|
|
I don't know much about Bitcoin, but I found this thread
absolutely riveting. Thanks to RLP for posting the original story here!
This is the first comment in the linked thread, a plea from the victim:
I just
got hacked - any help is welcome!
June 13, 2011, 08:47:05 pm #1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi everyone. I am totally devastated today. I just woke up to see a very
large chunk of my bitcoin balance gone to the following address:
1KPTdMb6p7H3YCwsyFqrEmKGmsHqe1Q3jg
Transaction date: 6/13/2011 12:52 (EST)
I feel like killing myself now. This get me so f'ing pissed off. If only the
wallet file was encrypted on the HD. I do feel like this is my fault somehow
for not moving that money to a separate non windows computer. I backed up my
wallet.dat file religiously and encrypted it but that does not do me much
good when someone or some trojan or something has direct access to my
computer somehow.
The transaction sent belongs rightfully to this address:
1J18yk7D353z3gRVcdbS7PV5Q8h5w6oWWG
Block explorer is down so I cannot even see where the funds went.
I tried restoring an earler backup of my wallet but naturally that does not
work because the transaction has already been validated.
Needles to say I feel like I have lost faith in bitcoin.
Anyone have any ideas what I can do besides just jump off a
bridge?!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To summarize, this guy had 25,000 Bitcoins stolen from him around noon on
Monday. At that time, Bitcoins were trading for around $20 each, so he lost
almost $500,000
worth of Bitcoins!
I'm just learning some of the technicalities of Bitcoins now, so please
correct me in the comments if I get anything wrong. I imagine this will make
for a lively discussion!
It seems Bitcoins have been quite a trade recently, running
from less than half a penny up to $30, back down to $10, and up again to $20.
Here's the chart:
This guy that was hacked did not buy his Bitcoins. He earned or
"mined" them by working on the system from his home computer. They
used to be something like 260 Bitcoins = $1. On Feb. 9, 2011 they reached
parity with the dollar. Today 260 Bitcoins = $5,000. So someone who earned
$100 worth of Bitcoins "mining" last year could have $500,000 this
year, with a peak just a week ago at $800,000. These guys, like our victim
above, call themselves "early adopters." I suppose that is in
contrast to someone who would pay $20 for a Bitcoin today being a "late adopter?" If this sounds a bit like a pyramid to you, you are not alone.
Bitcoin appears to have achieved something remarkable, a digital unbacked
currency that is truly untethered to any institution. These Bitcoins exist
only as digits on your computer, yet they can be taken (stolen) as if they
were a physical item, with no recourse. If I would have money stolen from an
online account with my credit card company, bank or even PayPal, I could have
that transaction reversed within a reasonable amount
of time. But with Bitcoin, transactions are final and irreversible unless the
receiver voluntarily chooses to give them back.
But it gets even weirder. We can all take a look at these stolen Bitcoins
online, right now! They are sitting right here!
Just scroll down to the 25,023.93 transaction. There's your thief, and
there's the loot! And there's nothing you can do about it!
In a sense, it seems, Bitcoins have something in common with physical gold
coins. Once they're stolen, they're as good as gone.
One of the debates on the Bitcoin thread linked at the top is whether it is
more likely this theft went down in cyberspace or, as they call the real
world, in "meatspace." In other words, there are two ways this
heist could have been carried out. This kid apparently had all his Bitcoins
sitting in one "wallet.dat" file on his computer. It might have
been taken by a hacker who could be anywhere in the world, China, Russia,
wherever. Or it could have been taken by someone he knows IRL (in real life),
who knew that he had a $500,000 windfall hoarded on his hard drive, and
somehow gained physical access to his computer.
The attractive qualities of Bitcoins are that they are private, anonymous,
discreet, they are outside of the banking and fiat system, they exist in a
limited and verifiable quantity and they cannot be counterfeited or printed
by a central bank or government. In other words,
they have many of the same qualities as physical gold except the physicality.
And just like Bitcoins, your physical gold coins can be stolen. And once
they're stolen, they're gone. No central authority to get them back for you.
But at the same time, with physical gold you only have to worry about
"meatspace." What do you think? Is this a +1 for gold?
In all fairness, another analogy I should point out is that one of the
criticisms of Bitcoin is that the "early adopters" come out way
ahead. Just like our victim above (up until Monday at noon). And this is not
too far off from what some say about Freegold. So I ask you, is it the same?
Here's what one article
says about it:
One of the hot button
issues around Bitcoin is in the way it disperses early-stage currency. The
system of mining, because it decreases rewards over time until it stops
altogether, means early adopters come out ahead — way ahead, in a
situation where large percentages of the total number of Bitcoins ever to be
made end up in the hands of the first miners.
Some take it a step further and claim that the ideological rationale given
for Bitcoin is just a smokescreen for its true purpose as a get-rich-quick
scheme for those founders and early adopters. These people claim that those
driving Bitcoin right now are working to build a
currency to a point where it has a reasonably strong economy so that they can
cash out and leave it hanging.
So what do you think of Bitcoin? Is it a good idea? Is it the next big thing?
Are you going to rush out and buy some? Would it be a good transactional
currency alongside Freegold?
Do you think Bitcoin is competing for the role of primary medium of exchange
against currencies like the dollar and the euro? Or is it actually competing
with the secondary media of exchange for the focal point prize? Or is it
trying to be both, at the same time? Or is it really just Bernie Madoff
dressed up as an Anarcho-Capitalist?
And what about the great Bitcoin heist of 2011? If you were still hoarding
half a million in Bitcoins after reading that thread, would you continue to
sit on them? Please tell me your thoughts. I know Bron is interested in this
subject as well. Maybe he'll show up with a comment or two.
FOFOA
FOFOA is A
Tribute to the Thoughts of Another and his Friend
Donations are most appreciated, just click
here
|
|
