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from the keep-your-private-keys-offline dept.
There's a new contender for the largest theft of cryptocurrency ever:
A Japanese cryptocurrency exchange announced the theft Friday of $400 million in digital currency. Some estimates put the loss at the Coincheck exchange at over $520 million.
The stolen assets were stored in the cryptocurrency NEM, one of hundreds of digital currencies created in recent years. Bitcoin, the most well-known cryptocurrency, dropped precipitously on news of the hack but has since regained much of its value.
The incident could be one of the largest single losses of cryptocurrency ever, rivaling only the 2014 hack of online exchange Mt. Gox. Reports at the time put Mt. Gox's losses at over $400 million.
Coincheck says 500 million digital coins were lost. According to Cointelgraph, hackers stole the private key protecting access to Coincheck's accounts.
Does it matter that it was a $400 million theft if the value is going to collapse anyway?
Meanwhile, a stock trading app called Robinhood plans to allow users to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum without any transaction fees.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Sunday January 28 2018, @10:41AM (10 children)
the exchange is refunding the money.
Now.. how do you prove it is yours!
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jan/28/japan-cryptocurrency-exchange-coincheck-refund-stolen-nem [theguardian.com]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Sunday January 28 2018, @03:24PM (3 children)
The Crypto Emperor yet again appears to have no clothes, but hodlers gotta hodl.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 3, Informative) by maxwell demon on Sunday January 28 2018, @05:23PM (1 child)
From the article linked from the post you replied to; emphasis by me:
So, no reversal of transaction, nor magical creation of more; rather payment of non-crypto money.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Sunday January 28 2018, @09:46PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday January 29 2018, @02:46PM
They can indeed undo any transaction. IF 51% of all active miners - however that it parsed by the mutually agreed upon rules of the network - agree that a transaction or transaction(s) should be erased from a blockchain, then it is. And then all subsequent transactions (receivers) either A) do not exist/are also rolled back and are likewise purged which screws the buyers, or B) are allowed to debase the system.
The security of the process is that you must get agreement from over half of the blockchain creators to agree to take out a transaction which was firmed up by subsequent blocks. That's so easy to say, just like "if all the countries in the world would throw away their nukes we'd have a nuke-free world! That's so EASY!" And since every transaction since that also forms part of the hash that verifies the overall blockchain.... not sure what that does but it is interesting.
This is still more reliable than your bank, which is one entity which can decide if you get to keep your money you have with them or not by the pushing of buttons.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Sunday January 28 2018, @07:50PM
it's a good idea actually. Those who have nothing to hide can get refunded. I guess baddies and those who dealt with them are SOL. Which is unfair to those dealing with baddies. Such is life.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday January 28 2018, @10:12PM (4 children)
It's a lawsuit dodge: anybody with enough proof to give them trouble in court will be given their money back, probably in proportion with the solidity of that proof.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Sunday January 28 2018, @10:30PM (3 children)
Interestingly, while wikipedia calls it a cryptocurrency, NEM themselves don't suggest anything about the exchange is private, or anonymous.
https://nem.io/ [nem.io]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday January 28 2018, @11:00PM (2 children)
Cryptocurrency, at its root, can never be anonymous - otherwise you could double-spend it.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Sunday January 28 2018, @11:14PM (1 child)
Yes, but it nice, in a way, that these guys don't even pretend.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday January 28 2018, @11:27PM
I think that crypto pretending to be anonymous went out of fashion within the last year... it's only very recently that I've seen any mainstream media articles that don't call it "anonymous."
🌻🌻 [google.com]