Inevitably, when people start making a whole lot of money from a brand new venture, others will work out a way to relieve said people of their newfound riches. And it seems Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies aren’t immune. According to the New York Times, crypto fans are becoming increasingly paranoid about getting staunched IRL for their precious computer coins.
They’re not afraid for no reason, either. The Times points out several instances in which someone used real-life violence to secure cryptocurrency:
In the beach resort of Phuket, Thailand, last month, the assailants pushed their victim, a young Russian man, into his apartment and kept him there, blindfolded, until he logged onto his computer and transferred about $100,000 worth of Bitcoin to an online wallet they controlled.
A few weeks before that, the head of a Bitcoin exchange in Ukraine was taken hostage and only released after the company paid a ransom of $1 million in Bitcoin.
Part of the appeal stems from the fact that it’s incredibly easy to transfer cryptocurrency from the wallet of the owner to the wallet of the thief. Sticking a pistol in someone’s face and demanding they facilitate the exchange ain’t hard.
And – due to the nature of the blockchain technology which underpins cryptocurrency – thieves don’t necessarily need to associate their names with their personal wallet. This makes it much harder for cops to find out who did it.
A series of crimes, like those listed above as well as a series of armed attacks on crypto exchanges and traders, has fomented a great deal of fear among the so-called ‘crypto rich’ – like those Forbes documented in their article last week. According to the NYT, a crypto conference last month, there was a whole panel discussion on how to deal with “the threat of robbery, extortion and kidnappings in which the criminals seek Bitcoin or other virtual currencies.”
Interesting times ahead. Or Bitcoin fans could just become this maniac:
Bitcoin security pro tip: protect your software with hardware. pic.twitter.com/R4KeRGRcTP
— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) October 26, 2017
