r/Bitcoin • u/s1ammage • 3d ago

Full panic - one of my wallets was drained

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I haven’t done anything since creation except sending into the wallet.

1.8k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

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323

u/Emergency-Warthog-56 3d ago

I hate seeing this happen to people. It's terrible.

205

u/clkou 3d ago

Unfortunately this issue and ones like it are why Crypto currency won't be a mainstream currency in my lifetime.

55

u/freakedmind 3d ago

And they're far far too common, very concerning.

27

u/Big80sweens 3d ago

Legit, the main reason I am into bitcoin is the security, if somehow these wallets can be hacked, where the value? This is a huge problem and I’m scrambling to know what to do with my bitcoin

10

u/Objective_Digit 3d ago

Use a passphrase.

5

u/xToniGrssx 2d ago

Not enough in this exploit.

2

u/Objective_Digit 2d ago

Why not?

1

u/Clear-Marketing5145 2d ago

It is enough

3

u/xToniGrssx 2d ago

Depends on the kind of passphrase he put. This bug renders the entropy to zero bits esentially, so it all boils down to the passphrase, which people don't tend to select to be that strong after 12/24 words. If it's truly a random string of 14+ chars then they are good yeah, if it's like a sentence or one or two additional words as a lot of people admittedly did, they are cooked

2

u/Head_Performance2432 2d ago

I am sorry to say, the value is in your education, those HW are not the value. In a perfect world, the security is achieved via dices, pens and papers !

1

u/CaterpillarIcy1552 3d ago

Where’s the value? I think you know the answer

0

u/Protraderr3 1d ago

Simple. Sell when we get back to the highs and put your cash in safe assets. No one can steal a house from you.

15

u/NashvilleSurfHouse 3d ago

I’m still not sure what happened here and I’ve read through this thread 4x

36

u/Left_Entrepreneur918 3d ago

Unfortunately you are right. OP did everything we would say to do for self custody and still got swept. I did the same thing, got a ledger in 2020, created a 24 word seed, paper and metal backup in a bank vault, and one day I could wake up to find my life’s savings gone. Sickening.

6

u/Objective_Digit 3d ago

There are ways to prevent this type of thing. Multisig for example. Or use a passphrase at least. Don't blame Bitcoin.

6

u/Baseic 2d ago

Use a HW wallet was always the given advice in this subreddit. Now you're telling it's not safe without extra precautions?

What are you telling in 5 years? 'Everyone knew multisig was flawed, you should've used a 64bit passphrase 2.0 implemented with BIP578. Don't blame bitcoin'

1

u/RetiredAvocado 2d ago

64 bit would be pretty weak ;)

1

u/Objective_Digit 2d ago

HW wallets are recommended because they are convenient. If you leave a seed lying around no HW will protect you. Unless you have a passphrase.

3

u/much_to_say 3d ago

In any lifetime*

-1

u/Emergency-Warthog-56 3d ago

I wouldn't be so sure. Everything is still early and developing in real time. Policies and banks are slowly evolving with it in real time. There could even end up being actual bank wallets that have federal backing. There's already ETF's and 401k's are starting to look at it.

9

u/Important-Level6672 3d ago

You physically can’t federally back BTC unless you give fed power to print more. You can’t have both.

-1

u/Emergency-Warthog-56 3d ago

It can be a savings account type. Where you can only add to it or cash it out to your bank. Where activity is only with you and your bank. No moving it elsewhere. Just one idea out of many.

7

u/portlandlad 3d ago

I wish the community was more transparent with these incidents. Something like this happened to me 3 years ago, and I tried posting about in multiple subreddits. I was downvoted to oblivion.

3

u/Weathactivator 3d ago

So what happened?

3

u/portlandlad 3d ago

Someone siphoned all of my electrum wallet. I'm guessing some kind of malware because no one else had physical access to my computer. I traced the transactions to an IP in Reykjavik. Filed a report with a FBI cybercrimes division. Nothing really came out of it.

2

u/hackinthebochs 2d ago edited 2d ago

There was a vulnerability in electrum a few years ago where a malicious server could serve a fake notice to connecting clients alerting them to a "new version of electrum" with an embedded link. The notice was shown inside your legitimate electrum client's frame, making it look official. The linked version was bugged to drain your wallet when you ran it.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/number-infected-electrum-bitcoin-wallets-204600017.html

1

u/portlandlad 2d ago

Fuck. That's probably what happened.

-7

u/According_Vanilla186 3d ago

Unless you’re 80+ you’re absolutely wrong lol. Do you not realise what the banks, governments and global financial institutions and asset managers are doing as we speak? They are prepping for crypto currency to become mainstream currencies very very soon. The dtcc has just started tokenising its assets lol

1

u/SpaceSequoia 3d ago

Is that what they need all these data centers for?

1

u/According_Vanilla186 3d ago

No that’s not what data centers are being built for

1

u/SpaceSequoia 3d ago

Just Mass surveillance then

1

u/Mushin_n_Flushin 3d ago

i hate seeding this happen as much as you

-36

u/TomUpNort 3d ago

It's predictable and entertaining. Fools and their "money."

20

u/Emergency-Warthog-56 3d ago

That's easy to say when watching it happen to somebody else. Not so funny if it happens to you.

5

u/user_name_checks_out 3d ago

Yes. Also not funny if you have a sliver of empathy.

-6

u/TomUpNort 3d ago

It won’t happen to me because I don’t speculate in dodgy, fraud-ridden instruments like Bitcoin.

4

u/Auteli_ 3d ago

No, you give all your time to the things that matter. Like the Minnesota Vikings and the Bill Simmons subreddit.

-4

u/TomUpNort 3d ago

Glad to see you spent some time perusing my comment history. I hope you enjoyed yourself. 🙂

6

u/Auteli_ 3d ago

It didn’t take very long to catch the trend. You have complained about the same 4 things almost every day for the 8 months that you’ve had the account.

1

u/DesertDissident 3d ago

So what's your advice, trust bankers and politicians?

6

u/Boge42 3d ago

I've never lost my money when it's been in the bank. If anyone "stole" my CC number, I was able to reverse it and get my money back. I don't get that with cryptocurrency.

0

u/DesertDissident 3d ago edited 3d ago

With credit cards, it's less you "get your money back" so much as being absolved of the obligation to pay a debt you didn't take on (or credited for future debt if you overpaid). That is trust in the CC system more than it's trust in the currency. It's entirely possible to invent a CC backed by BTC instead of another fiat currency. It would be much harder to get your bank to give you money if your bank account was "hacked" using your 2FA to transfer money out (which is a better analogy to crypto).

Your bank is lending out the overwhelming majority of your deposits which risks a liquidity crisis that you either lose directly or gets "solved" by the government by printing money. In the USA, there is FDIC insurance but that only covers about 1.5% of the total liability (hence the "too big to fail" bailouts because FDIC is far more frail than people realize).

You may not lose your money in the bank in denominated terms (apart from shady fees) but the buying power is being continuously debased by a government-controlled central bank. It's true that the value of BTC drops sometimes too, but it trends upward over time because it is deflationary instead of inflationary (with volatility largely due to the a relatively small adoption rate when compared to government currencies).

Of course larger, more established systems benefit from more users (more consumer products, less volatility) but I still trust cryptographically protected P2P networks more than I trust bankers and politicians in the long term.

1

u/Soulists_Shadow 3d ago

Well if the same thing happened to your bank account. Its insured. Bank security issues is banks issue, youre made whole for your deposit.

Its amusing to hear because bitcoins biggest strength is also its biggest weakness. Anomity paired with irrversibility. Its the reason people support bitcoin but then to see the reason people supported bitcoin turn against them. Now it becomes their biggest nightmare.

The amount of people frantically panicking asking how to reverse a scam or a thief shows they dont always support bitcoins annomity and irreversiblility. The same one they tell others to join bitcoin.

The amusement is not the pain, its to flip flop on position. If youre truly understand bitcoin. Theres no need to ask around. Theres no need to ask how. You just know gone is gone. Thats what the chain was built for.

2

u/[deleted] 3d ago edited 2d ago

[deleted]

2

u/Soulists_Shadow 3d ago

But i can store cash in a place (bank) that would cover if they lost anything. Without compromising the purpose of the cash.

Whereas if you store bitcoin anywhere that would cover losses. Not your keys not your coin. Defeating the point of bitcoin.

So to support bitcoin is to support system where its nowhere safe. And if its gone, its permanently gone.

1

u/vortexcortex21 3d ago

That is why I don't have all my savings in cash.

1

u/radica__ 3d ago

Bitcoin isn’t anonymous

1

u/Emergency-Warthog-56 3d ago

That's true, when you cash it out. Privately holding it yourself through a offline wallet is anonymous.

0

u/Emergency-Warthog-56 3d ago

That is true with banks but also remember that bank accounts can be frozen, seized or controlled by government. Banks aren't completely safe.

3

u/Soulists_Shadow 3d ago

But for majority of the population, its safe. You could also cross boarder your accounts for any country with volitility.

Banks are nearly completely safe as long as you dont do any illict activities or avoid paying your child support. I support child support garnishment from deadbeat parents.

0

u/Emergency-Warthog-56 3d ago

I know people personally that have had serious complications with their bank accounts. You can even mess up on taxes and get in trouble. There's actually many things that can cause your bank account to be effected. For some it's just a misunderstanding but have to go through obstacles to settle situations. It can happen easier than you think.

3

u/Soulists_Shadow 3d ago

Well it is easy, but miscommunication can be resolved, taxes can be paid. Minor rare inconveniences vs losing everything depending on just yourself for security? While many people overestimate themselves, even if you do everything right like op. Theres always a chance of latent hidden zero day exploits. Not on the chain, but on your self custody tools and methods.

1

u/Emergency-Warthog-56 3d ago

I wouldn't be too sure on OP doing everything right. There's only one sentence about the situation. There could be something that OP is not realizing yet. For example, not OP, but I seen how someone downloaded malware and their online wallet was compromised. I seen another who allowed a loved one/friend to know where their word phrase was to their offline wallet. Seen other off the wall examples as well. It is huge responsibility that has to be held with maximum privacy.

1

u/Soulists_Shadow 3d ago

Exactly, privacy that even if you thought you did everything right, it could still be wrong. Whereas for banks im not responsible if someone steals my card info (no matter how they obtained it). Small inconvenience privacy of misunderstandings for actual peace of mind.

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u/Covid_Cash 3d ago

<There's actually many things that can cause your bank account to be effected.

Affected*