Bitcoin News Today: Coinbase Shifts BTC/ETH Wallets to Guard Against Quantum Threats

Coinbase, the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, has initiated a large-scale migration of its internal Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) wallets as part of a planned security upgrade. The move, described as a routine industry best practice, aims to reduce long-term exposure by rotating funds out of publicly known wallet addresses. The migration began on Saturday and involves transferring assets between Coinbase-controlled wallets, a process that will be visible on blockchain explorers but will not disrupt customer operations [according to reports].

The exchange emphasized that the migration is unrelated to cybersecurity breaches, market volatility, or external threats. "Migrating wallets periodically is a well-accepted best practice that minimizes long-term exposure of funds," Coinbase stated in a blog post [in a blog post]. The company reiterated that customer trading, deposits, and withdrawals will remain unaffected, with no downtime expected during the transition.

Coinbase also issued a strong warning to users about potential scams during the migration. Scammers may attempt to impersonate company representatives to exploit the visibility of large onchain transactions, requesting login credentials or urging users to transfer funds. The exchange reiterated that it will never ask for passwords, two-factor authentication (2FA) codes, or private keys [as stated].

Coinbase's announcement comes amid a broader rise in digital banking fraud. In Singapore, scam claims against digital banks surged to 94 cases in the first eight months of 2025, up from 42 in all of 2024, with impersonation and credential theft being the most common tactics [according to reports]. The exchange's emphasis on vigilance aligns with industry-wide efforts to combat increasingly sophisticated scams, which often exploit human psychology and technological vulnerabilities.

The migration underscores the growing importance of proactive security measures in the cryptocurrency industry. Cybersecurity experts have highlighted that centralized repositories, such as hot wallets, are attractive targets for hackers, who may exploit AI-powered tools or quantum computing threats to compromise cryptographic systems in the future [according to experts]. Gianluca Di Bella, a zero-knowledge proof researcher, warned that threat actors could be compiling public keys now for "harvest now, decrypt later" attacks once quantum computers become powerful enough [as warned].