.8 million.
The transactions came amid Trump Media launching its new paid data service “Truth API,” providing faster access to Truth Social posts from President Trump. The service reportedly costs as much as $100,000 per month, giving companies a “direct, licensed, real-time feed of the platform’s most market-moving Truths.”
Coldcard Bitcoin loss estimate rises to $88.6 million after Galaxy analysis
Galaxy Research, the research arm of crypto investment company Galaxy Digital, identified 4,585 addresses linked to the Coldcard wallet incident that lost 1,367 BTC ($88.6 million).
The Coldcard incident reportedly involved a seed generation bug that affected certain wallets by reducing the randomness used to create recovery phrases. This weakened the security of certain wallets, making their private keys potentially discoverable and allowing attackers to move funds.
According to data shared by CryptoQuant head of research Julio Moreno, Bitcoin transfers below 1 BTC climbed to their highest daily level since November 2022 on Friday, with 39,600 BTC moved.
The figure was just 300 BTC below the 39,900 BTC transferred on Nov. 16, 2022, days after FTX filed for bankruptcy. “The Bitcoin plebs had not moved this amount of BTC in a day since the FTX collapse,” Moreno said, adding that he was encouraged to see users “taking action.”
Ex-FTX users receive funds in $900 million creditor payout
Former FTX users reported receiving reimbursements on Friday as the FTX Recovery Trust began a new $900 million distribution to creditors.
Users, including former FTX customer Sunil Kavuri, said funds had started arriving through distribution partners such as Kraken after notifications were sent last week. The latest payout is the fifth distribution since FTX entered bankruptcy in 2022 and is part of a broader recovery process involving platforms including BitGo and Payoneer.
With this round, the FTX Recovery Trust is estimated to have returned roughly $11 billion to customers who lost access to their assets following the exchange’s collapse. FTX’s bankruptcy stemmed from the misuse of customer funds, leading to criminal convictions for former executives. Ex-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame remain imprisoned, while former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison completed her prison sentence earlier this year.
Separately, a US bankruptcy judge recently allowed the FTX estate to continue pursuing a $1.76 billion clawback claim against Binance and former CEO Changpeng Zhao, despite rejecting broader damages claims.
