Exploiting such a tiny bug is damn impressive if you ask me. The bloke who pulled this off deserves the cash.
Zerocoin implementation bug
31–40 of 142 posts
Re: Zerocoin implementation bug
#32Hmm, I know about Zcash and Monero, but I haven't read much about Zerocoin. I'll be staying away, especially after a 410 BTC hack. They even cited the ability to detect hacks like this as a key advantage over Zcash. http://blog.zcoin.tech/zcoin-and-zcash/
They did detect the hack.
Re: Zerocoin implementation bug
#33So who eats the loss for this?
Every owner eats a tiny bit of it with the downward pressure on value caused by the artificially increased supply. Also, decreased trust reduces demand pressure further lowering value for everyone.
"In a decentralized economy, one person's mistake must be distributed to the collective."
Hackers rob the mortgage downpayment you made with Bitcoin, said platform gives everybody an haircut because platform provider won't take responsibility and claim it's the cost of decentralization without really understanding the responsibility of the platform still falls upon the main facilitator.
What a great new thing decentralized economy is, everyone will be dying to get in on the action!
Re: Zerocoin implementation bug
#34What's better that stealing magic Internet money? Creating anonymous magic Internet money out of thin air, then selling it. Brilliant. But seriously, I'm not sure which is worse: Watching your stolen money move around the blockchain knowing you are helpless to do anything about it, or being provably unable to even tell the difference between "real" and "counterfeit" coins.
>Creating anonymous magic Internet money out of thin air, then selling it.
Well, not much different from what our banks do.
Re: Zerocoin implementation bug
#35So who eats the loss for this?
Every owner eats a tiny bit of it with the downward pressure on value caused by the artificially increased supply. Also, decreased trust reduces demand pressure further lowering value for everyone.
It's not really a tiny bit... ~30% of the networks value was fabricated.
Re: Zerocoin implementation bug
#36all these blockchain currencies seem to have really good bug bounty programs, this one gave out almost half a million dollars (410BTC)
Ethereum takes the record for paying out $53 million dollars (943 BTC X 53 = lots). Technically, it wasn't even theft or a bug since Ethereum & DAO proudly claimed "Code is Final Law". I almost feel like cryptocoin and blockchains are set out to do 1 thing really well-show how superior centralized systems are and how easy it is to trick people with pseudo academic jargon-just read Vitalik's writing peppered with supe…
> how superior centralized systems are
Tell us? Because around here, I saw a huge number of bank fraud basically unpunished. "Yes those guys duplicated your SIM and stole all your funds. Too bad for you since we're not going to even try to catch them."
Centralized systems might be efficient but the rule is, they don't care about you, so it's not your problems that they're going to solve. At least I can have some faith in the code, which is the final law.
Re: Zerocoin implementation bug
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ethereum takes the record for paying out $53 million dollars (943 BTC X 53 = lots). Technically, it wasn't even theft or a bug since Ethereum & DAO proudly claimed "Code is Final Law". I almost feel like cryptocoin and blockchains are set out to do 1 thing really well-show how superior centralized systems are and how easy it is to trick people with pseudo academic jargon-just read Vitalik's writing peppered with supe…
> how superior centralized systems are Tell us? Because around here, I saw a huge number of bank fraud basically unpunished. "Yes those guys duplicated your SIM and stole all your funds. Too bad for you since we're not going to even try to catch them." Centralized systems might be efficient but the rule is, they don't care about you, so it's not your problems that they're going to solve. At least I can have some fait…
Code is law until well connected people need a bailout
Re: Zerocoin implementation bug
#38The current market cap of Zcoin is 1,538 BTC [0], so this person created 1/4 of all the coins in circulation (410 BTC), and these guys are saying: "We knew we were being attacked when we saw that the total mint transactions did not match up with the total spend transactions". It took them way too long to realize that they were being outsmarted. EDIT: u/aftbit also posted this on the thread: "They even cited the abili…
Well yes, they were not wrong to cite the ability to detect hacks like this as a feature over zcash. This same class of error could exist in zcash and we would never know . We know it happened here because of the ability to audit.
You are completely right, I hadn't considered that. This is what Zcash has to say about it:
Since the value sent between shielded addresses is private, how can we determine the number ZEC in circulation?
Currently, we know that every miner validates every transaction, and each transaction comes with a zero-knowledge proof that it doesn't violate conservation-of-money (i.e. a proof that the money coming out of the transaction is ≤ the money going into the transaction).
This reasoning depends on the soundness of the zero-knowledge proofs. If someone could get the miners to accept a transaction that created new money — if you could somehow forge a zero-knowledge proof or defeat the zero-knowledge-proof-verifier software in the miners — then you could counterfeit money.
We are investigating options for the future which would enable accounting for all ZEC in existance(sic). Stay tuned to our blog for any proposals on this matter.
Re: Zerocoin implementation bug
#39Let me get this straight. Zerocoin has a bug, money gets stolen, the bug is fixed. Everyone in the comments lose their shit and call doom and gloom for all cryptocurrencies. The experiment is failed, centralization was right all along!
Meanwhile, centralized systems like credit cards are stolen en masse, identity theft abounds, anybody can file your taxes with the IRS and collect your refund, and an ACH can be initiated against your bank account using all the information helpfully printed on every check you hand to strangers... and no one bats an eye?
I don't get it.
Re: Zerocoin implementation bug
#40What's better that stealing magic Internet money? Creating anonymous magic Internet money out of thin air, then selling it. Brilliant. But seriously, I'm not sure which is worse: Watching your stolen money move around the blockchain knowing you are helpless to do anything about it, or being provably unable to even tell the difference between "real" and "counterfeit" coins.
Blockchain and Cryptocoins will face the same fate HYIP forums / Liberty Reserves went through-regulatory enforcement and social stigmatization.
> regulatory enforcement
The only place regulatory enforcement could hit Bitcoin is at the fiat exchanges, which are already beholden to KYC/AML.
> social stigmatization
People have already tried that; "Bitcoin is only for illegal drugs and guns!" Didn't work.