Bitcoin (BTC) Flirts With $65K Amid BTCPay Exploit and Fork Concerns

Key Highlights

• BTC price reached $64,986, gaining 0.61% while testing the $65,000 threshold
• Security flaw in BTCPay Server enabled hackers to compromise Lightning nodes and extract cryptocurrency
• BIP-110 hard fork proposal raises concerns about potential chain fragmentation and transaction replay vulnerabilities
• Spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States attracted approximately $1 billion in capital inflows over the past week
• Blockchain analytics revealed 2.27 million freshly created wallets — a 12-month peak

Bitcoin demonstrated resilience on Saturday, climbing 0.61% to reach $64,986 and approaching the psychologically significant $65,000 level, even as the cryptocurrency community grappled with two distinct security challenges that captured widespread attention.

Bitcoin (BTC) Price

On Friday evening, malicious actors capitalized on a critical security weakness within BTCPay Server infrastructure, successfully extracting authentication credentials that provided control over Lightning Network nodes powered by LND technology. This exploit granted unauthorized individuals access to sensitive “macaroon” authentication files — digital keys capable of controlling Lightning-based wallets, terminating payment channels, and transferring cryptocurrency holdings.

BTCPay developers acknowledged the theft and issued an urgent advisory recommending immediate upgrades to version 2.4.2 or complete server shutdowns. The organization has not yet revealed the number of impacted operators or quantified total losses incurred.

Foundation, a prominent hardware wallet manufacturer, verified that its BTCPay-connected Lightning node suffered complete drainage, though its primary on-chain hot wallet remained secure. Citadel21, a respected Bitcoin-focused publication, similarly disclosed Lightning node fund losses.

Traditional on-chain wallets operating within BTCPay infrastructure remained uncompromised. Nevertheless, cryptocurrency stored in LND node on-chain wallets may continue facing exposure.

Potential Hard Fork Introduces Uncertainty

Meanwhile, an independent technical challenge emerged surrounding BIP-110, a contentious fork proposal scheduled for potential activation near block height 961,632 during the weekend. This proposal seeks to impose restrictions on non-transactional data embedded within Bitcoin’s blockchain.

Mining pool support registered approximately 2.6% as of Friday — dramatically short of the 55% consensus requirement for mainstream adoption. Despite insufficient backing, nodes executing BIP-110 client software will automatically reject blocks from non-participating miners once the designated activation height arrives, potentially fragmenting the network into competing chains.

Should network fragmentation materialize, Bitcoin holders would automatically possess equivalent balances across both resulting blockchains. Developer Kevin Loaec cautioned that attempting to liquidate forked assets without properly isolating wallet balances could inadvertently compromise authentic BTC through replay attack exploitation.

Institutional Capital Floods Bitcoin ETFs

Eric Balchunas, Bloomberg’s leading ETF analyst, disclosed that American spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds secured approximately $1 billion in net capital contributions throughout the week — representing their most impressive showing since April and ranking as the third-strongest weekly performance since October 2025.

Balchunas additionally speculated that the recent Coldcard hardware wallet security incident, which resulted in approximately $116 million in stolen Bitcoin due to a firmware vulnerability affecting private key generation, might have influenced some investors toward regulated ETF products. He observed, “long-term I can’t imagine there aren’t some who migrate over,” while conceding the correlation remains speculative.

Santiment, a blockchain intelligence platform, documented that Bitcoin’s network expansion registered 2.27 million newly established wallets during the previous week — representing the most substantial growth rate observed over the past year. Santiment attributed this surge partially to reverberations from the Coldcard incident, explaining that security emergencies typically motivate users to relocate assets, restructure custody arrangements, and establish new wallet addresses, consequently amplifying network activity. The analytics firm additionally observed that historically, major Bitcoin holders have leveraged periods of heightened retail engagement to intensify accumulation strategies.

As of latest trading data, Bitcoin exchanged hands at $64,933, representing a marginal $74 decrease from the previous session.

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