Report: ‘Bitcoin Family’ Ditches Hardware Wallets for Steel Seeds After Global Crypto Kidnapping Scare

According to a report from CNBC, the Taihuttu clan—better known as the ‘Bitcoin Family’—has revamped its security setup in light of a rising wave of crypto-related abductions across the globe.

No More Hardware Wallets: Taihuttu Family Takes Cold Storage to Extremes

Didi Taihuttu told CNBC’s MacKenzie Sigalos that his family has abandoned hardware wallets in favor of a multi-continental approach, splitting and encrypting seed phrases between four separate continents. Their hybrid system marries the digital with the physical: recovery phrases are engraved on fire-resistant steel plates and concealed in handpicked locations across the chosen nations.

Their motivation? An uptick in abductions targeting crypto holders and their relatives. “We got a little bit famous in a niche market — but that niche is becoming a really big market now,” Taihuttu shared with Sigalos. He added:

And I think we’ll see more and more of these robberies. So yeah, we’re definitely going to skip France.

This isn’t the first time the ‘Bitcoin Family’ has shared details of their global fund-stashing tactics. Back in August 2021, Taihuttu revealed that 74% of their digital assets were held in cold storage, spread across various countries in hardware wallets. But their latest approach has phased out those devices entirely. “When it comes to wallets, we’re now completely hardware wallet-less. We don’t use any hardware wallets anymore,” Taihuttu remarked.

In the new interview, Taihuttu stated that 65% of the family’s crypto is now stored in cold storage and kept well out of sight. They’re now eyeing multi-party computation (MPC) security to further enhance their defenses. He also mentioned that centralized exchanges (CEXs) play a minimal role in their strategy, noting that roughly 80% of their trades are now executed via decentralized exchange (DEX) platforms.

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