Shipping breaches expose crypto hardware wallet owners to physical risk

Data breaches at two shipping companies have put cryptocurrency owners with physical hardware wallets at greater risk of having their funds stolen, exposing weaknesses in the broader tech ecosystem the crypto industry relies on. In recent weeks, hardware wallet makers Trezor and SafePal reported that collectively thousands of their customers had personal data and shipping information stolen during separate breaches at their shipping partners. The wallet makers had provided customers’ names, home addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers to those shipping companies to mail out the devices.

The breaches did not affect the security of the wallets themselves, which stay offline to make them far harder to compromise over the internet. Instead, hackers targeted the broader supply chain to obtain personal information about where high-net-worth crypto holders live. By stealing names and home addresses, the breaches expose crypto owners to physical attacks aimed at forcibly obtaining the seed phrase stored on a wallet.

Known as wrench attacks, these real-world incidents are on the rise as criminals increasingly target high-net-worth crypto holders. Blockchain security firm CertiK confirmed dozens of reported wrench attacks during 2025, up by 75% on the previous year, with robbers stealing upwards of $40 million. Crypto forensics firm Chainalysis puts this year’s figures at closer to $30 million so far, with gangs using kidnapping and home invasions to demand a person’s seed phrase — which, once known, lets attackers irreversibly take control of that person’s crypto on the public blockchain.

Both Trezor and SafePal also warned customers to stay vigilant against phishing attacks that target a person’s phone number or email address to try to steal their crypto.

In a separate attack earlier this month, hackers stole more than $130 million in cryptocurrency directly off the blockchain by guessing the passwords generated by Coinkite’s Coldcard hardware wallet. The hackers, who have not been identified, were able to predict the seed phrases Coldcard wallets generate offline for customers, letting them recreate wallet passwords and take funds straight off the blockchain despite the wallets and seed phrases never touching the internet.

Why it matters

The incidents show that even offline hardware wallets depend on a broader digital supply chain — shipping partners, in this case — that can leak the physical-world data needed to turn a crypto theft into a violent one.