Bitcoin Exchange BitFloor Says It Will Replace Stolen Coins

angry tapir writes "Bitcoin exchanges generally don't seem to recover that easily after security breaches. However, BitFloor, which was hacked and had 24,000 Bitcoins stolen in early September, is coming back online, refunding account holders whose coins were stolen and implementing new security measures, including cold storage for private keys." The key word is "intends" — but I hope it happens as promised.

Comments

pump and dump

[Anonymous Coward]

"Yes, we plan on buying a large number of Buttcoins to replace the ones that 'external hackers' stole from our 'customers'."

[price goes up on exchanges]

['stolen' coins all sold for cash out of an anonymous account that's surely not controlled buy the guy running BitFloor]

[BitFloor never heard from again]

Taking money from the Buttcoin crowd must be the easiest thing in the world. It's like if you took normal currency speculators and then gave them all severe head injuries.

Re:pump and dump

[scorp1us]

Anonymity was never a feature of Bitcoin, though first reports made claims to that. It is regarded currently and properly as pseudo-anonymous. Your bitcoin wallet maintains a ledger of every transaction ever made. So you can see money moving between people, unlike a stock exchange or bank. Scratch that, it's not a matter of can, it is a matter of having to see every transaction.

Where they "anonymity" lies us unlike a bank, you can create an account (address) out of thin air. You can control any number of accounts in your wallet, and move money between them. So no one can tell what addresses are in your wallet and who (person) controls however many bitcoins. Two people having 10 btc might divide it up differently - 1 person has all 10btc in one address, the other has 10 addresses all with one. You don't know who controls what. The only way to find out is to get enough wallets with enough addresses in them that you can start identifying people for past transactions, but you can always invent a new address so you can't ever "watch" anyone. It is just like - until recently - moving money between swiss bank accounts.

Re:Refund how?

[nedlohs]

If they didn't contract to refund in such cases then they aren't insolvent since there is no obligation to repay. If they did then if the terms for repaying are long enough in the contract they probably aren't insolvent either (you are allowed to carry debt without that automatically making you insolvent). If they do have such a contract but the penalties for breaking it are small enough or allowed to be paid over a long enough term then the same thing applies as above - you are allowed to have debt.

So what information leads you to conclude they are insolvent?