Top Story
Attackers tampered with Ledger hardware wallets sold through CryptoBilis, a Southeast Asian reseller. Ledger confirmed the attack and said an organised criminal group bought authentic devices, opened them, installed hidden components and returned them to the supply chain. Ledger has not published a total loss figure.
Blockchain trackers put losses between $86 million and $103.4 million. Bitquery's latest tracker reports $102.0 million taken from 335 wallets across six chains. Tether froze about $10 million in USDT, and MediaMarkt and Saturn stopped selling Ledger devices in Germany on 13 October.
The attack reaches users who followed standard security practice. Ledger says the attack does not defeat its Secure Element and that its chip, operating system and servers were not compromised. Secondary reporting describes a hidden component that reads the screen during setup and captures the 24-word recovery phrase. Ledger has not verified that mechanism.
Posts on X reported no measurable price impact on Bitcoin or Ethereum. The open questions are whether the $102 million tracker figure holds and how many devices were affected. Bloomberg reported on 18 October that Ledger is reviewing implant reports for devices bought from other outlets.
Major Price Moves
Bitcoin and Ethereum Hold Steady as Smaller Tokens Surge
Bitcoin ranked first at $82,851.97, up 1.33% in 24 hours on $22.31 billion of volume. Ethereum ranked second at $2,430.49, up 0.67% on $15.53 billion of volume.
Trading activity centred on smaller names. Quack AI rose 18.34% on $121.64 million of volume. World of Dypians gained 38.29% on $6.26 million, Dacity Coin rose 36.24% on $19.69 million, and Alaya AI added 23.77% on $87.87 million.
No verified catalyst explains the World of Dypians move. The project posted on X on 18 October that WOD was trending on the Binance app, but the post names no new listing or partnership. Dacity Coin's rise is tied to a Solana token that surged after the GTA 6 trailer on 15 October. No confirmed trigger for the 18-19 October move was found. Alaya AI's move has no official catalyst, and CoinMarketCap describes its earlier 100%-plus rally as having "no clear catalyst."
On the downside, LGNS fell 14.28% on $3.25 million, GRX dropped 10.06% on $2.77 million, and The Sandbox slid 7.73% on $99.55 million. Searches found no confirmed cause for any of the three. Starknet fell 4.59% on $218.57 million.
Other Key Events
US Crypto ETFs Post Heavy Outflows
US crypto ETFs lost $610.7 million in the week of 12-16 October. Ethereum funds accounted for $320.1 million of that, with $299 million leaving BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust. Spot Bitcoin ETFs lost $228.6 million over five sessions through 16 October, taking month-to-date outflows to $617.2 million.
Qubic Halts Its Layer-1 Blockchain
An attacker drained 1,404 wallets on Qubic between 23:42 UTC on 17 October and 01:26 UTC on 18 October. The stolen amount was roughly $1.3 million to $1.4 million. Qubic halted its layer-1 blockchain, and the project says the weakness sits in seed generation rather than the protocol.
In Brief
- Cysic suspended its bridge after an attacker minted about 10 million CYS and moved roughly $727,000 to Ethereum.
- Hacken reported $1.18 billion stolen across 107 incidents in Q3 2026, up 55% from Q2.
- XRP ETFs ended a 13-week inflow streak with a $1.84 million outflow in the week to 16 October.
- Liquidations over 24 hours totalled $43.28 million for Bitcoin and $64.05 million for Ethereum across Binance, Bybit and OKX. The Fear & Greed Index read 60, in Greed territory.
What to Watch
- Bitcoin's next test is the $83,000 area. A break above that level would extend its 1.33% daily gain.
- Ethereum needs to hold $2,400 after its 0.67% rise.
- Ledger's official loss figure against the $102.0 million tracker estimate, and any Tether freezes beyond the current $10 million.
- Cysic's bridge stays suspended. Watch for a reopening date or post-mortem.
- World of Dypians needs follow-through after its 38.29% gain on $6.26 million volume in the next 24 hours.