Another day, another cryptocurrency fail

[AlbertL]

https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2022/08/02/cryptocoin-token-swapper-nomad-loses-200-million-in-coding-blunder/

[Stray Electron]

  And I just dropped a $200,000,000 bill on the city sidewalk.  Boo hoo hoo. Woe is me!  Time for somebody else to cough up.

   The whole crypto-fantasy world gets nuttier everyday. It's like a group of fishermen, "the first liar doesn't stand a chance!"*

  * (Translation: the first liar is always followed by another liar who tells even even bigger lie about "the one that got away!")

[ataradov]

"Code is law" say idiots who never seen how bad people are at writing code.

https://web3isgoinggreat.com/ always brightens my day.

[james_s]

That said, have you seen how bad people are at writing laws?

[ataradov]

For laws we have a system of courts and appeals. It is not perfect, for sure, but it is some form of recourse. There is nothing like this for crypto by design and intent.

[abquke]

There's little to nothing that has been done in cryptocurrency that bitcoin wasn't doing over a decade ago. I'm still standing by for the next AI winter.

[ataradov]

Crypto people are so pathetic. In the twitter thread about complete failure of this thing, a dozen others advertise that  this would never happen to their system.

And of course there are twits from Nomad saying how they are super secure.

And HEX is spamming their crap all over the place, as usual. Can't wait for that scam to fail.

[SiliconWizard]

What's fun with cryptocurrencies is all the constant drama around them.

And yes, while I kinda like the decentralized idea, one problem with cryptos is the complete lack of recourse in case anything goes wrong - so the whole system is basically built on the premise that software and hardware bugs do not exist.

[pcprogrammer]

What's fun with cryptocurrencies is all the constant drama around them.

And yes, while I kinda like the decentralized idea, one problem with cryptos is the complete lack of recourse in case anything goes wrong - so the whole system is basically built on the premise that software and hardware bugs do not exist.

As if that is not the case with "normal" money too. Only there it is not based on software or hardware bugs not existing, but solely on the greed of mankind. And we do not learn. Think back on the last downfall due to the prime mortgages.

I see the problem originating from the moment money became a "product". Money was basically invented to make trading easier, but at some point one with a lot of it thought "hang on, I can make my money grow by lending it to others and charge interest on it". A complete industry is now based on it. Fried air I call it.

[Gyro]

What's fun with cryptocurrencies is all the constant drama around them.

You mean like this? 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-62381682

Almost 10 years ago James Howells threw away a hard drive during a clear out - forgetting about the Bitcoin on it.

Now, with the Bitcoin worth an estimated £150m ($184m), he is planning to spend millions digging up a Newport landfill in a bid to find the lost hard drive.

If recovered Mr Howells said he would give 10% of the proceeds to turn the city into a crypto-currency hub.

But the council said excavating the site would pose an ecological risk.

Mr Howells, an IT engineer, accidentally threw away the hard drive in 2013 after mining 8,000 Bitcoins in the early stages of the currency's development.

...

You've got to feel for the guy though, gutted doesn't begin to covers it.

[pcprogrammer]

You mean like this? 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-62381682

You've got to feel for the guy though, gutted doesn't begin to covers it.

I read about him before, and yeah not a smart move to make

But he never had the actual money, and what did he really loose, a bit of money on his electricity bill.

[Gyro]

I just keep thinking (trying not to) about trying to plug in an HDD that's spent 9 years under a mass of decomposing disposable nappies and runny food waste!


Edit: I wonder if he remember whether he wiped it or smashed it with a hammer before he threw it away.

[Refrigerator]

What's fun with cryptocurrencies is all the constant drama around them.

And yes, while I kinda like the decentralized idea, one problem with cryptos is the complete lack of recourse in case anything goes wrong - so the whole system is basically built on the premise that software and hardware bugs do not exist.

I only follow crypro for the memes that come out once it crashes   

[Refrigerator]

"Code is law" say idiots who never seen how bad people are at writing code.

https://web3isgoinggreat.com/ always brightens my day.

Holy moly that thing just keeps going and going and going  Lovely money counter also.

[AndyBeez]

"Security-first cross-chain messaging protocol"... with replay attack interoperability.

You could make this shit up if someone had not already done this shit for real: The software is from a company called Illusory Systems Incorporated. Dilbert the comic strip has nothing on the real IT world.

Block chain is the new cash toilet chain.

ART-LIFE-DILBERT-BLOCKCHAIN: https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2017/10/22/dilbert-comics-mock-blockchain-mania/

[ataradov]

It is also important to keep in mind that a lot of those "hacks" are just exit scams. So, it is not a complete incompetence, but a somewhat clever way to steal the money. And it works in most cases, given a complete lack of regulation in that area.

[Bud]

I would very much like to know how the guy would cash out that stush of bitcoins if recovered.

[ataradov]

There are crypto laundering sites. No idea how well they work and now traceable they really are. I'm guessing it would be hard to recover millions all at the same time, but may be possible over a longer period.

[AndyBeez]

Keep up guys...

Another day, another, ANOTHER, cryptocurrency fail.

Monday: hacker unleashes Crowd Looting exploit on the Nomad blockchain bridge.

Wednesday: Solana and USD Coins held in hot wallets emptied.

On Wednesday, Solana, a popular blockchain and token, said that some wallets that held its assets had been breached. At least 7,700 such wallets are believed to be affected, the company said, while London-based blockchain-analysis firm Elliptic put the amount stolen at $5.2 million in crypto, which includes Solana tokens and the stablecoin known as USD Coin.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/03/solana-nomad-hacks-security-questions/

This the new DeFi world of Web 3.0 > 
++ EDIT

An outline explanation of the Nomad hack: https://halborn.com/explained-the-nomad-hack-august-2022/   In his blog Rob Behnke writes:

In an upgrade to the protocol, Nomad decided to initialize the value of trusted roots to 0x00.  While this is common practice, it also matches the value for an untrusted root, so all messages are automatically viewed as proven.

A case of if true then true else not false?

Meanwhile the cause of the Solana exploit remains "unknown”.

[ataradov]

There were 2-3 hacks a week for the past few weeks. And this rate makes me think it is all exit scams.

[SiliconWizard]

What's fun with cryptocurrencies is all the constant drama around them.

And yes, while I kinda like the decentralized idea, one problem with cryptos is the complete lack of recourse in case anything goes wrong - so the whole system is basically built on the premise that software and hardware bugs do not exist.

I only follow crypro for the memes that come out once it crashes   

Well yeah. Precisely, people waiting for the final crash of cryptos is an integral part of the drama.

While cryptos have a few inherent issues, regular currencies are not flawless either. Right now, the Euro is sort of crashing and I see no meme about it (probably because it's actually not very funny.)

I don't think cryptos will have a "final crash" by themselves, especially the well-established ones such as Bitcoin. They will IMHO only if governments or some supranational organizations actively work at demolishing them. Just my opinion there though.

[james_s]

I suspect at some point many governments will make cryptocurrencies illegal, then the only use they will have is for illegal activities and they will crash. It's also possible the fad will just fade as people find something new and interesting to focus on.

[bdunham7]

There were 2-3 hacks a week for the past few weeks. And this rate makes me think it is all exit scams.

I'm amazed how many people seem to be unaware that the 'we got hacked' scam has been going on since the beginning of crypto exchanges.  Its such an old con that you'd think everyone knew by now, but apparently not. I can't believe this crap is ending up in peoples 401Ks, but there's no stopping it now since the crypto rats now have plenty of money to buy politicians.

[thm_w]

I suspect at some point many governments will make cryptocurrencies illegal, then the only use they will have is for illegal activities and they will crash. It's also possible the fad will just fade as people find something new and interesting to focus on.

ALL crypto is already illegal in China, doesn't stop them from using it. The largest crypto exchange in the world is run by Chinese, he just "moved" the headquarters offshore: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changpeng_Zhao .

Illegal activities is absolutely massive, black market is estimated 12% of USA GDP. To limit it to only illegal activities would not cause a complete crash.
I think its a terrible investment, but BTC in some shape or form will always be around.

[pcprogrammer]

There is no doubt in my mind that governments will impose further regulations on crypto currency so that they can make money of it too.

In Europe there is now talk about gift cards and coupons needing identification and registration when bought and exchanged, all under the launder and terrorism act. The real reason is more likely that they feel they miss out on taxes.

Governments want full control over our lives and our money, and they sell it under the "it is all to protect you" theme. Sure we need rules and regulations, but to me they are driving it to far.