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Czech bitcoin exchange Bitcash.cz hacked, up to 4,000 user wallets emptied

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Re: Czech bitcoin exchange Bitcash.cz hacked, up to 4,000 user wallets emptied

#51
post #17

Every new day seems to bring another new Bitcoin scandal -- whether it's a hacked exchange, stolen wallets, frozen funds, collapsed Ponzi schemes, arrested illegal-market operators, or who knows what else. Yet, despite all this, Bitcoin keeps appreciating, recently reaching an all-time high.[1] -- [1] https://blockchain.info/charts/market-price?timespan=all

I'm old enough to remember a time when using your credit card to buy something on the internet was considered wildly stupid and irresponsible. Just saying.

Re: Czech bitcoin exchange Bitcash.cz hacked, up to 4,000 user wallets emptied

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, I wouldn't recommend Coinbase. They deemed one of my purchases from them as "high-risk" and have been holding my money hostage since. Support team has been taking 3-4 days to reply to each email in the thread.

Sometimes this happens. They deal with purchases every day and can't aid with money laundering.

But a 3-4 day response time isn't part of fraud prevention.

Re: Czech bitcoin exchange Bitcash.cz hacked, up to 4,000 user wallets emptied

#53
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Coinbase.com is a YC company that's trustworthy and convenient if you have a US bank account

Eh, I wouldn't recommend Coinbase. They deemed one of my purchases from them as "high-risk" and have been holding my money hostage since. Support team has been taking 3-4 days to reply to each email in the thread.

Yeah, their support department is absolutely awful.

Re: Czech bitcoin exchange Bitcash.cz hacked, up to 4,000 user wallets emptied

#54
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's important to distinguish the crimes that happen involving theft of bitcoin, from bitcoin as a payment system and protocol. Do you know how many crimes happen per day involving dollars? It's many orders of magnitude more than bitcoin related crimes. Just sayin' edit: a word

> Do you know how many crimes happen per day involving dollars? It's many orders of magnitude more than bitcoin related crimes. Just sayin' This is true, yet means absolutely nothing. You're using absolutes when you should be using relatives. If in a pool A of a hundred transactions one is a fraud, and in a pool B of ten thousands transactions a hundred are frauds, both pool present the same risk of a transaction bei…

Using relatives is fine; my only point is that bitcoin is new and interesting and newsworthy and the negatives tend to get focused on. I honestly do not think that crime is more rampant in the bitcoin economy than the dollar economy. And this is just considering financial theft, and not institutionalized crime - e.g., innumerable instances of malfeasance committed by large banks or the wholesale robbery of the population through inflation of the dollar. Considered in total, I think bitcoin represents a far more honest and less crime-prone monetary system.

Re: Czech bitcoin exchange Bitcash.cz hacked, up to 4,000 user wallets emptied

#55
post #17

Every new day seems to bring another new Bitcoin scandal -- whether it's a hacked exchange, stolen wallets, frozen funds, collapsed Ponzi schemes, arrested illegal-market operators, or who knows what else. Yet, despite all this, Bitcoin keeps appreciating, recently reaching an all-time high.[1] -- [1] https://blockchain.info/charts/market-price?timespan=all

i like my missed opportunities in logarithmic: https://blockchain.info/charts/market-price?showDataPoints=f... btw, isn't the point of bitcoin system is that all transactions are forever traceable, ie. bitcoins can't just disappear, they only can be moved from one known place to another?

if you move them to a known place that is unreachable then they have effectively disappeared

Re: Czech bitcoin exchange Bitcash.cz hacked, up to 4,000 user wallets emptied

#56
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you're not looking at the important metric. The _price_ of BTC is completely irrelevant to its "success". The only people who care about BTC price are speculators who are simply "day-trading" with the newest penny-stock. The real measurement is whether or not people are actually using BTC as a mechanism to transfer wealth between each other. https://blockchain.info/charts/n-transactions Notice: the number of…

And you know that people are actually doing transactions how? As far as I can tell a big whale is keeping the volume of transactions steady moving coins from one portfoglio to another. There you go, transactions steady.

Yes. What I'd really like to know is, how many bitcoins are being exchanged for actual goods and services, not just shifted from wallet to wallet or swapped back and forth for dollars.

Re: Czech bitcoin exchange Bitcash.cz hacked, up to 4,000 user wallets emptied

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, I wouldn't recommend Coinbase. They deemed one of my purchases from them as "high-risk" and have been holding my money hostage since. Support team has been taking 3-4 days to reply to each email in the thread.

Yeah, their support department is absolutely awful.

They've been chalking that up to growing pains -- for the longest time, they didn't even have a dedicated support guy hired; it was just the two founders. Last time I checked they had just one member of staff dedicated to support, although by now they might have one or two more.

Re: Czech bitcoin exchange Bitcash.cz hacked, up to 4,000 user wallets emptied

#58
post #17

Every new day seems to bring another new Bitcoin scandal -- whether it's a hacked exchange, stolen wallets, frozen funds, collapsed Ponzi schemes, arrested illegal-market operators, or who knows what else. Yet, despite all this, Bitcoin keeps appreciating, recently reaching an all-time high.[1] -- [1] https://blockchain.info/charts/market-price?timespan=all

My pet theory for the spate of hacks as of late is that they're all happening now precisely because Bitcoin is trading so high.

If you can hack a Bitcoin "bank" and rob it, wouldn't it be smartest to wait until the money inside it is worth the most?

Re: Czech bitcoin exchange Bitcash.cz hacked, up to 4,000 user wallets emptied

#59
post #51
post #17

Every new day seems to bring another new Bitcoin scandal -- whether it's a hacked exchange, stolen wallets, frozen funds, collapsed Ponzi schemes, arrested illegal-market operators, or who knows what else. Yet, despite all this, Bitcoin keeps appreciating, recently reaching an all-time high.[1] -- [1] https://blockchain.info/charts/market-price?timespan=all

I'm old enough to remember a time when using your credit card to buy something on the internet was considered wildly stupid and irresponsible. Just saying.

One difference is that slashdot didn't lead with a new "all the credit cards are gone!" story every day...

Re: Czech bitcoin exchange Bitcash.cz hacked, up to 4,000 user wallets emptied

#60
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure that I'd lead with speculation from the Winklevosses in order to convince a skeptic. Your other three points are much stronger. Also, only the latter two are actual economic developments, rather than analysis. The upcoming Congressional hearings might be newsworthy too.

Their speculation might not be worth much, but if they succeed in setting up a bitcoin ETF it could definitely boost bitcoin's credibility.

1. The Winklevoss name doesnt exactly boost credibility.

2. What you're describing already exists.

https://www.secondmarket.com

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