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Hackers Steal $5M In Bitcoin During Bitstamp Exchange Attack
itwbennett writes: After a weekend hack forced the Bitcoin exchange Bitstamp to shut down, Bitstamp has revealed that $5 million worth of bitcoin was stolen during the attack. And that's not all the bad news for Bitcoin this week: Canadian Bitcoin exchange Vault of Satoshi announced it is is no longer accepting new deposits and will close Feb. 5. But in this case the operators are pursuing new business opportunities, saying in a post that the shutdown "has absolutely nothing to do with insolvency, stolen funds, or any other unfortunate scenario."
Funny, but it does make me wonder why people keep anything in these exchange or in online wallets anymore. I mean is keeping a small file safe yourself really that hard?
If bank of america and other major institutions cannot keep your info out of the hands of hackers why would you think any other website is infallible?
You wouldn't, but Bank of America is federally insured, Bitcoin exchanges are not. Obviously storing currency in one of those is a lot more risky than that other.
If bank of america and other major institutions cannot keep your info out of the hands of hackers why would you think any other website is infallible?
My bank (Chase) got hacked last year, and Teh Evil Haxx0rz might have gotten my vital info, but all of my money is still in the bank.
Months before that, someone used my Chase CC to buy a couple of Amtrak tickets (presumably to then refund them for cash). Got a fraud alert from Chase, and called them to confirm that it was in fact fraud. They immediately canceled my card sent me new ones. Checks of my & my wife's credit reports show no unusual activity.
So, thank you very much, but I'll stick with fiat money stored in an actual, regulated American bank.
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
Can those bitcoin stealing malwares pickpocket my wallet from a printout in a manila envelope in my safe?
If I had millions of USD in BTC, I'd have to consider having several offline wallets.
Circle and coinbase are regulated with Fincen, AML and KYC regulations, additionally they are insured. The "hack" exchange discussed here was also audited recently and had over 100% solvency unlike most banks and the stolen amount was just some of their pocket trading coins on their live server. I use traditional banks along with bitcoin banks because there are advantages to knowing when to leverage Bitcoin or Fiat.
Yes, just like people stop using dollars when there are bank robberies.
No, people do not stop using dollars when there are bank robberies because - as I pointed out in my original post - these bitcoin entities are unregulated and uninsured. If a bank is robbed you do not lose your money, when MtGox was robbed you lost your bitcoins.
I thought I made it pretty clear and wouldn't have to point out that the reason I explicitly said they were uninsured and unregulated is because that is contrary to the existing banking systems.