OneKey Founder: IBIT Could Become Target of North Korean Cyberattacks, Coinbase's Single-Custody Model Raises Security Concerns

on October 30, OneKey founder Yishi issued a warning stating that as the scale of Bitcoin ETF holdings increases, the security risks faced by custody institutions are also rising, and he believes BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) could become a potential target for North Korean hacker groups. He noted that TRM Labs is highly confident the recent Binance security incident is connected to the North Korean hacking collective TraderTraitor, which has also been previously implicated in the hacks at Bybit and DMM Bitcoin.

Currently, IBIT holds approximately 815,000 BTC, valued at around $63 billion, with Coinbase remaining its primary custodian. Although Anchorage Digital has been appointed as an additional custodian, the latest quarterly filings indicate there are no current plans to transfer Bitcoin to the firm. Yishi pointed out that a $6 billion theft would represent roughly 9.5% of IBIT's total assets; furthermore, recovering the funds would be significantly more difficult due to Bitcoin's lack of a freezing mechanism like those used by stablecoin issuers. Additionally, Coinbase has disclosed $320 million in commercial crime insurance coverage, which is shared among its clients.