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How WIRED lost $100,000 in Bitcoin (wired.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Back in 2013, the halcyon days of at-home Bitcoin mining, staffers in the WIRED San Francisco office turned on one of Butterfly Labs' mining machines and let it whir away, amassing a horde of 13 bitcoins -- now worth $100,000. But today we have nothing to show for our efforts. What happened to our loot?
The same thing that has happened to millions of other unfortunate miners, actually: We lost our private key, a 64-digit string of random numbers that not one of us remembers. And we've got basically no chance of recovering it: "Originally I was going to say that the closest metaphor I have is that we dropped a car key somewhere in the Atlantic," says Stefan Antonowicz, WIRED's then-head of engineering. "But I think it's closer for me to say we dropped the key somewhere between here and the Alpha Centauri."
The same thing that has happened to millions of other unfortunate miners, actually: We lost our private key, a 64-digit string of random numbers that not one of us remembers. And we've got basically no chance of recovering it: "Originally I was going to say that the closest metaphor I have is that we dropped a car key somewhere in the Atlantic," says Stefan Antonowicz, WIRED's then-head of engineering. "But I think it's closer for me to say we dropped the key somewhere between here and the Alpha Centauri."
Hope you had fun at that party.
bickerdyke
All this does is highlight one of the many the serious problems relating to cryptocurrency.
I have mod points. The reign of terror begins now.
This story is here because they invented a way to find lost bitcoin? Or they programmed an algorithm to tell them the most likely number that the bitcoin was? Or they created anything at all?
I do not understand why this is a 'story', people lost a 64 char string representing bitcoin of a 100,000$ amount.
Lets see who posted this, I hope it isn't msmash because I've been rough on them for posting shitty air head click bait stories for awhile. Oh, well apparently patterns of bad behavior are had to break.
Anytime /. wants to get back to being about science and technological innovations the easy solution is to throw msmash out a 3rd story window and then go grab someone who is actually into technology and looking toward the future not merely doing pithy political commentary on social events trying vainly to hit our emotional buttons.
The word is "hoard."
Of course, matters are only confused further by the Golden Horde, which was neither gold, nor a hoard.
In the very early days of bitcoin, probably 2008-2009, wallet companies were just getting off the ground and they would give you 25 BTC just for signing up for their service. I did that, and put the key and wallet info somewhere I'd never forget.
I forgot.
Every so often I'll find an old CD or DVD backup and think, "Hey, maybe I backed that up on here!", but of course I didn't. The wallet company is probably long-gone anyway.
I'm sorry, but your opinion seems to be wrong.
One with the code on the back but the key on it is scratched so unreadable. I got it when bitcoin was only $50. I think the novelty value of it exceeds any current monetary value of it. I also mined 7 bitcoin when GPU mining was still viable and I gave it all away on 4chan.
Its not so much about how they lost a bitcoin its more about how they purposefully destroyed it!
I mean I can put a stack of $100 bills in the fireplace too and they will also be 'gone forever' as far as I am concerned personally. Its not like I can phone of the fed and ask them to print me some new ones.
Frankly the people at Wired are stupid, most journalists these days are, so no surprise there. I don't see why they could not have solved the conflict problem by selling the bitcoin for cash - so the value is not independant of the bitcoin, donating the money to their favorite charity before running the store about the mini miner thing they reviewed. Should have been and easy and obvious solution. Then you just conclude the story with "and we got a bitcoin which we sold for X at Mt. Gox (or wherever) the proceeds were donated to xyz foundation for the arts and orphans." No problems or conflicts there. XYZ is unaffected by and change in btc value because they got cash. Selling the coin on the currency exchange was an arms length transaction thru a broker, so again no real problems there in terms of conflict. It was totally unnecessary to destroy their private key.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
I am waiting for the day that we hear that some bank had backed up their encryption keys on tapes that were encrypted using those keys. Easy to do in a complex environment. An HSM fails and poof, everything gone.
Dear customer, please send us a recent copy of your statement (that we don't send you any more) so that we can figure out what your balance is...
They destroyed the key ON PURPOSE. They lost nothing.
BTC wallet security is good.
and will save it until this little drama is long forgotten, and the bitcoin can be exchanged for real currency without traces.
The linked article actually says they deliberately destroyed the key - to keep their journalistic integrity in the future.
What a pity there's no such thing as integrity on Slashdot these days. The editors have stopped reading even their own articles.
No sig today...
WIRED bought $200,000 worth of Bitcoins on january 6th.
#DeleteFacebook
... down the back of your Bitsofa.
Can anyone help me? I would be very grateful.
1CagiaNEo1MdW4NxAtX5qyDWZC2fgEpf6t
Someone in the NSA is booking time on their secret quantum computer!
Wait a minute... someone LOST money on Bitcoin?!
I've never heard of anyone admitting that. Only that they made some money, got their original investment out, and then lost the profit, or that they made Lambo-kinda money.
.. hehe
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Are (any) fiat-currency and (any) cryptocurrency really equivalent, as cryptocurrency fans claim?
For example, US Dollar and Bitcoin are really equals?
Value/validity/authorization of US dollar is provided/guaranteed by US Government (and in-turn whole US Public)!
Also, not to mention, US Dollars in any US Bank is insured by US Government!
What authorization/guarantee/insurance is behind Bitcoin? Nothing!
Sorry but that is the end of discussion then!
Why do you think Satoshi Nakamoto is really hiding his identity, if Bitcoin is really such a great innovation?
He is just someone does not like media/fan attention?
Or, could it be really because Bitcoin (and all cryptocurrencies followed it) are actually Ponzi Schemes?
(So he knew very well that law enforcement would come after him sooner or later?!)
If so-called cryptocurrencies are really good innovation, why they attract so many criminals/criminal activity?
Could it really be because, all cryptocurrencies themselves are scams, and that is why they attract all kinds of criminals/criminal activity?
If so-called cryptocurrencies are really currency, why no company/store can use Bitcoin as currency anymore?
Because the price of Bitcoin proved to be extremely unstable to use as a currency?
Would the result be different, if Bitcoin replaced by any other "cryptocurrency"?
Aren't all work the same way?
If so-called cryptocurrencies are really money; isn't people issuing their own money, illegal already, in all countries?
If so then, why they are still not banned in all countries?
Or, they are not actually virtual currency but virtual investment?
But, if they are actually investment, why we need/want them?
What would happen to world economy, if people invested in virtual investments, instead of real investments?
Or, all so-called cryptocurrencies are actually just a modified (made decentralized and paying variable interest) Ponzi Schemes?
(Price of cryptocurrencies would keep increasing in the long term (by their design), so it is equivalent of paying variable interest to all long term investors.)
Also, since all so-called cryptocurrencies are actually financial scams (Ponzi Schemes), that means, they cannot be the solution for any of existing financial problems of our world!
As more and more people invest in cryptocurrencies, it will become harder and harder to ban their trading everywhere (because people invested in cryptocurrencies, would try to stop anyone trying to ban cryptocurrencies)!
All cryptocurrencies need to be banned globally before it is too late!
How would they know if the Bitcoins were used.
I am the unwilling control for my Origin.
it can cost ya big time.
"We lost our key"
isn't the same as (from TFA):
"..."We talked about donating it to a journalism institution, or setting it aside as a scholarship. But we decided that if we gained any benefit from it at all, it would color our future coverage of bitcoin," says Calore. "So we just destroyed the key, knowing full well that it could eventually be worth six or seven figures." McMillan then posted a story announcing the key had been ripped to pieces."
So they didn't LOSE the key, they deliberately and with forethought and recognition of the consequences, destroyed the key.
This is a rather stupid article; essentially it's about how a bunch of people pursued a course of action that...had pretty nearly exactly the result they expected.
Slow news day, Wired?
-Styopa
We lost [ or destroyed ] our private key, a 64-digit string of random numbers that not one of us remembers
Although all it needs is for 1 copy to still exist. You'd think that someone in the office would have thought "There's zero cost to me keeping a note of that -- what the hell".
P.S. have they tried looking under the keyboard?
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
They didn't lose their Bitcoin, they purposely destroyed their private key, with the intent of locking themselves out of their Bitcoin... Very different from, "Woops, what happened to it?!"
If people are spending tons of money on equipment and electricity to mine bitcoin, what's to stop people from using the hardware to crack the private key?
Hey, I took a wild guess and picked a string. I'll sell the information to you for $50,000
He did. How else could he know specific details.
Not to worry, in a few years they will be able to use quantum computing to crack their own wallet and recover their money.
Nullius in verba
For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion so they will believe the lie, in order that judgment will come upon all who have disbelieved the truth and delighted in wickedness.
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work ... The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder, and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.
Ive been told this is IMPOSSIBLE because all transactions are in the chain bro!
...even on Mars, you still have the car.
Like most car analogies, this sucks.
Let me try it. You parked your car in a generic parking garage without plates and you can't remember which garage or which city.
If you know a piece of data on your hard drive could be worth "six of seven figures", then you're a fool to forsake it.
And, you know what? Bitcoin has a limited supply.
That means they did donate their money; by destroying it, they essentially donated their purchasing power to all the other holders of BTC.
Yup, that's definitely written by a Wired "journalist".
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
That worked well for Commandments 11, 12, 13, 14 , 15 until the stone tablet was dropped
There is no such thing as 100% secure or permanent.
Multiple copies in multiple formats/media in multiple locations does get close at least for a few decades.
and they don't backup their systems?
As is the whole Condé Nast operation. There's been multiple rounds of layoffs in the last two years. They're going to keep turning out Democrat Party propaganda all the way until the landlord cuts off the power. Which may not be too far away!
So this ain't news. A private cryptographic key is the best way to keep any secret safe (as in ssh keys are used to control access all the servers on the Internet). Your lost coins benefit all hodlers... so thanks for all the fish, and stop the pathetic FUD attempts.
If everyone who has lost a key still had it, Bitcoin wouldn't be worth as much, since there would be more circulating. Likewise, if nobody had bought a pizza with Bitcoin, it would be worth precisely f all today! While you lot are moaning about missed fortunes there are other people quietly getting on with spotting the next big trends and not living in the past.
Sammy the intern "lost" the key. Sure.
Big Bang Theory did it better. (S11E09)
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
How could people as tech-savvy as the Wired staff have failed to record - and BACK UP - their bitcoin key? "The palest ink is better than the most retentive memory."
Frankly the people at Wired are stupid, most journalists these days are, so no surprise there.
Oh give me one big frickin' break, Elmer. Typical Slashdot response - blame the victims.
The people at Wired at just regular people juggling many things to do, and not necessarily Aspie addled, parent basement dwelling, numb nuts who obsess over crypto currency. Yes, it's unfortunate that they lost the keys, and yes it is ultimately their fault, but that doesn't make them stupid. Just makes them human.
In fact, this really points the finger back at techies like us here. We (the greater "we") created a technical product where it turns out to be common that normal users lose value, sometimes LOTS of value, as part of regular use. While some, like the parent poster, revel in technical complexity and glare at the normies who don't know how to manage this new technology, ultimately this is a gap, a hole, a glaring deficiency. It's not the users who are stupid, it's the techies who get the 'fail.'
Hey, Windows users, there is no such thing as "forward" slash, there is only slash and backslash.
Bitcoin is headed to zero, so the difference between having 13 and none will only be the electric bill.
If everyone who kept 13 bitcoins in a wallet from 2013 were still able to access their coins, then the spectacular crypto bubble of 2017 would not have been as spectacular. Like a 1938 mint condition issue of Action Comics, the value of Bitcoin is determined by market forces which require you to have ownership of the thing you want to trade, and the price is based on the scarcity relative to the demand. Because Wired no longer had control of those 13 coins, they weren't able to play in the market.
Don't be so sure one of your sys admins won't manage to "find" it, WIRED.
It's horse crap written by horse crap for horse crap.