Mt. Gox trades rolled back, thief only got away with $1K in BTC

https://support.mtgox.com/entries/20208066-huge-bitcoin-sell-off-due-to-a-compromised-account-rollback

by mcantelon • 15 years ago

71 37 15 years ago

support.mtgox.com

wccrawford• 15 years ago

The hacker wasn't trying to get money. He was trying to undermine the system. And it's working.

The $1000 was a bonus on top of all the doubt he has now instilled in anyone who has bitcoins.

mcantelon6• 15 years ago

Mt. Gox's security concerns are definitely troubling, but my guess is the effect on the market won't be huge as the Bitcoin community seems fairly committed to the long term.

xfs• 15 years ago

The market is indeed small. From the leaked database of Mt Gox, there are 40k registered mailbox.

hugh34• 15 years ago

The hacker wasn't trying to get money. He was trying to undermine the system.

What makes you think that?

Heck, I've been undermining bitcoin for weeks just for fun, but I'd much rather have a thousand dollars.

bobwebb• 15 years ago

Not to sound paranoid, but if the hacker had a vested interest in bitcoin being undermined (government agent?) then money wouldn't be his main motive.

drivebyacct24• 15 years ago

This isn't a weakness in BTC. This was a weakness with MtGox. They're only related because the attacked tried to get out of BTC into USD. It's not really BTC's fault.

ugh3• 15 years ago

It’s not Bitcoin’s fault but it’s Bitcoin’s problem. Life isn’t fair and Bitcoin needs trust (like every other currency) if it wants to succeed.

DavidSJ2• 15 years ago

Homework assignment: what's $1k in BTC at $0.01/BTC?

ebaysucks3• 15 years ago

That $1K stolen represents the first trades at the starting price of the crash, i.e. 50 or so Bitcoins.

Given the profits MtGox is making, it wouldn't surprise me the exchange buys $1K in Bitcoins for the account holder so he has his 500K coins again.

mcantelon6• 15 years ago

Hopefully they'll hire some security consultants as well.

DavidSJ2• 15 years ago

That $1K stolen represents the first trades at the starting price of the crash, i.e. 50 or so Bitcoins.

Is there confirmation of this somewhere?

tudorachim• 15 years ago

False; there were many trades executed near $0 (see http://leanback.eu/bitcoin/plots/20110619195756-mtgox.png).

tlrobinson2• 15 years ago

Does the $1000/day limit apply to withdrawing to the Bitcoin network in addition to the bank options? If not the thief could have just send the 500K BTC to one of his Bitcoin addresses, and laundered the money and traded if for real currency at his leisure. Mt Gox can only roll back trades within their system, not transactions involving the Bitcoin network once they're in the block chain.

ebaysucks3• 15 years ago

Good point, it would make much more sense to just run away with the Bitcoins rather than dumping them.

tlrobinson2• 15 years ago

Looks like he might have done just that: http://blockexplorer.com/tx/84f96975ea88d317676771a482c71f39...

Impossible to know without confirmation from MtGox though.

mehwoot2• 15 years ago

Yeah, I thought this as well- why the hell, if you had access to all the accounts, you wouldn't just take all the coins. But- mtgox is the main exchange (handles 90% of volume), so how would you launder the money elsewhere? There just wouldn't be the volume to get it out. Also, everyone can trace bitcoins- if you took them, people can see what you are doing with them. I think this was possibly the easier, surefire way to go.

cjg• 15 years ago

Mt. Gox are now accepting claims to recover accounts.

Mt. Gox trades rolled back, thief only got away with $1K in BTC

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