wry Posted February 4, 2019 #1 Posted February 4, 2019 This one was just too classic to pass up. Everyone knows to not keep your coins on exchanges right? Make your trade and get out! Sadly, I've sometimes failed to follow that advice but this news story shows exactly WHY that is almost always the right decision. We are used to exchanges getting hacked. In order to keep the losses from this low, most reputable sites keep most of their coins in cold storage, inaccessible. Well what happened here was the CEO of QuadrigaCX died last December and he left no record of the password for the coins that were kept in cold storage. Apparently, while I'd never heard of Quadriga before, it's not a small stash: 26,000 bitcoins, 11,000 Bitcoin Cash, 11,000 Bitcoin Cash SV, 35,000 Bitcoin Gold, close to 200,000 Litecoin and more than 400,000 Ether. All told, the value of the digital assets is around $190 million. Fortunately, as Satoshi himself said, Lost coins make everyone else's coins more valuable, think of it as a donation. So thank you QuadrigaCX, and remember, don't keep your coins on exchanges. I hope Stake has a plan if Edward and/or Stunna gets hit by a bus! Link: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/crypto-exchange-customers-cant-access-190-million-after-ceo-dies-with-sole-password-2019-02-04
BLXN Posted February 4, 2019 #2 Posted February 4, 2019 lol! well, i wonder how many computers they have set to crack the private key, probably working 24/7. This leads me to wonder about the advancement of cracking as giants like IBM begin to roll out consumer level quantum computer. :3
bmg Posted February 4, 2019 #3 Posted February 4, 2019 $190 Million is quit a bit to leave behind without anyone to collect . However its great to know that it makes the value of everyone else's coins more valuable. It would be crazy to have 26 bitcoins go to waist though.
BLXN Posted February 4, 2019 #4 Posted February 4, 2019 1 minute ago, bmg said: $190 Million is quit a bit to leave behind without anyone to collect . However its great to know that it makes the value of everyone else's coins more valuable. It would be crazy to have 26 bitcoins go to waist though. they don't really have any intrinsic value to the average crypto-user -- and like Wry said, the fewer the bitcoins, the greater the value, so - in this way, the general benefits at the expense of the particular. Although -- agreed- it's like hearing of buried treasure somewhere, and thinking you ought to go and dig it up
wry Posted February 4, 2019 Author #5 Posted February 4, 2019 37 minutes ago, BLXN said: it's like hearing of buried treasure somewhere, and thinking you ought to go and dig it up It's funny you mention this as it was along the lines of what I thought! Back in the day people had to hide their money to keep the bad guys from getting it. So it's just like your old grandpa dying without telling you where the stash of gold coins was buried! Except, as you noted in your first response, gotta use massive computing power to try and find the treasure rather than a shovel and intuition! While it's a donation to all of us, I do hope they find the password, Canadians are such nice people, they should not lose coins this way!
KiXxnTRiXx Posted February 5, 2019 #6 Posted February 5, 2019 Hmm im in Canada and i never even heard of that exchange! lol i feel suddenly so uninformed.. As to keeping coins at exhange sites, ya.. i never do, as soon as i finish my trade, i transfer all my coins out right away.. not that i do not trust the sites security, just tha i have no reason to keep any of it there.. plus if you transfer our in multiple sessions, will just end up costing me more paying the fee each time.. and im glad i dont keep any coins at exhanges knowing now of that story you just posted! yikes.. that would be such a heartbreaker to the ones it happened to.. but lesson learned i guess..
xtinepink Posted February 5, 2019 #7 Posted February 5, 2019 It’s like a same scenario when you don’t share your private keys to your loved ones. Then your crypto is useless when something happens to you.
wry Posted February 5, 2019 Author #8 Posted February 5, 2019 In a nice follow up today the CEO's death certificate was released and the company filed for bankruptcy protection. Story including an image of the death certificate: https://www.coindesk.com/indian-death-certificate-crypto-exchange-quadrigacx-death Really interesting that the CEO was in India and the company was in Canada. There is some possibility that he ran away with the coins, but this is a legitimate death certificate though I could not read the cause of death. On balance really interesting and sad. Story on bankruptcy protection: https://www.coindesk.com/judge-moves-to-block-potential-lawsuits-against-quadrigacx-exchange Stay tuned!!!
Dan Posted February 5, 2019 #10 Posted February 5, 2019 I saw this yesterday on my wya home. Pretty crazy stuff! I am not currently aware of any plans that Ed or Stunna have put in place in case such a thing happens.
wry Posted February 6, 2019 Author #11 Posted February 6, 2019 38 minutes ago, Dan said: I saw this yesterday on my wya home. Pretty crazy stuff! I am not currently aware of any plans that Ed or Stunna have put in place in case such a thing happens. Hmmm.... :quietly withdraws all balances from Stake: I guess this is one of the nice things about NOT having investors, no ones coins really at risk but theirs.
Dan Posted February 6, 2019 #12 Posted February 6, 2019 8 minutes ago, wry said: Hmmm.... :quietly withdraws all balances from Stake: I guess this is one of the nice things about NOT having investors, no ones coins really at risk but theirs. There's plenty of money in the wallets to cover all account balances. Also both of them would ahve to be hit by the bus for it to even be a possible issue. Even then, there are other people who are shareholders who can take over.
wilbur Posted February 6, 2019 #13 Posted February 6, 2019 It is such a waste, is it mentioned how old is the CEO? I wonder if his or her family is getting crazy on how can they get back the coins. sadlife
xtinepink Posted February 6, 2019 #14 Posted February 6, 2019 7 hours ago, wry said: In a nice follow up today the CEO's death certificate was released and the company filed for bankruptcy protection. Story including an image of the death certificate: https://www.coindesk.com/indian-death-certificate-crypto-exchange-quadrigacx-death Really interesting that the CEO was in India and the company was in Canada. There is some possibility that he ran away with the coins, but this is a legitimate death certificate though I could not read the cause of death. On balance really interesting and sad. Story on bankruptcy protection: https://www.coindesk.com/judge-moves-to-block-potential-lawsuits-against-quadrigacx-exchange Stay tuned!!! Seems a bit suspicious that the announcement of the sudden death took weeks. I also read about the co-founder had another identity who was convicted of fraud. https://www.chepicap.com/en/news/7138/.html
irawk0 Posted February 6, 2019 #15 Posted February 6, 2019 I don't believe the "death" at all tbh. It appears the CEO died by an illness, which usually takes longer than the 5 minutes necessary to write down private keys/passwords/whatnot to family members and he should be 100% fully aware of the complications should he not do that. This sounds like a scam artist making enough then fleeing, and I know with enough bribery, any kind of "real" death certificate could be written.
williamshennie9 Posted February 6, 2019 #16 Posted February 6, 2019 On 2/4/2019 at 7:29 PM, BLXN said: lol! well, i wonder how many computers they have set to crack the private key, probably working 24/7. This leads me to wonder about the advancement of cracking as giants like IBM begin to roll out consumer level quantum computer. :3 I never actually considered this - we don't know what goes on behind the scenes. Always best to keep your coins in a trusted wallet, and not on an exchange
skillex Posted March 2, 2019 #17 Posted March 2, 2019 On 2/5/2019 at 2:25 AM, BLXN said: they don't really have any intrinsic value to the average crypto-user -- and like Wry said, the fewer the bitcoins, the greater the value, so - in this way, the general benefits at the expense of the particular. Although -- agreed- it's like hearing of buried treasure somewhere, and thinking you ought to go and dig it up Well this is really surprising. Does this happening ever affect BTC's price? Since its like similar to being dumped and hold for eternity but not the same as coin burning since it does not subtract the total supply pf BTC because it was still there but being locked though. This is confusing hehe
Kate Posted March 2, 2019 #18 Posted March 2, 2019 On 2/6/2019 at 3:32 AM, Dan said: I saw this yesterday on my wya home. Pretty crazy stuff! I am not currently aware of any plans that Ed or Stunna have put in place in case such a thing happens. I hope the private keys is not only known to them but others to but may god forbid such a situation to them .
williamshennie9 Posted March 2, 2019 #19 Posted March 2, 2019 On 2/6/2019 at 1:32 AM, Dan said: I saw this yesterday on my wya home. Pretty crazy stuff! I am not currently aware of any plans that Ed or Stunna have put in place in case such a thing happens. Well hopefully they do create some form of backup just in case something happens...
Shaniqua Posted March 6, 2019 #20 Posted March 6, 2019 On 2/5/2019 at 7:34 AM, xtinepink said: It’s like a same scenario when you don’t share your private keys to your loved ones. Then your crypto is useless when something happens to you. thats exactly what i was thinking ! only this is on a massive scale compared to the average user hehehe
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