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Crypto hardware wallet maker Keystone has disclosed a website security breach that exposed customer information to attackers, raising concerns about targeted scams and physical attacks. Keystone said Saturday that it detected suspicious activity earlier in the week and confirmed Friday, after reviewing API activity with Shopify, that an unauthorized third party had accessed customer shipping information. This included names, contact details, shipping addresses and other order details, such as items bought. “We’ve blocked access, fixed the vulnerability, opened an investigation, and are emailing affected customers,” said the company.Keystone warned that the exposed information could be used for targeted phishing attacks. However, security researcher Taylor Monahan also raised concerns that leaking shipping addresses could expose customers to physical attacks and kidnappings. Blockchain security firm CertiK recorded 52 verified wrench attacks worldwide in the first half of 2026, up 33% from 39 during the same period last year. Such crimes, commonly called “wrench attacks,” involve using physical threats or violence to force cryptocurrency holders to surrender their assets. “Again, we’re truly sorry to everyone affected,” Keystone said. The company did not disclose how many customers were impacted. Keystone questioned over promise to delete customer dataThe breach has also raised questions about Keystone’s handling of older customer information. In a 2023 blog post, Keystone said it had reduced its customer data retention period to 180 days following security incidents affecting other hardware wallet manufacturers. However, some customers said they received breach notifications despite purchasing their devices more than two years ago, raising questions about what information Keystone retained and whether the notifications indicate that older order records were not deleted as promised. Related: Italy investigates government email breach linked to Revolut data leakAn X user going by “OG DEGEN” said they received a call from a scammer claiming they were law enforcement investigating a fraud case. The user suspected the caller obtained their information through a Keystone order placed in 2024, based on the personal information the caller referred to. “I think their plan was to convince me that my private keys had been exposed and then send me a phishing link to supposedly reset them,” they wrote on X. Another X user, trintaetres, also said they received the email notification despite buying the device over two years ago. Cointelegraph contacted Keystone to ask how customer information from purchases made more than 180 days earlier could have been exposed despite its previously announced retention policy, and how many customers were affected. The company did not respond by publication time. Magazine: AI agents help rescue ETH’s Glamsterdam fork, ‘Steal My Bitcoin’ site: Hodler’s Digest

Cointelegraph is committed to providing independent, high-quality journalism across the crypto, blockchain, AI, and fintech industries.All news, reviews, and analyses are produced with full journalistic independence and integrity. For more details on our standards and processes, please read our Editorial Policy.

European Central Bank Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said the digital euro that is set for a pilot next year has the potential to give the bloc “sovereignty” over a payments infrastructure that currently requires dependency on external, non-European third parties.Cipollone said in an interview with Italy’s Milano Finance published by the central bank on Saturday that because the bloc is critically dependent on third parties, it’s not easy to ensure this smooth functioning. He did not cite specific third parties.“In recent years Europe has learned that, for some essential services, we cannot rely only on third parties. We saw this with energy and we’re seeing it today with defense. And the same is true for payments,” he said.The pilot will use real transactions by ECB and national central bank staff. With 36 market operators, including seven from Italy, collaborating on preparations, the ECB is inviting e-commerce and mobile-commerce operators to participate.“The smooth functioning of payment systems is one of our responsibilities. If we are critically dependent on third parties, it’s not easy to ensure this smooth functioning,” Cipollone said.To be sure, sovereignty doesn’t mean shutting third parties out, Cipollone said. “It means having the power to choose and knowing that, for an essential service like payments, Europe can also rely on its own strength.”In an April public lecture held in Latvia, Cipollone said that Europe’s reliance on non-European payment providers creates a strategic vulnerability. He said two-thirds of euro-area card transactions are governed by non-European companies, and that the digital euro could reduce that dependence and provide European-controlled payment infrastructure.The ECB Governing Council can only decide on issuing a digital euro only after legislative negotiations in Brussels conclude. “We hope that the regulation will be adopted by the end of the year, enabling the ECB’s Governing Council to issue a formal decision on issuance,” Cipollone told Milano Finance .Magazine: New DeepSeek ban in US, Swiss-Asia crypto ties deepen: Asia Express

Blockchain has become an issue in this week’s Israeli elections after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that the country could turn to cryptocurrency to avoid strains on the economy from any potential international financial sanctions.He told a local television interviewer that Israel is exploring the use of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies as a means of circumventing potential banking sanctions. “Blockchain is an alternative to sanctions,” the prime minister said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 10 economic network on Friday.His calling blockchain a “national strategic tool” signals a pivot in the government’s stance on the digital currency industry, from an investment event into part of the country’s economic defense strategy, reported CryptoJungle, Israel’s largest crypto media platform.A dozen Western countries have announced sanctions targeting goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank in response to Jewish settler attacks on Palestinians and an increase in settlement construction approved by Netanyahu’s right-wing government. Those sanctions could extend into Israel proper, economists and industry figures told The Times of Israel last month.Several of the candidates seeking to replace Netanyahu in the Oct. 27 elections, as well as the head of the Bank of Israel, were quick to challenge the prime minister’s statement.“The BibiCoin vision is a threat to national security,” wrote Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot in a Saturday morning X post, using a play on Netanyahu’s nickname. The Bank of Israel in a statement rejected Netanyahu’s proposition, saying that cryptocurrencies “cannot be used as a route for bypassing sanctions.”Recommended: MoonPay buys crypto security firm Sodot in $100M push into institutional cryptoSharp reaction on the street and in the mediaAt Saturday evening’s anti-government rally in Tel Aviv, several onlookers weighed in on Netanyahu’s blockchain statement. “An economy that runs on the dark web makes us no better than our enemies,” said Aryeh Cohen, holding a sign that said in English “enough Bibi’s B.S.” Another rally attendee who gave only her first name, Pnina, told Cointelegraph “what’s next, the Bank of Israel living ‘neath the law.”Media critics also lambasted the idea of use of crypto to skirt sanctions.“The crypto element deserves particular scrutiny. Digital currencies can indeed move value outside some traditional banking channels,” wrote Yediot Ahronot columnist Nadav Eyal in an X post. “But they are not a substitute for a national financial system. They don’t provide credit lines to banks, they don’t replace international capital markets, and they don’t persuade foreign companies to violate sanctions that bar them from doing business with Israel.”“Crypto & blockchain-based solutions are not the tool for bypassing sanctions,” Ben Samocha, founder of CryptoJungle, told Cointelegraph on Sunday. “As demonstrated by the US Treasury against Iran, blockchain investigation allows tracking illicit funds, blocking their fiat gateway, and even freezing them.” He said that the Israeli economy is not fit to bypass sanctions using crypto.Magazine: Made an ‘honest’ mistake with crypto taxes? New bill offers way out