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This is of course why bitcoin is a bad choice for most people, except for beer money amounts. Despite a lot of security precautions from a savvy user, someone m

This is of course why bitcoin is a bad choice for most people, except for beer money amounts. Despite a lot of security precautions from a savvy user, someone made off with this stash. Shame he didn't keep them in an exchange. Oh wait... I always thought had I got in early in bitcoin I'd plan to sell off in tranches at $1, $10, $100 value etc. Then at least when the coins get stolen or worthless I'd have something to show for it. My prediction: Bitcoin will become worthless in the long term once the crypto is cracked by mathematics, a backdoor or quantum computing

LeoPanthera 10y ago
Bitcoin is secured by relatively simple algorithms, mostly relying on the SHA-256 hash. If this is broken, the internet has far bigger problems than bitcoin becoming worthless.
- ceejayoz 10y ago
  That's a hell of a strawman. No one claimed SHA-256 is insecure.
DennisP 10y ago
A $60 hardware wallet does a good job protecting larger amounts.
Scaevolus 10y ago
Quantum computing doesn't provide speedups for hash algorithms, generally. It breaks public key cryptosystems based on factoring and discrete logs.
- DennisP 10y ago
  That means quantum computers won't speed up mining, but it's public key crypto that protects your coins from getting stolen. If QCs become a thing we'll need to transition to post-quantum algorithms.
rodgerd 10y ago
> This is of course why bitcoin is a bad choice for most people, except for beer money amounts. It places users in the position of either having to provide their own bank-level security, or to leave their bitcoin with a BTC bank (the exchanges). The latter has had a few issues.
mn3monic 10y ago
psssssss..... come here..... multisignature wallet. shame an early adopter don't use it.
TwoBit 10y ago
Why the hell was this guy so stupid as to have millions in bitcoin in the first place? Nobody with a clue would do that. This just doesn't make sense.
- bbcbasic 10y ago
  I'm guessing greed plays a factor. You see the price go up by a magnitude several times. Then why sell at 1k per coin when 10k might be round the corner.

LeoPanthera 10y ago

Bitcoin is secured by relatively simple algorithms, mostly relying on the SHA-256 hash. If this is broken, the internet has far bigger problems than bitcoin becoming worthless.

ceejayoz 10y ago
That's a hell of a strawman. No one claimed SHA-256 is insecure.

DennisP 10y ago

A $60 hardware wallet does a good job protecting larger amounts.

Scaevolus 10y ago

Quantum computing doesn't provide speedups for hash algorithms, generally. It breaks public key cryptosystems based on factoring and discrete logs.

DennisP 10y ago
That means quantum computers won't speed up mining, but it's public key crypto that protects your coins from getting stolen. If QCs become a thing we'll need to transition to post-quantum algorithms.

rodgerd 10y ago

> This is of course why bitcoin is a bad choice for most people, except for beer money amounts. It places users in the position of either having to provide their own bank-level security, or to leave their bitcoin with a BTC bank (the exchanges). The latter has had a few issues.

mn3monic 10y ago

psssssss..... come here..... multisignature wallet. shame an early adopter don't use it.

TwoBit 10y ago

Why the hell was this guy so stupid as to have millions in bitcoin in the first place? Nobody with a clue would do that. This just doesn't make sense.

bbcbasic 10y ago
I'm guessing greed plays a factor. You see the price go up by a magnitude several times. Then why sell at 1k per coin when 10k might be round the corner.