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>Wasn't there a big Bitcoin heist last month due to the Rails vulnerability? Just curious, but why is there a widespread belief that security incidents that ha

by jere 14y ago

>Wasn't there a big Bitcoin heist last month due to the Rails vulnerability? Just curious, but why is there a widespread belief that security incidents that have nothing to do with the bitcoin protocol will lead to the value to implode? Seriously, maybe I don't understand something here.... does this happen to the dollar when US banks are robbed?

wmf 14y ago
Banks have insurance, but you can't buy Bitcoin insurance. Some people see Bitcoin as uninsurable due to the fact that transactions are irreversible and each wallet is controlled by a single private key. It's a very brittle system; if you make a single mistake your money is gone forever. This may eventually be fixed with HSMs and multiple signatures.
yebyen 14y ago
If it was a really big heist, you do kind of expect the value to drop, and we have seen that happen especially with that big heist that brought down the value when it had reached as high as $30, less than a year ago. The robber makes plays to dump his illegally acquired currency on the market and launder it into clean money, and while dumping he accepts prices that the original owner(s) would never have considered, simply because he's seeking to convert it into something untraceable before he can be apprehended. I am kind of thinking that some day in the next couple of years, we are going to see a large bitcoin bust, and we'll get to make up our mind in the media whether the perp was the legitimate owner and is persecuted, or if he's a thief and should go to jail. I don't think they will ever get Pirateat40 for his First Pirate Savings and Trust scandal. I'm not even sure that there's any law enforcement who is out there looking.
- yebyen 14y ago
  I just found this. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=printpage;topic=83794.0 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=printpage;topic=837... It's a dated thread, but the research looks in-depth. The rails vulnerability was after this, I did not really hear who actually got robbed in Bitcoin land because of that.

by jere 14y ago

wmf 14y ago

Banks have insurance, but you can't buy Bitcoin insurance. Some people see Bitcoin as uninsurable due to the fact that transactions are irreversible and each wallet is controlled by a single private key. It's a very brittle system; if you make a single mistake your money is gone forever. This may eventually be fixed with HSMs and multiple signatures.

yebyen 14y ago

If it was a really big heist, you do kind of expect the value to drop, and we have seen that happen especially with that big heist that brought down the value when it had reached as high as $30, less than a year ago. The robber makes plays to dump his illegally acquired currency on the market and launder it into clean money, and while dumping he accepts prices that the original owner(s) would never have considered, simply because he's seeking to convert it into something untraceable before he can be apprehended. I am kind of thinking that some day in the next couple of years, we are going to see a large bitcoin bust, and we'll get to make up our mind in the media whether the perp was the legitimate owner and is persecuted, or if he's a thief and should go to jail. I don't think they will ever get Pirateat40 for his First Pirate Savings and Trust scandal. I'm not even sure that there's any law enforcement who is out there looking.

yebyen 14y ago
I just found this. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=printpage;topic=83794.0 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=printpage;topic=837... It's a dated thread, but the research looks in-depth. The rails vulnerability was after this, I did not really hear who actually got robbed in Bitcoin land because of that.