By now, I'm sure most people will know what bitcoin is, but for those of you that haven't ventured into the geeky parts of the interwebs, I'll explain.
Essentially bitcoin is a virtual currency which is generated on your computer. It can be sold to other users or exchanged for services and goods. It has come under fire from law agencies as it has been linked with narcotics websites as a use of payment. Like any currency, the market value of a BitCoin can fluctuate. Recently, BitCoin’s value had skyrocketed, up to nearly $30 US from $5 in a span of about a month.
Obviously this skyrocketing in value grabbed many people's attention and they jumped on the bandwagon.
A certain bitcoin user who had been an early adopter of the virtual currency, had watch his little gold coins generate and build up in his "virtual wallet." With the news of the value dramatically increasing you can imagine his giddy excitement when he looked at what his coins were worth... $467,500. So you can only imagine his reaction when he logged onto his computer and found out he had been literally robbed. His coins were gone.
Now the thing with bitcoins is, it is like real money you have in your wallet. There's no "reverse transaction" like there is with Paypal. Although, then that would mean you'd have to deal with Paypal, I'd rather just let someone steal my money. So when his money had been deposited into someone else's account, anonymously, it was in essence, gone.
The user, whose forum nickname is "Allinvain" - which, is alarmingly fitting looked for help on the bitcoin forum. Unfortunately the stance of the bitcoin developers is that the transactions are anonymous and so they is no way to tell if this is a legitimate claim. Other users are sympathetic towards Allinvain and are nervous that this may have been caused by a security flaw in the bitcoin service itself, while others think Allinvain may have had his computer infected.
I can only imagine what Allinvain feels right now. I don't personally use the service myself, but this is a harsh reminder of always keep your money safe. Virtual or physical.
Filed under:
bitcoin hacker stolen money
mm Bitcoin never heard of this concept or site, but that sucked so bad for the guy to loose money without even able to do anythign to get it back
Poor guy, that's absolutely gutting. I think I'd kill myself if I had that much money stolen!
not good :( poor chap
That's horrible, why I don't use it.
wowowowowow that sucks!!!! i'm not surprised it happened though, it doesn't seem very secure.
That's horrible! I'd kill myself if it happened to me D:
That's terrible. Wonder if he's done or if he's going to try to start over again.
Damn that sucks :P technically the law can't do anything can they? Its not real money its just like play money.
Yeah i would hate it if all my bitcoins were suddenly gone D:
Perhaps if it was more legitimately regarded (by governments etc) it would have the means to be better protected :/
Wow that really sucks. I don't even know how I'd react.
Damn...that's rough...
I can literally feel the heat of his rage all the way over here.
That's incredibly brutal. This will also probably stop people from accepting bitcoins, which hurts the whole project.
Definitely not investing in any now!
lmao that sucks
well somebody just made $500,000. nice
Well that's depressing..
Wish I had started bitcoin mining back when they weren't worth so much :\
wow haha,
i always knew the bit coin concept was too good to be true
Holy shit, well, I guess it was just a matter of time, interesting, followed =D
Wow, this is very interesting. The future is now, eh.
Never heard of this service before, kind of glad now.
ouch XD
wow that is pretty intense
How to Hack Life.
haha insane story :D
I'm aware that this is being used by some guys on some forums and imageboards. I can't believe $500,000 worth of virtual cash had been stolen. I feel sorry for the victim/s.
Wow, that sucks.
Probably could have been prevented with a good security system
That is sweet virtual yet real money its like Rachet and Clank!