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Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange hacked, losing $530M: NHK

reuters.com

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Re: Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange hacked, losing $530M: NHK

#221

Post by optimuspaul »

kirillseva wrote: post #171
tn_ wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason why fiat currencies are main-stream is because there's trust. People trust they can deposit and withdraw their money to and from banks w/ some semblance of protection and have transactions with little friction. News like this signals that you really shouldn't trust any crypto-currency exchange yet (just browse r/coinbase and people are waiting 1+ month to receive funds) , and I'll see a headline like the a…

That's because people should stop using centralized exchanges that don't have their funds insured, and should instead investigate using decentralized exchanges. Cross-blockchain ones are currently being developed, with OmiseGO and KyberNetwork competing to be the first to launch. On Ethereum this ecosystem is much more developed, and you can choose between EtherDelta, IDEX, 0xProject and Radex. These exchanges elimin…

What is a decentralized exchange?

Why would I want to put my money into something "decentralized" when my bank does a fine job?

Cryptocurrencies are complicated and nonsensical at times. I have yet to see anything in this space that makes me actually think it's the future of anything. It's far too risky.

Re: Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange hacked, losing $530M: NHK

#222

Post by spookthesunset »

Pharaoh2 wrote: post #191
viach wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not using a web site built on postgres or mysql database to track balances then, instead of using blockchain and call the thing "cryptocurrency"?

Because this way you have a public ledger that can't be mutated without notifying the public. Not everything that blockchain gives is for the trust distributed use case. For that fact, proof of work is the only thing that is purely there because bitcoin's blockchain needs a distributed trust system.

> Because this way you have a public ledger that can't be mutated without notifying the public.

Can't this be done with something like git?

Re: Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange hacked, losing $530M: NHK

#223

Post by Obi_Juan_Kenobi »

trey-jones wrote: post #36
dumbfounder wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it makes it seem like exchanges are not trustworthy places to keep your crypto, and for basic users a lot of people just keep their crypto there. Fear, no matter how how misplaced, can cause markets to sway heavily.

Exchanges are not a trustworthy place to keep your crypt. I think that is accepted. What does it have to do with the value of the thing?

I can't believe this is downvoted; this has been a mantra in the cryptocurrency community for years. If you don't control your private keys, you don't control the coin.

Traders take a risk in putting funds, fiat or otherwise, on an exchange. Many use domestic exchanges that have higher fees in an attempt to mitigate this risk. They are all well aware, but see the reward to be worth it.

Re: Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange hacked, losing $530M: NHK

#224

Post by twinkletwinkle »

AznHisoka wrote: post #216
ReverseCold wrote: post #90

Posting this as a top level comment as well (probably a better idea): The coins stolen are XEM ( https://nem.io/ ) not Bitcoin. They're currently tracking the stolen coins to ensure they are not sold. Preliminary evidence suggests that it was a private key stolen and not a network problem. Disclaimer: Am somewhat associated with the team, and I hold a small amount of XEM. Feel free to ask questions.

So if they're tracking the coins to ensure they're not sold, and assuming it's never sold, wouldn't that mean the price of XEM should increase, as the supply has now decreased?

If 100 million of them were stolen you could also imagine that decreasing demand.

Re: Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange hacked, losing $530M: NHK

#226

Post by ceejayoz »

School-Cotton wrote: post #219
ceejayoz wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, they're certainly getting some. The suspicion is they're siphoning it off to their personal accounts, and that they're claiming to have received way more USD than they actually have so they can issue USDT that aren't actually backed to manipulate the market.

In that case, I'm confused by your question: "where's the USD to buy the Tether coming from?" You seem to have changed what you're suspicious about.

For clarity, there's a variety of very suspicious things about Tether. While they're clearly receiving some USD, they're printing $100M in Tether every couple days now.

If I claim to have $50k, you'll probably assume it comes from my job. If I claim to have $2B, as Tether does, you'll probably want some proof. Tether's promised regular audits, but they've released none and their supposed auditor has now scrubbed any mention of them off their site.

Re: Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange hacked, losing $530M: NHK

#227

Post by KMag »

icebraining wrote: post #212
dumbfounder wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine you have 2 sets of keys to your house and if you lose both then your house is not yours anymore. That's what keeping your money outside an exchange seems like to me. Exchanges are easy and familiar to people. If there was some secure way to do password recovery that was built into the currency that might be a game changer. That might be impossible by definition, not sure.

I think you definitively could make something like Keybase on Bitcoin, by using multiple third-party institutions (chosen by the user) as a fallback. When sending coins to your storage address, you'd say "anyone can use this money if they have this private key OR if they get a digitally-signed certificate from 3 out of 4 of these keys (A, B, C, D)". Those keys could belong to different institutions (or persons) that…

Too bad Bitcoin uses ECDSA instead of Ed25519 (or any other signature algorithm supporting threshold signatures). With threshold signatures, you don't even need something in the wallet saying "any N of the following M", you could just give secret shares to those M parties, and any N of them could collaborate to sign something using your single public key.

Re: Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange hacked, losing $530M: NHK

#228

Post by ReverseCold »

justboxing wrote: post #189
ReverseCold wrote: post #90

Posting this as a top level comment as well (probably a better idea): The coins stolen are XEM ( https://nem.io/ ) not Bitcoin. They're currently tracking the stolen coins to ensure they are not sold. Preliminary evidence suggests that it was a private key stolen and not a network problem. Disclaimer: Am somewhat associated with the team, and I hold a small amount of XEM. Feel free to ask questions.

Over 100 Million XRP ( Ripple ) worth 130 Million USD was also allegedly stolen. Source: Here's the original tweet from Bloomberg Tech Reporter in Toyko, Yuji Nakamura. https://twitter.com/ynakamura56/status/956790270036619265 Tweet In English: > Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck halts withdrawals, deposits, trading in NEM. Rumors is a big chunk was moved from their wallet. Also seems >$130m of XRP moved out too. I…

The 530M figure was in XEM (been floating around $1) - but that may be an additional amount.

Re: Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange hacked, losing $530M: NHK

#229

Post by ReverseCold »

hartator wrote: post #169

They are tainting the stolen coins to avoid them to be sold. What’s the point of having a decentralized currency if a centralized entity make the decisions anyway at the end of day?

The hacker can still move coins around on chain, they just can't turn it into fiat (since they broke a real law by a real government, they can't be given the fiat.)

Re: Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange hacked, losing $530M: NHK

#230

Post by ReverseCold »

CryptoPunk wrote: post #173
hartator wrote: post #169

They are tainting the stolen coins to avoid them to be sold. What’s the point of having a decentralized currency if a centralized entity make the decisions anyway at the end of day?

NEM (the cryptocurrency that was stolen) isn't decentralized.

What do you mean? It is intended to be decentralized, I am curious as to why you think it isn't. (Possible misunderstanding/etc?)
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