Please Relax About the FBI News..

[titular]

I've been seeing a lot of conspiratorial sentiment strewn through the cryptospace regarding the FBI seizing Bitcoin from a wallet owned by a group of hackers.

Many people have just skimmed the surface and jumped to conclusions by saying that the FBI has a new tech for cracking private keys/hard wallets.

Please understand this is COMPLETE misinformation. The FBI recovered the private keys from a seized server. In other words, the group was INCREDIBLY sloppy with their keys and this resulted in the FBI gaining access to their wallets.

Please rest assured there is no wallet-cracking quantum tech floating around that we are not aware about.

[mk4]

Please understand this is COMPLETE misinformation. The FBI recovered the private keys from a seized server.

Not only that, apparently (not sure if this info is actually true), the hackers actually ended up using Coinbase. I mean, this is pure incompetence from the hackers to an all new level.



The headlines from the "nEwS sItEs" are really inaccurate that people are probably thinking that the feds "hacked Bitcoin" or something stupid.

[cabron]

Where do we see the reference where the FBI got access to the server the hackers used?  Is there a link to follow and read?

SO many things come up actually, we can think of a lot of things including the government owns mixers or probably conspire with the exchange the hacker used. If you can consider yourself reliable for correcting the misinformation you might as well enlighten us with a link.

[45c3n]

Where do we see the reference where the FBI got access to the server the hackers used?  Is there a link to follow and read?

SO many things come up actually, we can think of a lot of things including the government owns mixers or probably conspire with the exchange the hacker used. If you can consider yourself reliable for correcting the misinformation you might as well enlighten us with a link.

Here are the legal documents released - but even with those we can't deduce that the FBI got the key from a seized server.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1402051/download - This is the warrant. It mentions a location - Northern District of California - where some people (i.e. Jordan Schachtel, who based his theory on this, since someone mentioned him above) believe refers to the location of a Coinbase's server.

But prior to getting that warrant, the FBI already stated they had the private key "in possession" in the affidavit - one in support of the application for the very seizure warrant that guy cited. https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1402056/download

Note that on page 7, paragraph 34 it says

"The private key for the Subject Address is in the possession of the FBI in the Northern District of California"

It is very likely that the location mentioned in that warrant refers to a facility where the FBI stored the private key in.

I'm not saying the FBI must have cracked the encryption - which is perhaps the least likely scenario here, and an impression that the government might want us to believe - but there are many other possibilities and it's too early to give a definitive answer.

[davis196]

OP,are you talking about the Bitcoins stolen from the Colonial ransomware attack?
This is actually good news.Ransomware hackers should be punished and the funds have to be paid back.
Hackers and ransomware creators create a bad image for Bitcoin and we need to get rid of them.
I don't think that this news will create panic on the BTC market.Most of the BTC users aren't that dumb.
They know that private keys cannot be easily cracked by program.Hackers storing stolen BTC in Coinbase is a really dumb move.

[mk4]

I don't think that this news will create panic on the BTC market.Most of the BTC users aren't that dumb.
They know that private keys cannot be easily cracked by program.Hackers storing stolen BTC in Coinbase is a really dumb move.

Lol dude you're probably forgetting that a lot of people don't even know what a private key is, and they just leave their funds on exchanges like Coinbase or Binance instead of using an open-source non-custodial wallet. If most "Bitcoiners" are actually smart, they wouldn't be phased by such news; but yet here we are. A lot of bitcoin holders are simply just gamblers trying to make a quick buck.

[Lucius]

If most "Bitcoiners" are actually smart, they wouldn't be phased by such news; but yet here we are. A lot of bitcoin holders are simply just gamblers trying to make a quick buck.

The whole wisdom of the crypto world can fit into this sentence - because if people react to such innocent news in this way, what would happen if those who control the media really try to place a real FUD? Unfortunately, most investors have no idea about the basics - they don't distinguish Bitcoin from blockchain, a private key from a public address, and they don't realize how secure the whole thing is, means that it cannot be hacked by some miserable three-letter agency hackers.

[btc_angela]

If most "Bitcoiners" are actually smart, they wouldn't be phased by such news; but yet here we are. A lot of bitcoin holders are simply just gamblers trying to make a quick buck.

The whole wisdom of the crypto world can fit into this sentence - because if people react to such innocent news in this way, what would happen if those who control the media really try to place a real FUD? Unfortunately, most investors have no idea about the basics - they don't distinguish Bitcoin from blockchain, a private key from a public address, and they don't realize how secure the whole thing is, means that it cannot be hacked by some miserable three-letter agency hackers.

Unfortunately, this is true, maybe majority of those who have joined the bandwagon late 2020 up to this put doesn't really even understand the basics of bitcoin and blockchain. They just ride the hype invest some money, (and maybe it is on Coinbase) that's why they panic and push the sell button.

Sad to hear, but we can't do anything, at least the price is holding around $32k.

As for the state of crypto media, yeah, again it's a year old problem, news site are going to release unverified for just a click-bait.

[Obito]

I hope that people are going to handle the truth without being overreacting towards it. At first I was really scared about the seizure but it only take some reading for me to understand that there is a story behind the successful cracking of the private keys.

[aoluain]

If most "Bitcoiners" are actually smart, they wouldn't be phased by such news; but yet here we are. A lot of bitcoin holders are simply just gamblers trying to make a quick buck.

The whole wisdom of the crypto world can fit into this sentence - because if people react to such innocent news in this way, what would happen if those who control the media really try to place a real FUD? Unfortunately, most investors have no idea about the basics - they don't distinguish Bitcoin from blockchain, a private key from a public address, and they don't realize how secure the whole thing is, means that it cannot be hacked by some miserable three-letter agency hackers.

Unfortunately, this is true, maybe majority of those who have joined the bandwagon late 2020 up to this put doesn't really even understand the basics of bitcoin and blockchain. They just ride the hype invest some money, (and maybe it is on Coinbase) that's why they panic and push the sell button.

Sad to hear, but we can't do anything, at least the price is holding around $32k.

As for the state of crypto media, yeah, again it's a year old problem, news site are going to release unverified for just a click-bait.

absolutely, the amount of reaction to FUD and a simple EM tweet is unbelievable.

When I heard about the FBI news on the radio I didnt even bother to investigate it yet
there are those who are quaking in their chairs wondering if their Bitcoin is safe.

This is how we are where we are in $ terms, panic from lack of basic knowledge.

[crwth]

This is not surprising news because we all know the reality of how Bitcoin can be and what it's good and not suitable for. I'm just sad for those who have folded towards the pressure in selling their BTC.

Anyway, is this what caused the decline in price in such a short time? Many articles are now primarily pointing in the opposite direction that we all want (price decrease). I'm pretty sure I'm not the one who has noticed this. Still, I have read many articles that could relate, like MicroStrategy announcing another buy-in BTC and that a particular famous person is saying that Bitcoin is a scam.

It definitely connected towards all the news and correlates to the price 

[quantis]

There is significant disinformation from both sides, while the keys were recovered from coinbase all of bitcoin traffic is transmitted unencrypted, it would be very trivial for them to seize the keys of a hacker if he ran a node on his local computer. There are countless ways to attack bitcoin clients that they do not wish to discuss.

[adzino]

No way they cracked the private keys or something. The FBI doesn't have those tech yet. People are just trying to create fear. That's it. This is how rumors are spread. And those
"news portals" and "media" uses those rumors as a bait to attract viewers/readers while probably others are taking advantage of this to cause the price to crash further so they can stock up more bitcoins to maximize their profit. So either FBI seized the coins with the help of coinbase, a centralized wallet and exchange or the hackers were dumb to not secure their wallets. And this is why we shouldn't be using centralized wallets.

[just_Alice]

OP,are you talking about the Bitcoins stolen from the Colonial ransomware attack?
This is actually good news.Ransomware hackers should be punished and the funds have to be paid back.
Hackers and ransomware creators create a bad image for Bitcoin and we need to get rid of them.
I don't think that this news will create panic on the BTC market.Most of the BTC users aren't that dumb.
They know that private keys cannot be easily cracked by program.Hackers storing stolen BTC in Coinbase is a really dumb move.

Yeah, those idiots
Sure thing, no one pities the thieves, it's the fact that private keys can be "hacked" that worries people. I'm afraid, most people have no idea how Bitcoin works and have too poor of a math background to figure what an insanely small probability of someone ever hacking BTC private key.
I wish people were smarter, but they're not, and, unfortunately, many seem to like all this hype news, conspiracies, and the idea of Bitcoin vulnerability.   

[Yatsan]

That it why it is really important to follow the flow of the news and investigation regarding such matter to avoid the spread of panic specially into those new people in the industry that are easily got to believe into everything they see on the news or even on different social media platforms. This has come to an ease that at least we better got to know the truth behind the news and that can explain the thing for many people specially to the newbies to just calm down and do not worry too much.

[carlfebz2]

That it why it is really important to follow the flow of the news and investigation regarding such matter to avoid the spread of panic specially into those new people in the industry that are easily got to believe into everything they see on the news or even on different social media platforms. This has come to an ease that at least we better got to know the truth behind the news and that can explain the thing for many people specially to the newbies to just calm down and do not worry too much.

There are really people who do really make out reactions directly without tending to verify on whats the actual news or events.They do just simply read up about the headline and then the rest would make out immediate reaction even if they havent known the real story.

For us that do have some experience already in the market would really make out some verification before having some reactions in regards to the news.

Its not surprising that the community is really highly reactive when it comes to new because they always presume that it will affect the market movement directly.

[blackened515]

What's FBI concern with private keys, is FBI another authorized legal scammers roaming around the crypto space to steal private keys, this is ridiculous if it's actually true but I doubt it if the FBI has such plan, besides, there is no quantum technology that can crack the bitcoin wallet, cracking down Bitcoin network requires high frequency of Hertz which makes quantum computer to be pretty expensive and so if any individual or corporate body threatens to crack Bitcoin ecosystem, that won't happen.

[bitbunnny]

Please understand this is COMPLETE misinformation. The FBI recovered the private keys from a seized server.

Not only that, apparently (not sure if this info is actually true), the hackers actually ended up using Coinbase. I mean, this is pure incompetence from the hackers to an all new level.



The headlines from the "nEwS sItEs" are really inaccurate that people are probably thinking that the feds "hacked Bitcoin" or something stupid.

Amateurs. On the other hand it's not that surprising and it was expected to nake some mistake. I don't have the impression that sone high profile professionals are involved. However, they were prepared only not enough but still this is another lesson for all of us how security and protection are important as well as to know how basic Bitcoin principles are functioning.

[yazher]

I've been seeing a lot of conspiratorial sentiment strewn through the cryptospace regarding the FBI seizing Bitcoin from a wallet owned by a group of hackers.

Many people have just skimmed the surface and jumped to conclusions by saying that the FBI has a new tech for cracking private keys/hard wallets.

Please understand this is COMPLETE misinformation. The FBI recovered the private keys from a seized server. In other words, the group was INCREDIBLY sloppy with their keys and this resulted in the FBI gaining access to their wallets.

Please rest assured there is no wallet-cracking quantum tech floating around that we are not aware about.

If they have those kinds of technologies in the first place, they already recover almost all the stolen bitcoins out there. their theories don't have some strong evidence just complete delusions on their part. Whenever these people found some opportunities to speak against bitcoins, they won't hesitate to published it even though they don't have any evidence for what they are claiming just mere delusions and they will use that to cause trouble in the industry. Investors should take their own research if they don't want to be fooled by those guys.

[cabron]

Whether it's true that they've gotten back the BTC or not, just dump the holding you got because there is a bear market. You just can't hold a depreciating asset. And if it's true it's possible that the FBI themselves are going to sell it to recover back the money. This is as part of the fud they spread.  It's good to actually sell because there are still people who believe it will bounce back quickly.