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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."
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.
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.
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...
You know how I can tell you didn't read the article before you posted that...?
No sig today...
WIRED bought $200,000 worth of Bitcoins on january 6th.
#DeleteFacebook
Hell I don't even read the comments I'm replying to!
And you're wrong, by the way. The Earth is more than 5000 years old. A lot more.
#DeleteFacebook
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
How would they know if the Bitcoins were used.
I am the unwilling control for my Origin.
"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
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?
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
...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.
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?
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.
Big Bang Theory did it better. (S11E09)
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
You know how I can tell you didn't read the article before you posted that...?
Because it's posted on Slashdot?
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.
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.