Nostr notes by Contra

Nostr event nevent1qqsrmau96e4mg7l3wnlz64em2r3tmmq36ljw42w5dn8na286zpk8lwgzyzkuznar44vss4ka3wqgzhfk0a7puee445q0mx9gd5qzl05lk567zj6gspz

2026-09-18T19:03:26Z

For younger parents…. The child who follows you from room to ...

2026-09-18T18:47:21Z

For younger parents….

The child who follows you from room to room isn't being difficult they're reminding you that you are their favorite place to be.

Wow.

2026-09-18T18:45:11Z

In reply to nevent1q…l0ph
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Wow.

Haha. It all adds up

2026-09-18T18:44:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…8t55
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Haha. It all adds up

Perfect.

2026-09-18T18:44:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…ru7a
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Perfect.

What… that’s insane

2026-09-18T18:38:09Z

In reply to nevent1q…tfwa
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What… that’s insane

I believe you. I’m for the most part caught up to speed

2026-09-18T18:37:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…fjrp
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I believe you. I’m for the most part caught up to speed

Just straight to $10.10 instead of $10.00 or $10.01?

2026-09-18T18:37:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…j4vg
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Just straight to $10.10 instead of $10.00 or $10.01?

San Diego, Ca

2026-09-18T18:36:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…lw80
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San Diego, Ca

San Diego

2026-09-18T18:36:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…8t8q
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San Diego

Hell ya

2026-09-18T18:36:13Z

In reply to nevent1q…9gtd
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Hell ya

*have the space

2026-09-18T18:28:18Z

In reply to nevent1q…8mf0
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*have the space

These prices are unprecedented… But also, what’s gonna happen ...

2026-09-18T18:25:54Z

These prices are unprecedented…

But also, what’s gonna happen now that they no longer the space to get higher than $9.99 in the board

Bro learn the history of money. -who created it -who controls it ...

2026-09-18T15:03:55Z

Bro learn the history of money.

-who created it
-who controls it
-who benefits from the confusion around it
-why the confusion isn't an accident

Also, Gm Nostr

You should be civil to strangers but it should not be easy to ...

2026-09-18T02:50:43Z

You should be civil to strangers but it should not be easy to become your friend.

Only lower the drawbridge for the worthy.

A man who welcomes everybody into his kingdom will soon enough have no kingdom to speak of.

What is true of countries is likewise of men

I think this is being misinterpreted

2026-09-18T02:50:00Z

In reply to nevent1q…tl62
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I think this is being misinterpreted

Obvious satire. The bottom quote is them saying this gain at the ...

2026-09-18T02:49:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…x7kw
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Obvious satire. The bottom quote is them saying this gain at the “systems” leaders.

Let’s pass this campaign ad around. Get em in. @npub1rtl…jtfs ...

2026-09-17T23:40:54Z

Let’s pass this campaign ad around. Get em in. HODL (npub1rtl…jtfs) erikcason (npub1hk0…20pf)

Well said. Amen.

2026-09-17T23:05:42Z

In reply to nevent1q…qfwr
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Well said. Amen.

Your KIDS are going to figure you out someday. The kind of parent ...

2026-09-17T23:04:06Z

Your KIDS are going to figure you out someday. The kind of parent you are. The kind of spouse you are. How you treat others. How much effort you put into them. You'll either be someone they look up to or someone they NEVER want to be like.

You get one chance. Prioritize accordingly.

Hopefully sooner than later.

2026-09-17T22:52:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…azru
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Hopefully sooner than later.

There's an old line among Christians that sharing the faith ...

2026-09-17T22:45:12Z

There's an old line among Christians that sharing the faith is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. I've been chewing on it all week, because it quietly takes apart the way a lot of us talk about God.
Think about what a beggar actually is. He has nothing to bring to the table. Whatever he eats, somebody else made it and somebody else handed it to him. So when he runs into another hungry man on the street, the only honest thing he can do is point down the block and tell him where the food is.

That's the Christian story if you take grace seriously. Paul asks a blunt question somewhere in Corinthians: what do you have that you didn't receive? And if it was given to you, what exactly are you bragging about? Most believers I know came to faith hungry, usually at a low point and well before they had anything figured out. God fed them first.

Where we go wrong is forgetting we're still beggars. Somewhere along the line we start acting like we run the kitchen, checking who deserves a plate, then act surprised nobody wants to come inside. Meanwhile we've got crumbs all over our own shirts.

And the beggar never stops needing bread. You don't eat once and graduate. I need grace today as much as the day I first walked in, and I'll need it again tomorrow. Remembering that keeps me honest when I'm talking to someone who hasn't found it yet.

I've spent a lot of time around people on the worst day of their lives. The distance between them and me is usually a couple of decisions and the grace of God, and I didn't earn either one. So if you're running on empty and can't even name why, you won't get a lecture from me. The bread is down the block. I'll probably be in line too. #ToChristAlone

Haha.

2026-09-17T22:43:31Z

In reply to nevent1q…eeqz
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Haha.

Fed hiked a quarter point yesterday. Warsh says it's good ...

2026-09-17T22:31:45Z

Fed hiked a quarter point yesterday. Warsh says it's good news for folks who don't own assets, which is a bold thing to tell a guy who's been watching his grocery receipt get longer since 2021.

Twelve people sat in a room, decided what your paycheck is worth for the next few months, and we all just kind of nodded. I keep my savings somewhere that doesn't hold meetings.

Perfect.

2026-09-17T22:11:50Z

In reply to nevent1q…wynm
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Perfect.

Nostr event nevent1qqsfj7r66htfaw2sg2j93qx2mc7q04qzjtt27qfp768870lyhvegaaqzyzkuznar44vss4ka3wqgzhfk0a7puee445q0mx9gd5qzl05lk567zlnepep

2026-09-17T21:41:59Z

Guilty

2026-09-17T21:28:26Z

In reply to nevent1q…6fm3
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Guilty

When you were going through your own hard times and still found a ...

2026-09-17T21:23:58Z

When you were going through your own hard times and still found a way to pour into other people, that is character that cannot be faked. Generosity from a place of lack is one of the rarest qualities a person can have. And that kind of giving never goes unrewarded.

I realized people only like you when you're easy to benefit ...

2026-09-17T18:22:12Z

I realized people only like you when you're easy to benefit from. When you say yes, stay quiet, and let things slide, they love you. But once you start saying no, setting boundaries, and standing on what's right for you, everthing changes.

Suddenly you got an attitude. Suddenly, you're the problem. Truth is, they never respected you, they just liked your silence. I'm not being difficult, I'm being real. If me protecting my peace offends you... that's your issue, not mine.

Nope. Sorry.

2026-09-17T18:18:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…gmx7
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Nope. Sorry.

Nostr event nevent1qqstmqnaw40m7jf3rvd5en3qvhqhy50y5jq4vdpanr84u9athw5w57gzyzkuznar44vss4ka3wqgzhfk0a7puee445q0mx9gd5qzl05lk567z347fuu

2026-09-17T17:10:01Z

Every era has a defining skill. Ours is knowing what to make ...

2026-09-17T15:28:40Z

Every era has a defining skill. Ours is knowing what to make visible and what to keep sovereign. Build in public. Learn in public. Contribute in public. But save in Bitcoin and protect your advantage in private.

The people who master both reputation and sovereignty won't just participate in the future. They'll own it.

🫂

2026-09-17T15:25:19Z

In reply to nevent1q…swtr
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🫂

At all costs. Gm Mr CEO

2026-09-17T15:16:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…trxt
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At all costs. Gm Mr CEO

Let’s crush it

2026-09-17T15:15:17Z

In reply to nevent1q…xs2n
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Let’s crush it

Gm bro 🫂

2026-09-17T14:45:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…0k8k
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Gm bro 🫂

Gm serg

2026-09-17T14:44:49Z

In reply to nevent1q…5y4y
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Gm serg

Some days posting here feels like nobody's listening. You ...

2026-09-17T14:23:07Z

Some days posting here feels like nobody's listening. You write something you actually care about and it gets two reactions and a 21 sat zap from the few people who zaps everything.

That's what early looks like, though. The people who kept stacking through 2022 weren't getting applause either, and most of their friends figured they'd lost it. The devs building clients here are shipping updates to a few thousand users and doing it anyway, because they think this matters. It does.

No algorithm is paying anybody here to keep posting. If you're still showing up, it's because you believe in it. I'd rather build with a few thousand people like that than perform for a million who'd leave the day the feed changes.

So keep posting, and zap accounts when they say something good. That's how most of us got found in the first place.

Gm Web 🫂🤙🏼

2026-09-17T13:54:44Z

In reply to nevent1q…rsx2
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Gm Web 🫂🤙🏼

So apparently RSVP'ing back to a wedding invite “maybe next ...

2026-09-17T03:22:11Z

So apparently RSVP'ing back to a wedding invite “maybe next time” isn't the correct response

THERE'S NO REASON TO TAILGATE ME WHEN IM DOING 50 IN A 35. ...

2026-09-17T03:06:01Z

THERE'S NO REASON TO TAILGATE ME WHEN IM DOING 50 IN A 35.

AND THOSE FLASHING LIGHTS ON TOP OF YOUR CAR LOOK RIDICULOUS.

😂

2026-09-17T03:01:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…7clr
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😂

Haha.

2026-09-17T03:00:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…jv7m
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Haha.

lol…with Noshole, all things are possible

2026-09-17T01:07:55Z

In reply to nevent1q…6gln
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lol…with Noshole, all things are possible

Nobody lifts because the weight looks attractive

2026-09-17T01:07:14Z

In reply to nevent1q…3jtx
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Nobody lifts because the weight looks attractive

Ever

2026-09-17T01:00:21Z

In reply to nevent1q…3mwk
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Ever

🤣 this is true. But more as a figure of speech.

2026-09-17T00:59:42Z

In reply to nevent1q…jfc9
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🤣 this is true. But more as a figure of speech.

🤣

2026-09-17T00:59:11Z

In reply to nevent1q…tz0z
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🤣

Stand behind your brothers. Too many men today compete with the ...

2026-09-16T20:19:50Z

Stand behind your brothers.

Too many men today compete with the people they should be protecting.
They criticize, compare, stay silent, and secretly feel uncomfortable when their friends start winning.

A strong man is proud of his brother's success. An insecure man treats that success like competition.

It’s here.

2026-09-16T19:18:37Z

In reply to nevent1q…prw8
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It’s here.

Good point. There’s an epidemic of that as well

2026-09-16T18:47:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…f6hz
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Good point. There’s an epidemic of that as well

Par for the course. I wouldn’t expect anything else

2026-09-16T18:30:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…fvme
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Par for the course. I wouldn’t expect anything else

It does bother me though.

2026-09-16T17:38:17Z

In reply to nevent1q…9wef
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It does bother me though.

Fake is the new real because authenticity threatens systems built ...

2026-09-16T17:28:50Z

Fake is the new real because authenticity threatens systems built on masks. We live in a world that rewards performance over truth, image over integrity, and approval over alignment. So people learn to blend in, play roles, and become what's expected instead of who they actually are. And I don't fit in, not because I'm trying to be different, but because my soul won't pretend. When you're real, you disrupt fake environments.

When you're authentic, you expose what's hollow. That makes people defensive, because it's easier to attack the one who won't wear the mask than to take off their own

🤣 I always keep some in the hopper

2026-09-16T17:15:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…9wef
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🤣 I always keep some in the hopper

I have had quite a few of these on Nostr. I love it. People think ...

2026-09-16T14:44:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…wppg
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I have had quite a few of these on Nostr. I love it. People think they know what they don’t know

No it doesn’t. But I love how people think they know the bible ...

2026-09-16T04:37:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…mpep
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No it doesn’t. But I love how people think they know the bible they haven’t read. Not pointing you specifically but in general.

So you agree all people are hypocrites? I’m not sure you’re ...

2026-09-16T04:36:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…x5hs
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So you agree all people are hypocrites? I’m not sure you’re ready for this debate. I ACTUALLY read my bible

For real

2026-09-15T23:55:31Z

In reply to nevent1q…yaty
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For real

Agreed. For sure we’re living in the K shaped economy and I ...

2026-09-15T23:36:17Z

In reply to nevent1q…0t9u
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Agreed. For sure we’re living in the K shaped economy and I think that has impacted us negatively in how we communicate.

I also understand that a lot of people ask because it’s an easy ice breaker question.

We need to stop grading these people on a curve. Coldcard Trezor ...

2026-09-15T01:32:33Z

We need to stop grading these people on a curve.

Coldcard
Trezor
Core Lightning
Boltz
BTCPay Server
Pocket Bitcoin
Liquid
Alby
BitBox
Revolut
Swiss Bitcoin Pay

Nostr event nevent1qqsplttlq7fha74nm4t68wr887esammnd2swdqz0evtfdvuyy2u3hsqzyzkuznar44vss4ka3wqgzhfk0a7puee445q0mx9gd5qzl05lk567zxghdlm

2026-09-10T16:19:18Z

In reply to nevent1q…vfmn
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I’ve noticed

2026-09-10T02:58:16Z

In reply to nevent1q…3w5g
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I’ve noticed

I found a bug in your wallet. Invoice attached. It's 15%, and ...

2026-09-08T00:20:34Z

I found a bug in your wallet. Invoice attached. It's 15%, and I went ahead and paid myself.

Here’s some timeline fillers for what @npub1vjk…d33q didn’t ...

2026-08-04T23:01:58Z

Here’s some timeline fillers for what Laser (npub1vjk…d33q) didn’t have. Still working on more

2010
Peter D. Gray and Rodolfo Novak (NVK) begin working together at Ripe Apps, an iPhone/iPad app development studio in Toronto. Predates their Bitcoin involvement by a year.

2011
Gray discovers the Bitcoin whitepaper and shares it with Novak, his existing business partner.

2012
The pair builds btclook.com, a visual blockchain explorer, as a Ripe Apps side project. Later that year they build PCI-certified Bitcoin payment terminals and begin international deployment, ahead of incorporating.

2012–2013
Peter D. Gray and Rodolfo Novak (NVK) co-found Coinkite in Toronto. Gray becomes CTO, Novak becomes CEO. Debuts a working terminal at the Bitcoin Conference. Raises a $120K seed round, the company’s only funding round to date. Remains a team of around five.

November 7, 2013
Peter D. Gray creates his GPG key (uid “Peter D. Gray peter@coinkite.com”). This key later signs dozens of commits under the switck identity, including the critical libngu changes.

Early 2016
Coinkite shuts down its web wallet/exchange service, citing legal complications and DDoS attacks, and pivots fully to hardware — the turn that leads to Opendime and eventually Coldcard.

December 2017
Coinkite announces the Coldcard hardware wallet. Pre-orders open for 2018 shipping.

July 25, 2018
First Coldcard Mk1 units ship.

August 2019
Peter creates the anonymous identity “switch,” named after the Matrix character Switch, using a still of that character as the profile picture. First posts note DEF CON is a good time to start a new identity. Later commits under this name are often single-word or extremely terse.

2019–2020 onward
Bitcoin educators and influencers, including BTC Sessions, begin promoting Coldcard as one of the most secure Bitcoin hardware wallets.

July 2020
Foundation Devices announces the Passport, built in part on Coldcard’s then-GPLv3 firmware.

Early 2020s
Ten31 becomes Coinkite’s sole external investor, confirmed on record by NVK in podcast disclosures.

January 8, 2021
Coldcard firmware 3.2.1 announces the license change from GPL to MIT + Commons Clause.

January 5, 2021
Domain switck.com is registered via a privacy service. The switck account posts the single word “got” the same day.

January 28, 2021
Under switck, the vulnerable preprocessor guard (#ifndef MICROPY_HW_ENABLE_RNG) is committed to libngu. This fails to force the hardware TRNG when the macro is set to zero. The library is co-maintained with scgbckbone.

March 1, 2021
Under doc-hex, the commit “First pass w/ libNgU” (b18723dd) replaces remaining Trezor-derived GPL crypto and BIP-39 code with libngu. Seed generation switches from hardware path to ngu.random.bytes(). This is the point real hardware entropy is replaced by the weak software PRNG. Coinkite release notes later thank @switck for the library.

March 17, 2021
Firmware v4.0.0 released, stating all crypto and BIP39 code had been replaced and the last remaining GPL code removed.

March 29, 2021
Firmware 4.0.1 ships. Seeds generated under this and later affected versions fall back to the software PRNG, yielding roughly 40 bits of effective entropy on Mk2/Mk3 (roughly 72 bits on later models with limited secure-element mixing).

Around April 2021
Public users begin questioning the libngu rewrite and the replacement of the prior crypto stack.

2022
As DocHex, Gray publicly states that as CTO he encourages Coinkite developers to operate under nyms and stay low-profile about their employer, and notes he may appear to author his own GitHub commits under a different identity. In a podcast appearance the same year, Novak refers to Gray directly as “Doc Hex, my co-founder.”

May 2025
James O’Beirne audits the firmware, identifies the low-star, pseudonymously maintained libngu library as the RNG source. In his own words, posted on X: he wanted to figure out conclusively where the Coldcard RNG was sourced from, and traced it to a shady library. He contacts Coinkite. Reported response: if something were wrong, they’d likely already know about it by now. The warning is not acted on.

July 30, 2026
Attackers begin draining wallets. Initial wave: roughly 594 BTC (~$38M) from about 500 addresses in ~25 minutes. Coinkite publishes a security advisory the same day acknowledging the 2021 entropy failure.

July 31, 2026
Coinkite releases fixed firmware (4.2.0 Mk3, 5.6.0 Mk4/Mk5, 1.5.0Q). Existing weak seeds remain compromised and must be migrated. Independent verification beyond Coinkite’s own account: Bitcoin Core developer instagibbs reproduces the vulnerability on a fresh Mk3 device. Kevin Loaec of Wizardsardine is among the first to publicly sound the alarm. Peter Todd flags a specific multisig risk for 2-of-3 setups using compromised Coldcards. Multiple reports note NVK deleting older tweets related to the 2020–2021 license change and open-source decisions.

quoting
nevent1q…m9vt
Timeline of #Coldcard Heist.

November 2012 onward
Peter D. Gray creates a public Clarity.fm profile under his real name, based in Toronto.

2012–2013
Peter D. Gray and Rodolfo Novak (NVK) co-found Coinkite in Toronto. Gray becomes CTO; Novak becomes CEO. The company starts as a Bitcoin services platform and later shifts to hardware. It remains a small team of roughly five.

November 7, 2013
Peter D. Gray creates his GPG key (uid “Peter D. Gray ”). This key later signs dozens of commits under the switck identity, including the critical libngu changes.

December 2017
Coinkite announces the Coldcard hardware wallet. Pre-orders open for 2018 shipping.

July 25, 2018
First Coldcard Mk1 units ship.

August 2019
Peter creates the anonymous identity “switck,” named after the Matrix character Switch, and uses a still of that character as the profile picture. The name plays on “making the switch.” First post notes DEF CON is a good time to start a new identity. Later commits under this name are often single-word or extremely terse.

2019–2020 onward
Bitcoin educators and influencers, including BTC Sessions, begin promoting Coldcard as one of the most secure Bitcoin hardware wallets.

July 2020
Foundation Devices announces the Passport, built in part on Coldcard’s then-GPLv3 firmware.

Early 2020s
Ten31 (Managing Partners include Matt Odell and Marty Bent) becomes Coinkite’s sole external investor.

January 8, 2021
Coldcard firmware 3.2.1 announces the license change from GPL to MIT + Commons Clause.

January 5, 2021
Domain switck.com is registered via easyDNS using a Toronto-area privacy service (MyPrivacy.net, Etobicoke). The same day the switck account posts the single word “got.”

January 28, 2021
Under switck, the vulnerable preprocessor guard (#ifndef MICROPY_HW_ENABLE_RNG) is committed to libngu (f19de05). This fails to force the hardware TRNG when the macro is set to zero. The library is co-maintained with scgbckbone (later linked to Andrej Virgovic).

March 1, 2021
Under doc-hex, the commit “First pass w/ libNgU” (b18723dd) replaces remaining Trezor-derived GPL crypto and BIP-39 code with libngu (submodule from switck/libngu). Seed generation switches from the hardware path (ckcc.rng_bytes) to ngu.random.bytes(). This is the point real hardware entropy is replaced by the weak software PRNG. Coinkite release notes later thank @switck for the library.

March 17, 2021
Firmware v4.0.0 is released containing the new path.

March 29, 2021
Firmware 4.0.1 ships. Seeds generated under this and later affected versions fall back to the software PRNG, yielding roughly 40 bits of effective entropy on Mk2/Mk3 (roughly 72 bits on later models that mixed limited secure-element data).

Around April 2021
Public users begin questioning the LibNgU rewrite and the replacement of the prior crypto stack.

February 2022
Peter (as DocHex) publicly states that as CTO he encourages Coinkite developers to operate under nyms, stay low-profile about their employer, and notes he may appear to author their GitHub commits.

2022
Early reports of individual Coldcard wallets being drained appear. At least one user claims that reporting the issue to Coinkite resulted in being blocked.

May 2025
James O’Beirne audits the firmware, identifies the low-star, pseudonymously maintained libngu library as the RNG source, and reports doubts that the true hardware RNG is in use. He advises removing it. Coinkite replies that if something were wrong “we’d already know about it by now.” The warning is not acted on.

July 30, 2026
Attackers begin draining affected wallets. An initial wave takes roughly 594 BTC (\~$38 million) from about 500 addresses in \~25 minutes. Later waves push tracked totals higher (1,000+ BTC / $70–88 million+ range). Coinkite publishes a security advisory the same day acknowledging the 2021 entropy failure.

July 31, 2026
Coinkite releases fixed firmware (4.2.0 Mk3, 5.6.0 Mk4/Mk5, 1.5.0Q). Existing weak seeds remain compromised and must be migrated. Multiple reports note NVK is deleting older tweets from the 2020 period related to the license change and open-source decisions.

July 31 – August 4, 2026
Researchers link switck to Peter Gray / DocHex via matching GPG signatures on dozens of libngu commits (including the January 2021 guard), the shared phone number ending in 44, the Toronto-area domain registration, the Matrix Switch avatar and name, and overlapping contribution patterns. Peter’s LinkedIn, previously public, is made private.

What loyalty actually means: Defending people in rooms ...

2026-07-25T21:59:36Z

What loyalty actually means:

Defending people in rooms they'll never enter. Not blind allegiance, but protecting reputations when gossip starts flowing.

The measure of character is what you say when someone can't defend themselves.

Life is strange. You arrive with nothing, spend your whole life ...

2026-07-23T17:55:03Z

Life is strange. You arrive with nothing, spend your whole life chasing everything, and still leave with nothing.

Make sure your soul gains more than your hands.

If you’re losing work with Sonnet, try Cursor first. it’s ...

2025-08-05T22:09:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…asnz
_________________________

If you’re losing work with Sonnet, try Cursor first. it’s VSCode, but smarter about ai changes