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Forbes contributor Neale Godfrey believes that the prevalence of cyber attacks is harming bitcoin’s credibility.
Forbes contributor Neale Godfrey believes that the prevalence of cyber attacks is harming bitcoin’s credibility.
According to an article on Forbes:
Why the safety hoopla? As far back as 2012, Bitcoinca was hacked and received lots of bad press. They promised to repay users in full for their losses, but, according to Investopedia, they never repaid in full. By the way, another hacking took place there just two months after the first incident.
And, there have been lots of stories about more heists, placing Bitcoin owners at risk of losing their money. Another instance took place in 2014 at Mt. Gox, a Japanese firm, which was once the largest marketplace for Bitcoin, as reported by Investopedia. The $460 million heist led to a Bitcoin price collapse. “Mt. Gox confirmed that it faced roughly 150,000 hack attacks every single second. Just one of these attacks made it possible for thieves to make off with 750,000 bitcoin and bring the exchange to its knees,” said Investopedia.
Or, how about another theft in 2014, when, “…[a] Slovenia-based company halted withdrawals after hackers over whelmed its servers in a denial-of-service attack.” Also, more recently in 2015, according to CNN Money, “Cyber thieves have run off with about 19,000 bitcoin ($5.2million) from Bitstamp accounts.”
No government or central bank controls or backs Bitcoin. The U.S. dollar, another fiat currency, is printed on the authority of the U.S. Federal Reserve, but Bitcoins are minted or mined “by complex interactions across a broad global computer network,” explains Investopedia. These attacks have raised serious concerns about the safety of storing and transacting in this digital money.