Official Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency Discussion Thread

[jaded]

Hackers Steal $70 Million in Bitcoin

Hackers Steal $70 Million in Bitcoin
http://time.com/money/5053744/hacker...coin-nicehash/

By Lisa Marie Segarra 8:43 AM EST

In a theft on the cryptocurrency-mining service NiceHash, hackers made off with nearly $70 million worth of Bitcoin.

NiceHash announced the security breach on its Facebook page Wednesday afternoon, saying it is investigating the incident and stopping operations for 24 hours. NiceHash also recommended that users change their online passwords as a precaution, though they added “the full scope of what happened is not yet known.”

NiceHash said it is working to determine the exact amount of Bitcoin that was stolen. However, the Wall Street Journal reported that Andrej P. Škraba, head of marketing at NiceHash, confirmed to the outlet that approximately 4,700 bitcoin, worth about $70 million, was missing from NiceHash’s bitcoin wallet. Škraba also told the Journal that “it was a professional attack,” but would not give any more information, noting that developments would be released at a later date.

NiceHash said its payment system was also compromised following the incident.

“We are fully committed to restoring the NiceHash service with the highest security measures at the earliest opportunity,” the cryptocurrency-mining service said in its post.

[BoxingFan85]

Isn't it funny.. they just hacked 4700 bitcoins and made millions in return..
One thing though bitcoin ain't got **** on Berkshire Hathaway..

[.!WAR MIKEY!.]

they always jacking btc every few months.

they stole like 60 million a few weeks back too.

[BostonGuy]

No FDIC insurance, doe

[BostonGuy]

Despite this hack people are still putting money into bitcoin. Per coindesk it’s trading at $16,000...

https://www.coindesk.com

[Sugar Adam Ali]

How is a bitcoin created? Why can't someone counterfeit a bitcoin

I think Wikipedia is a good place to start..fairly simple explanation to a complicated answer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin

Supply

The successful miner finding the new block is rewarded with newly created bitcoins and transaction fees.[50] As of 9 July 2016,[51] the reward amounted to 12.5 newly created bitcoins per block added to the blockchain. To claim the reward, a special transaction called a coinbase is included with the processed payments.[3]:ch. 8 All bitcoins in existence have been created in such coinbase transactions. The bitcoin protocol specifies that the reward for adding a block will be halved every 210,000 blocks (approximately every four years). Eventually, the reward will decrease to zero, and the limit of 21 million bitcoins[e] will be reached c. 2140; the record keeping will then be rewarded by transaction fees solely.[52]

In other words, bitcoin's inventor Nakamoto set a monetary policy based on artificial scarcity at bitcoin's inception that there would only ever be 21 million bitcoins in total. Their numbers are being released roughly every ten minutes and the rate at which they are generated would drop by half every four years until all were in circulation.[53]



The bitcoins are visible and accountable for (although anonymously) in a group (Blockchain) ...so I can't see how you could counterfeit them. All transactions publicly posted.

read more here...

https://bitcoin.org/en/faq#is-bitcoin-secure

Can’t be counterfeited, but I guess it can be hacked and taken away

[jaded]

they always jacking btc every few months.

they stole like 60 million a few weeks back too.

This comes to mind. If governments are going to seize the proceeds of a crime worth $Billions...the future of cryptocurrency becomes even more likely to become mainstream because people in government will want to profit from it...especially in counties with the highest levels of corruption.


The Bulgarian Government Is Sitting on $3 Billion in Bitcoin

https://www.coindesk.com/bulgarian-g...llion-bitcoin/

Dec 7, 2017 at 20:10 UTC


A crackdown on organized crime by Bulgarian law enforcement in May resulted in the seizure of more than 200,000 bitcoins – an amount worth more than $3 billion at today's prices.

According to a press release dated May 19 from the Southeast European Law Enforcement Center (SELEC), a regional organization comprised of 12 member states including Bulgaria, a total of 213,519 bitcoins were seized that month. Twenty-three Bulgarian nationals were arrested during the operation, and officials said at the time that the arrests and subsequent asset seizures followed an investigation into an alleged customs fraud scam.

As of press time, the amount seized is worth approximately $3.3 billion, at a price of roughly $15,524, according to CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index (BPI).

Authorities commented at the time:

"The offenders choose the bitcoin way of investing/saving the money, because it is rather difficult to be tracked and followed."

They further alleged that those involved developed a virus which was used to hack into Bulgarian Customs computers, allowing the perpetrators to skip paying fees when transporting goods into the country. The virus was uploaded to government machines by bribed agents, according to the release.

In all, the alleged perpetrators avoided paying some 10 million leva (Bulgaria's national currency), worth roughly $6 million.

What remains unclear at this time is what the Bulgarian government is doing with the seized bitcoins.

According to a report from Bivol.bg from Nov. 28, the Bulgarian government declined to release further details, citing an ongoing criminal investigation.

Notable in the May 19 release is a notation that, at the time it was published, a single bitcoin was worth $2,354. The release stated that the total amount seized was worth $500 million – less than one-sixth of its current value today.

[jaded]

Can’t be counterfeited, but I guess it can be hacked and taken away

Well...funny timing here but I was just posting now about this...

https://www.boxingscene.com/forums/s...5#post18310265

[AddiX]

Once countries start to regulate it and take away the ability for owners to remain anonymous, it will plummet. And without stability it can never really be a legit currency.

[Sugar Adam Ali]

Well...funny timing here but I was just posting now about this...

https://www.boxingscene.com/forums/s...5#post18310265

Damn, i didn’t even realize that was your thread. I started reading it and then remembered a few weeks ago about asking about counterfeit and how it works and went back and searched for it.