AI Came for Bitcoin First | Jameson Lopp

— AI is dramatically accelerating both vulnerability discovery and exploitation in Bitcoin security, creating a sustained race where attackers tend to adopt tools earlier than defenders.

— The Liquid hack revealed how rushed fixes to disclosed vulnerabilities can create worse problems; attackers exploited a patch that was meant to address an earlier issue.

— Coldcard's RNG vulnerability went undetected for years despite open-source review, highlighting how obscure security flaws can hide in plain sight even with many eyes on the code.

— Bitcoin serves as a "canary in the coal mine" for other industries; once attackers exhaust Bitcoin targets, they will move to financial systems, identity databases, and critical infrastructure.

— Multi-signature custody with distributed trust across different hardware devices and providers offers substantially better protection than single-device solutions for life-changing amounts of Bitcoin.

— KYC leaks and physical address exposure create wrench-attack and social-engineering vectors that no software architecture alone can mitigate; operational security and lifestyle changes are necessary.

— If you hold a few thousand dollars or more in Bitcoin, invest in an air-gapped hardware wallet ($100–$200) immediately to remove keys from the internet and eliminate 99% of remote attack vectors; even cold card remains viable now after intense recent scrutiny.

— For life-changing sums of Bitcoin, move beyond single-device custody to a distributed multi-sig model (e.g., Casa's 2-of-3 or 3-of-5) that assumes any single hardware provider or software platform will eventually be compromised, reducing catastrophic loss risk.

— Never answer phone calls from unknown numbers and never trust incoming emails, texts, or messages unless they arrive through strongly authenticated end-to-end encrypted channels like Signal; social engineers now use sophisticated auto-dialers and persona swapping to trick users into compromising email accounts, which serves as the master key to all other financial accounts.