[2017-12-14] United Bitcoin Hard Fork Aims to Steal Inactive Wallet Balances

[bbc.reporter]

Someone posted a Bloomberg article about United Bitcoin and the poster might have thought that it is another hard fork to increase the block size.

No, it is really an attempt to scam the community once again, and this time they might want to take control of Satoshi's inactive coins and others' for their own devices.

I predict that Jeff Garzik and his friends will nominate Craig Fake Satoshi Wright as the head of the United Bitcoin Foundation and claim that Satoshi's coins are rightfully his.



United Bitcoin is by far one of the most controversial projects in existence today. According to the whitepaper, this project will go after inactive account balances. All of this money will be moved to multisignature addresses controlled by the United Bitcoin Foundation. A very troublesome development, especially when looking at the bigger picture. A lot of money is locked in addresses which can no longer be accessed by its original owner.

This includes all of the addresses belonging to Satoshi Nakamoto as well. Assuming that is the objective of this hard fork, it is one of the biggest threats to Bitcoin in history. There is no reason to claim inactive funds for one’s own benefit whatsoever. Nor should this be made possible at the protocol level whatsoever.

Moreover, there are even more complaints regarding this project. The United Bitcoin fork seemingly requires users to use their existing BTC address. This also means the private keys of said address need to be imported into a third-party client. A very controversial development, as it inherently weakens use privacy. Then again, we all know Bitcoin lacks privacy and will continue to do so for some time to come. There is little reason to trust this hard fork in its current form, unless a proper explanation is given.

The bigger problem is how Jeff Garzik is allegedly associated with this project. It is unclear what the objective of this pet project is. Hardly anyone will trust United Bitcoin at this point,  which is the only logical course of action. This is a very worrisome situation that may effectively bring Bitcoin to its knees if successful. We can only hope this fork is opposed by everyone before things really get out of hand.

Read the full article http://www.livebitcoinnews.com/united-bitcoin-hard-fork-aims-steal-inactive-wallet-balances/

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[8270thNinja]

That thing should be stopped, they are too greedy to scam the community, and we should not stay quiet about this, damn it, Bitcoin is now going mainstream and also going under the manipulation of this greedy people. I don't know if this is true but it seems like they are really going after those inactive bitcoins, and i don't also know if retrieving the lost coins is good for Bitcoin Ecosystem. I am just worried about satoshi's coins.

[lijoe408]

I think they are going to use those to airdrop to LTC, ETH, QTUM, HSHARE holders to get more people onboard.  Otherwise where else would they get the supply to do that?  I went to the live even in Silicon Valley also.  I don't think it's a scam.

[BrewMaster]

i think the recent events (the 10-15 hard forks of bitcoin) have proven that you can do anything you want with bitcoin. "stealing inactive balances" requires a hard fork and doing that will create another altcoin similar to these 10-15 altcoins that started being created this month.

and it doesn't really matter anymore. it is not going to be "bitcoin". and the reason is simple. the notion of "inactive wallet balance" is ridiculous. it is simply thievery! no matter how pretty they are going to disguise it. it is like me coming into your home and take something out of your house and say since you are not using this item -that you paid for some day- i am going to take it away!

[TraderTimm]

Jeff "BizCoin" Garzik is at it again, eh?

Well, here's the thing. You have to understand forks. I suggest Andreas video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpeceXY1QBM (Forkology for newbies)

When Jeff says he's going to "take inactive balances", what he really means is "I'm going to take a snapshot of the Bitcoin blockchain, fork the code, then move whatever coins I want on my own fork."

So, when he does this, your Bitcoin is safe - you just happen to have BizCoins on Jeff's fork too.

The problem with this of course is, the method he's choosing to get people to "validate" they have Bitcoins can open a whole other avenue of data-ganking and general shennanigans.

I don't trust Jeff with an ice cream cone, and I sure as hell wouldn't trust him with my Bitcoins or even his forked BizCoins.

The title is sensationalist garbage to make it seem like any idiot can fork the Bitcoin blockchain and make arbitrary rules affecting the main chain -- that isn't true, it only affects Jeff's shit-fork.

Garzik, you're a real fucking asshole for even advertising it this way.

[cr1776]

i think the recent events (the 10-15 hard forks of bitcoin) have proven that you can do anything you want with bitcoin. "stealing inactive balances" requires a hard fork and doing that will create another altcoin similar to these 10-15 altcoins that started being created this month.

and it doesn't really matter anymore. it is not going to be "bitcoin". and the reason is simple. the notion of "inactive wallet balance" is ridiculous. it is simply thievery! no matter how pretty they are going to disguise it. it is like me coming into your home and take something out of your house and say since you are not using this item -that you paid for some day- i am going to take it away!

Agreed. And yet someone suggested it (again for the seemingly billionth time) on the dev mail list this week!

If indeed this “untied bitcoin” is planning this, they must be getting desperate and I can’t believe many people will fall for it.

[jyakulis]

Wonderful...  

How could you let this happen?

[Lancusters]

With the same success it is possible to steal Satoshi and with active wallets. Bitcoin is private property and nobody should be interested in an active account or not. On the other hand I don't know what effect it can have on bitcoin ever decreasing number of coins in circulation. Theoretically, someone always loses access to their coins. It is possible that unclaimed coins for 25 years can be transferred to the community Foundation but the first requirement is returned to the owner.

[bbc.reporter]

I think they are going to use those to airdrop to LTC, ETH, QTUM, HSHARE holders to get more people onboard.  Otherwise where else would they get the supply to do that?  I went to the live even in Silicon Valley also.  I don't think it's a scam.

Forking the blockchain and then claiming all inactive coins to be in their control is not a scam? Okay, but that is your opinion.

In any case, let us wait for United Bitcoin Foundation to name their head and let us hope it is Craig Wright hehehe.

[Andre_Goldman]

I think they are going to use those to airdrop to LTC, ETH, QTUM, HSHARE holders to get more people onboard.  Otherwise where else would they get the supply to do that?  I went to the live even in Silicon Valley also.  I don't think it's a scam.

Forking the blockchain and then claiming all inactive coins to be in their control is not a scam? Okay, but that is your opinion.

In any case, let us wait for United Bitcoin Foundation to name their head and let us hope it is Craig Wright hehehe.

'United' on my very modest vote is just something between pure cryptology maths and experimental material understand of reality 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Model

[TraderTimm]

With the same success it is possible to steal Satoshi and with active wallets. Bitcoin is private property and nobody should be interested in an active account or not. On the other hand I don't know what effect it can have on bitcoin ever decreasing number of coins in circulation. Theoretically, someone always loses access to their coins. It is possible that unclaimed coins for 25 years can be transferred to the community Foundation but the first requirement is returned to the owner.

You do understand that the coins we're talking about is on Garzik's shit-fork, and not on the main Bitcoin blockchain, right?

He can claim to move anyone's coins on his own fork, it doesn't affect Bitcoin in the slightest.

[lijoe408]

I think they are going to use those to airdrop to LTC, ETH, QTUM, HSHARE holders to get more people onboard.  Otherwise where else would they get the supply to do that?  I went to the live even in Silicon Valley also.  I don't think it's a scam.

Forking the blockchain and then claiming all inactive coins to be in their control is not a scam? Okay, but that is your opinion.

In any case, let us wait for United Bitcoin Foundation to name their head and let us hope it is Craig Wright hehehe.

Define scam? Everything is crypto is called a scam nowadays.  To me a scam is something that i created solely to steal and has no intention of being a real project.  There have been alot of scam projects, but I wouldn't call this one of them.  Just b/c you don't agree with the distribution model doesn't mean it's  a scam. 

[J. Cooper]

I think they are going to use those to airdrop to LTC, ETH, QTUM, HSHARE holders to get more people onboard.  Otherwise where else would they get the supply to do that?  I went to the live even in Silicon Valley also.  I don't think it's a scam.

Forking the blockchain and then claiming all inactive coins to be in their control is not a scam? Okay, but that is your opinion.

In any case, let us wait for United Bitcoin Foundation to name their head and let us hope it is Craig Wright hehehe.

Define scam? Everything is crypto is called a scam nowadays.  To me a scam is something that i created solely to steal and has no intention of being a real project.  There have been alot of scam projects, but I wouldn't call this one of them.  Just b/c you don't agree with the distribution model doesn't mean it's  a scam.  

A scam is probably not the right word to put on this 'project' but it doesn't smell clean either IMO. I also have a huge problem with the plan of collecting all the coins that are currently stored in an 'inactive wallet'. Define inactive. Accounts without any activity after 2011? But how do you know for sure that a particular wallet is lost? Maybe someone really lucky managed to hold onto it's coins all this time. There's no way to know for sure so the coins shouldn't be touched but if they are they are potentially stripping away someone's possessions and last time I checked that's theft even if it's their own fork.

[Michail1]

This is a total scam.

A fork is fine, but give the people the fork.

What is easily passed in the roadmap is that they give out coins that are active after November 1st.

So, if you bought your bitcoins 2 months ago - You get nothing.

So, 16.75 Million coins distributed, but if you haven't used any in the last 1.5 months, you get nothing.  THEY get them.

So, one for you and xxx,xxx for them.
another one for you and xxx,xxx for them.

I still can't believe that they expect anyone that purchased their coins as an investment over 2 months ago get nothing.

This is basically a scam, a pre-mine, and de-anonymization of bitcoin.  It's not a fork when they get 16.5 million out of the 16.75 in existence.

[aso118]

Why should anybody be bothered about this? It is not a fork, plain and simple. It is an alt coin with some weird distribution.
If you want to claim the free coins that they offer, then you take a risk. If you actually buy their coins, you are a bigger fool. I think the best way out is to ignore them. The coin will die a slow death.

[dotbitme]

Does anyone have proof this is a scam? I run a website listing all coins giving airdrops to Bitcoin holders and as far as I know, there is nothing making this coin more of a "scam" than many of the other forks.

Let me know if I missed anything.

btcdiv.com  - The ultimate source for bitcoin dividends & airdrops

[Kakmakr]

This will be another shit fork that would get little support. The strategy with all these forks are actually very simple : Find a small niche group of people who does not agree with something and fork off in the hope that it would garner enough support to create a new ShitFork.

These people are slowly chipping away at Bitcoin, hoping to find a way to be succesful with something that would spark some interrest. This one will fail, because you do not mess with people's coins. <active or not> 

[krishnapramod]

With the same success it is possible to steal Satoshi and with active wallets. Bitcoin is private property and nobody should be interested in an active account or not. On the other hand I don't know what effect it can have on bitcoin ever decreasing number of coins in circulation. Theoretically, someone always loses access to their coins. It is possible that unclaimed coins for 25 years can be transferred to the community Foundation but the first requirement is returned to the owner.

You do understand that the coins we're talking about is on Garzik's shit-fork, and not on the main Bitcoin blockchain, right?

He can claim to move anyone's coins on his own fork, it doesn't affect Bitcoin in the slightest.

Yeah, another scam coin, cash grab, nothing to do with Bitcoin.

This includes all of the addresses belonging to Satoshi Nakamoto as well. Assuming that is the objective of this hard fork, it is one of the biggest threats to Bitcoin in history.

Not a threat by any margin, just another altcoin with a biased/flawed distribution model. According to the whitepaper, 100% of United Bitcoin in inactive balances would be used for development and pegged token, more like pre-mined.

All active Bitcoin addresses will receive corresponding balances on UnitedBitcoin’s chain. Balances of inactive addresses will be collected and used to serve the community. Inactive addresses are addresses without activity since block height #494000 (November 11, 2017) and as a result didn't automatically receive UBTC during phase 1 of the asset allocation procedure.

30% of the inactive balances will be distributed to other technologically influential communities in the crypto-currencies space to further increase the influence and adoption of UnitedBitcoin.

70% of the inactive balances will be reserved as collateral to issue stable tokens pegged to chosen fiat currencies, similar to a Gold Standard.

[wilhb81]

This is a total scam.

A fork is fine, but give the people the fork.

What is easily passed in the roadmap is that they give out coins that are active after November 1st.

So, if you bought your bitcoins 2 months ago - You get nothing.

So, 16.75 Million coins distributed, but if you haven't used any in the last 1.5 months, you get nothing.  THEY get them.

So, one for you and xxx,xxx for them.
another one for you and xxx,xxx for them.

I still can't believe that they expect anyone that purchased their coins as an investment over 2 months ago get nothing.

This is basically a scam, a pre-mine, and de-anonymization of bitcoin.  It's not a fork when they get 16.5 million out of the 16.75 in existence.

You got the point there. I, myself, haven't use any Bitcoin (I meant about sending out any transaction to other people/merchants, but still receive some satoshi monthly into my blockhain's account) I got nothing from the fork, while the team got all the benefit from it...

All these hard forking are totally not my cup of tea 

[jubalix]

ITS a very narrow window to claim in and a very messy process.

move coins  twice to same address (pay fees 2x)

claim with txid

move coins  to safety of new wallet and addresses

nothing could go wrong!


its almost as if they don't want people to claim!