Bitcoin Forum

Researcher Has Bitcoin Stolen off His Back in a Public Experiment

"How vulnerable is bitcoin to physical theft? It’s a question many bitcoiners don’t ask a lot since it’s hard to imagine how someone could steal a non-physical currency. But if account information is physically visible, cryptocurrency theft is a real possibility, according to a recent test by Tal Newhart, a Chicago-based business strategy and recruitment specialist who has been involved with bitcoin since 2011, according to PRNewswire."

https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/researcher-bitcoin-stolen-off-back-public-experiment/

It's money. Of course certain thieve people will take it from you if you give them the chance. It's the same as you on purpose put a $100 bill in your back pocket in a way that people can see it when you walk. What will happen? They will reach out and take it. It's that simple.

That's not really a theft. He's basically asking for his funds to be stolen. But I guess people who were funding this were aware of his intentions.
The thing that amazes me the most is the 5 minute part, I guess it shows you that bitcoiners are everywhere.

Lol for a moment I thought he had his private key on the back of his t-shirt :D

It would be a more interesting experiment to put a private key QR code on the back of your shirt and walk in the city with a stop-watch and see how fast it gets stolen. I hope somebody does that experiment with a few satoshis :D

It took less than 5 minutes for someone to steal his bitcoin. It is bittersweet that people are actually aware what bitcoin QR codes are and how to use it.
I am not surprised that his bitcoins have been stolen, it is like walking around with banknotes sticking out of your backpack.

That's what they did. The one shirt had a QR for donations and they received $68 and on the other shirt they had the private key for the wallet and the funds were gone within 5 minutes.

It's way too easy to do such a thing. I can remember seeing a video where a small restaurant/cafe was having their main wallet address in QR printed on a piece of paper and they sticked it to their front window. This is just stupid since people can put their printed address in QR form over the address from the store to receive their payments. They make it way too easy for people with bad intentions.

Maybe it was the same guy donating and stealing. So it wasnt theft after all. He just took back his donation.

That experiment is utterly stupid and biased, if he hadn't put his key out it would never have been stolen, people don't leave their bank details out for everybody to see and they certainly don't give out their bank PIN. These people are just trying to do a hit piece on Bitcoin like so many other fucking morons.

Idk walking around with bitcoin t-shirts can be really a good promotion tool.

Walking around with private key QR codes is a bad promotion tool , because then bitcoin gets a criminal shadow to it, which is negative PR.

That's not the point I'm making at all, they're trying to make the claim that because they posted up their private key Bitcoin itself isn't secure when in reality no one with any sense would do that, so really it's just an attempt to try and smear Bitcoin than find any legitimate flaw with it.