"We know that Bitcoin itself is a complete failure ..." -chief economist at Citi

[LiteCoinGuy]

-Citibank-

[Amph]

it sounds like a bunch of silly no-sense( i really like this line), they basically said, nothing,, i've read it two times and they really said nothing

also they are not aware about the impossibility to hack a 2^256 key

[pedrog]

Is he talking about the thefts, MTGox, Cryptsy, Bitcoinica, ...?

[NorrisK]

Is he talking about the thefts, MTGox, Cryptsy, Bitcoinica, ...?

He must be talking about the fundamentals as he says bitcoin itself is a complete failure.

The hacks of exchanges are not bitcoin failures, it is people failures.

That article basically also says, by their logic, that their own systems are a complete failure as anything that is programmed can be hacked..

[LiteCoinGuy]

Citigroup’s Mexico Unit Faces Widening U.S. Money-Laundering Probe

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-24/citigroup-s-mexico-unit-faces-widening-u-s-laundering-probe

just a quick search of the last months.

[Bitcoinpro]

he should say the truth that he has no idea wat hes talking about

[LordCoder]

Some people are really stupid for writing that bunch of shit, and even more stupid people is the one that think it's true. What makes Bitcoin different from PayPal? I heard of people being hacked and couldn't recover their money because it was made via their own IP (using a botnet for example).

But their only reason to think it's bad it's to attack it's security, while they have no idea about hashes and stuff. "Anything can be hackable" yet we shouldn't be using computers nor mobiles just because they can be hacked.

[mtnsaa]

The amount of recent announcements and declarations about Bitcoin makes me think that something's up and there's a hidden agenda of some sorts. Too many it is obvious but I've never been that type of person with conspiracy theories and such but the evidence so far it's too much, they seem to be strategically targeting Bitcoin and attacking it without mercy. Doesn't matter if it's truth or not, for the general public this is just more bad news about Bitcoin. If this continues I don't know where we would end up in terms of price/value.

[RodeoX]

Meanwhile in the real world people are saying.  " That's interesting, we really should consider how unsafe bank software is. But hey, do you know where I can get some bitcoins?"

[Kprawn]

Absolute stupidity and lack of knowledge being shown by that idiot. If you hacked Bitcoin at it's protocol level, which have never happened before, you would automatically be

able to hack all credit card services and SECURE websites. These idiots see sites like Cryptsy and MtGox being hacked and then they think that was a vulnerability in the

Bitcoin code. These sites security has nothing to do with the decentralized Bitcoin network, running on thousands of computers all over the world. 

[Minecache]

But what does it all mean Basil?

[mayax]

Absolute stupidity and lack of knowledge being shown by that idiot. If you hacked Bitcoin at it's protocol level, which have never happened before, you would automatically be

able to hack all credit card services and SECURE websites. These idiots see sites like Cryptsy and MtGox being hacked and then they think that was a vulnerability in the

Bitcoin code. These sites security has nothing to do with the decentralized Bitcoin network, running on thousands of computers all over the world.  

if someone steals your money from a debit card, you get the money back. if this happens with your BTC, you are fucked.  There is no customer protection.

The guy from CITI is not so dumb, so chill. Remember, that in this world are living many people(old or young) who doesn't know to protect their computers and even so, you can be hacked.

BTC is not for everybody. It is a niche which is mainly used for shitty things(black market). This is the truth. In the past it was E-gold then Liberty Reserve and now, Bitcoin.

[helloeverybody]

Anything that can be programmed can be hacked, Much like any normal bank account then? I dont see the argument here, Bitcoin isn't any less secure than traditional banking systems, if anything its many times more secure.

[Snorek]

That is too bad that he did not mention about how easy it is apparently to hack and steal from bank itself. I found interesting info about this:
 
A hacking ring has stolen up to $1 billion from banks around the world in what would be one of the biggest banking breaches known.
The hackers have been active since at least the end of 2013 and infiltrated more than 100 banks in 30 countries, according to Russian security company Kaspersky Lab.
More at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/15/bank-hack_n_6688268.html

[mixan]

This is the way they deal with fear of bitcoin taking over the banking industry one day, to deem it as a failure so no more heed will come to it. They are the failures for not accepting it as a currency to be used in their system.

[mayax]

That is too bad that he did not mention about how easy it is apparently to hack and steal from bank itself. I found interesting info about this:
 
A hacking ring has stolen up to $1 billion from banks around the world in what would be one of the biggest banking breaches known.
The hackers have been active since at least the end of 2013 and infiltrated more than 100 banks in 30 countries, according to Russian security company Kaspersky Lab.
More at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/15/bank-hack_n_6688268.html

right but you, as customer are protected. show me the BTC protection !

ok. a bank can be hacked, a card can be hacked and you get the money back without any problem.  it didn't happen and it WON'T happen with Bitcoin

[xdrpx]

Anything that can be programmed can be hacked? Oh well banks too are providing internet banking facilities, what to say about those then? Also, he the chief economist isn't clearn on what he means when he says Bitcoin programmatically being hacked. To be honest it isn't that simple to do than to say.

[n2004al]

-Citibank-

Here we have another one ... "big specialist". I don't know if it is a "specialist" before the Mike Hearn era or after the Mike Hearn era. Are born to many like this kind after his historical bitcoin testament. Cannot be a devs or specialist in this field make me to not be able to explain to it technically if has right or if has wrong. But as an almost old user and follower of it can tell to him that cannot be possible that such scratch product be live again after hundred of all such kind attacks made to him since the firsts day of its born. It would be enough to be only one of this kind that this "failure product" be destroyed and be forgotten. Seeing bitcoin only simply as a currency is a child conception of it. Bitcoin is much more. Is the beginning of a new era. If this "important" and "intellectual" (who knows maybe even "Harvard boy" like he of Washington Post) person cannot understand this it is more than 6 years late with all this world where we all live.

[erre]

That is too bad that he did not mention about how easy it is apparently to hack and steal from bank itself. I found interesting info about this:
 
A hacking ring has stolen up to $1 billion from banks around the world in what would be one of the biggest banking breaches known.
The hackers have been active since at least the end of 2013 and infiltrated more than 100 banks in 30 countries, according to Russian security company Kaspersky Lab.
More at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/15/bank-hack_n_6688268.html

right but you, as customer are protected. show me the BTC protection !

ok. a bank can be hacked, a card can be hacked and you get the money back without any problem.  it didn't happen and it WON'T happen with Bitcoin

Exactly, it won't happen with bitcoin, because bitcoin can't be hacked

You can trust a third party with your btc and pay an insurance to be sure you will not lose your coins in the case of default if you want, that's what actually banks do.

But bitcoin wallets are way more easy and safe than banks (IF you can safely store multiple copies of your keys), that's just a fact.

[SFR10]

It's funny how what he said here, could and would be against him when someone questions banking system security as well as the part that he said: "So nothing is completely secure," that's true but it's also the case for every banking system out there, including his. There's not a single thing in the world that is 100% secure, some are just more secure than the others but none are 100% safe on this matter.