(2/N): ## Key Findings ### 1. The March 2021 License Change & Code Rewrite **From Simply Bitcoin (August 3, 2026):** > "On January 8, 2021, ColdCard firmware 3.2.1 formally announced license change from GPL to MIT CC on files which the GPL doesn't apply. CC is the common clause license addendum which is sourced available instead of completely Open source. On March 1, 2021, the first pass with Lib Ngu commit Remove the GPL Trezor derived crypto libraries and replace them with lib ngu. **That same 120 file commit change seed generation.** Lib ngu was licensed with the novel license for Bitcoin only license." **๐ŸŽง [Listen to clip]( | **[Audio](https://audio.pullthatupjamie.ai/4506555/0e0dcaee-4a8d-4a4a-9f57-056504769338.mp3)** **From UNGOVERNABLE Podcast - "Unpacking the Coldcard Exploit" (August 1, 2026):** > "Now that wasn't the only stated purpose. They were also adding in, like, the the new libsec stuff, and and they were working on that for a long time and and so on. But they ended up changing the code the the license of the code to what's called source available instead of open source, and they ended up using a new library. I don't know if it was written by Coldcard or if it was someone else because I don't think the guy who wrote it is is affiliated with the company, but it's called LibNGU." **๐ŸŽง [Listen to clip]( | **[Audio](https://audio.pullthatupjamie.ai/352598/483953a7-1e90-42b8-88a5-9a1213d37f3f-c88dfb2d-f3b6-4bea-bb5f-df1360822233.mp3)** **From UNGOVERNABLE Podcast (August 1, 2026):** > "And they released like, the this code change that caused the, you know, the Entropy bug in early twenty twenty one was a direct result of doing this major change to the code base. And it even said in the release notes, like, something along the lines of, like, **the last GPL code was removed.** And so they were able to fully and and officially swap the licenses. And this LibNGU library where it could have been, like, a great library that the whole space wanted to build on, but **they made up a a a software license, something like the something Bitcoin license. Like, it was just a made up software license. It's not it wasn't an open source license.**" **๐ŸŽง [Listen to clip]( | **[Audio](https://audio.pullthatupjamie.ai/352598/483953a7-1e90-42b8-88a5-9a1213d37f3f-c88dfb2d-f3b6-4bea-bb5f-df1360822233.mp3)** **Analysis:** The vulnerability was introduced in the same commit that removed GPL code and implemented a custom, non-standard license. This proprietary license may have reduced community scrutiny of the code changes. --- ### 2. NVK's Claims About Hardware RNG Security **From Stephan Livera Podcast SLP62 - "Rodolfo Novak - Keeping Bitcoin Cypherpunk" (March 27, 2019) - NVK speaking:** > "And another nice thing, too, that you get with a secure element is a true random number generator, TRNG. So that's a very powerful random number generator. **Better than that, only the dice.** Yeah, right. Yeah." **๐ŸŽง [Listen to clip]( | **[Audio](https://audio.pullthatupjamie.ai/759235/fc87b6c9-7cf7-a7a3-3ceb-816b809c8a03.mp3)** **From Stephan Livera Podcast SLP103 (August 28, 2019) - Charles Guillemet from Ledger explaining TRNGs:** > "Hardware wallets are made with IC, with integrated circuit, and inside the circuit, there is often TRNG, which stands for True Random Number Generator. And this is a specific part of electronics. There are different kinds of design. Often, this is the three oscillators which runs in parallel and they are sampled at a very specific timing. And this very tiny source of entropy is amplified with different means." **๐ŸŽง [Full Episode](https://www.stephanlivera.com/episode/103/)**

Replies (1)

(3/N): **From Bitcoin Magazine Podcast (January 21, 2021) - Douglas Bakkum on RNG (for comparison):** > "We have two random number generators on two different chips inside the device. We also use some randomness from the computer that's fed into that. We also use some randomness during the factory installation, a random number set, and also randomness from the user itself, a hash of their password. And so we cryptographically combine all that in order to generate your wallet." **Analysis:** NVK claimed in 2019 that the secure element's TRNG was second only to dice for randomness. However, firmware 4.0 (March 2021) apparently failed to properly use the TRNG, instead relying on a weak PRNG from the libngu library. --- ### 3. NVK's Claims About Code Quality & Security Scrutiny **From Stephan Livera Podcast SLP418 - "NVK Tapsigner: Bitcoin Hardware for the Masses?" (October 4, 2022) - NVK speaking about libngu:** > "So we're working on adding that. I think we just made a PR to libngu, which is like glue for the actual like crypto library from core, libsec. So we're sort of like just, you know, progressing because **for us, it's a little bit different than other hardware wallets. We don't sort of YOLO transactions. You know, transactions on cold card, they are sanity checked and they have like a little bit more scrutiny before the device signs it.**" **๐ŸŽง [Listen to clip]( | **[Audio](https://audio.pullthatupjamie.ai/759235/18f258a1-cf98-4171-ab30-7954f30ea982.mp3)** **From UNGOVERNABLE Podcast (August 1, 2026):** > "that's that's where this bug was introduced, where it went from from calling the old the old source of entropy to calling something, within this library, within the LibNGU library. And, and whatever however it was wired up behind the scenes there, **it did not correctly, incorporate the entropy.** So I feel like there's I don't wanna say that like, decisively say that the decision to abandon, you know, free and open source software caused this. I don't think that's, like, a fair characterization." **๐ŸŽง [Listen to clip]( | **[Audio](https://audio.pullthatupjamie.ai/352598/483953a7-1e90-42b8-88a5-9a1213d37f3f-c88dfb2d-f3b6-4bea-bb5f-df1360822233.mp3)** **Analysis:** NVK emphasized "scrutiny" and not "YOLO-ing" code changes. Yet the March 2021 firmware 4.0 release introduced a critical entropy flaw in a massive 120-file commit that changed both licensing and seed generation simultaneously. --- ### 4. The Quiet Firmware 4.0.1 "Fix" **From Rabbit Hole Recap (Week of March 29, 2021):** > "Not a hack, but they had a vulnerability that was self-discovered. So they have a new firmware version, 4.0.1, or is it 0.01? 4.0.1. Yeah. You messed up... **And you're only vulnerable if you had already upgraded to 4.0.0, which was their big upgrade. If it's not, then you're not vulnerable. I have no idea what this vulnerability is. NVK wouldn't tell me what it was for the sake of the users because he's afraid I was going to steal all your Bitcoin.** But yeah, upgrade."
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