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Developer posts secret key on GitHub, loses $40K in 2 minutes

cointelegraph.com

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Re: Developer posts secret key on GitHub, loses $40K in 2 minutes

#3
> In 2023, Guan posted his opinion on smart contract engineers. According to Guan, projects that pay smart contract engineers $200,000 are “ngmi,” which is short for “not gonna make it.” The Web3 founder said that any solid developer “should be able to write solidity with the help of ChatGPT.”

Ah, schadenfreude.

Re: Developer posts secret key on GitHub, loses $40K in 2 minutes

#4
> When a community member inquired about how long it took for the funds to be drained, the Web3 founder responded that it took just two minutes for someone to withdraw the funds.

The public events API is delayed by 5 minutes[1]. Unless someone was actively scraping his profile rather than doing large scans on GitHub, this is not possible.

[1] https://docs.github.com/en/rest/activity/events?apiVersion=2...

Re: Developer posts secret key on GitHub, loses $40K in 2 minutes

#5
post #2

Some cryptocurrency isn't a safe store of value to begin with, so he was probably ready to lose that at any moment anyways. Worse way than most to lose it, but he doesn't sound too bummed out.

>Some cryptocurrency isn't a safe store of value to begin with...

If I may, I would posit all crypto is not a safe store of value to begin with. An EMP taking out the entire world power grid would render crypto pretty useless almost immediately, while gold will just sit there. Even paper money is resistant to decentralized unwindings as they are physical and people are conditioned from birth to accept their value.

Re: Developer posts secret key on GitHub, loses $40K in 2 minutes

#6
post #5
post #2

Some cryptocurrency isn't a safe store of value to begin with, so he was probably ready to lose that at any moment anyways. Worse way than most to lose it, but he doesn't sound too bummed out.

>Some cryptocurrency isn't a safe store of value to begin with... If I may, I would posit all crypto is not a safe store of value to begin with. An EMP taking out the entire world power grid would render crypto pretty useless almost immediately, while gold will just sit there. Even paper money is resistant to decentralized unwindings as they are physical and people are conditioned from birth to accept their value.

An EMP taking out the entire world power grid would be a complete disaster for everyone. Goldbugs and people with cash in their mattresses included.

Re: Developer posts secret key on GitHub, loses $40K in 2 minutes

#7
post #4

> When a community member inquired about how long it took for the funds to be drained, the Web3 founder responded that it took just two minutes for someone to withdraw the funds. The public events API is delayed by 5 minutes[1]. Unless someone was actively scraping his profile rather than doing large scans on GitHub, this is not possible. [1] https://docs.github.com/en/rest/activity/events?apiVersion=2...

They don't need to proactively scan all of GitHub to exploit this kind of mistake, just active accounts that are known to be involved with cryptocurrency.

GitHub even lets you find them easily: https://github.com/search?q=language%3ASolidity&type=users

Re: Developer posts secret key on GitHub, loses $40K in 2 minutes

#8
post #4

> When a community member inquired about how long it took for the funds to be drained, the Web3 founder responded that it took just two minutes for someone to withdraw the funds. The public events API is delayed by 5 minutes[1]. Unless someone was actively scraping his profile rather than doing large scans on GitHub, this is not possible. [1] https://docs.github.com/en/rest/activity/events?apiVersion=2...

"$40k became 'untraceable' while being reported as lost" /s

Re: Developer posts secret key on GitHub, loses $40K in 2 minutes

#9
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Some cryptocurrency isn't a safe store of value to begin with... If I may, I would posit all crypto is not a safe store of value to begin with. An EMP taking out the entire world power grid would render crypto pretty useless almost immediately, while gold will just sit there. Even paper money is resistant to decentralized unwindings as they are physical and people are conditioned from birth to accept their value.

An EMP taking out the entire world power grid would be a complete disaster for everyone. Goldbugs and people with cash in their mattresses included.

The toilet paper and tylenol guys will be fine.

Re: Developer posts secret key on GitHub, loses $40K in 2 minutes

#10
post #5
post #2

Some cryptocurrency isn't a safe store of value to begin with, so he was probably ready to lose that at any moment anyways. Worse way than most to lose it, but he doesn't sound too bummed out.

>Some cryptocurrency isn't a safe store of value to begin with... If I may, I would posit all crypto is not a safe store of value to begin with. An EMP taking out the entire world power grid would render crypto pretty useless almost immediately, while gold will just sit there. Even paper money is resistant to decentralized unwindings as they are physical and people are conditioned from birth to accept their value.

In the scenario of an EMP taking out the entire world grid you'll be trading potatoes, cigarettes and bullets, not gold and dollar bills
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