Is Bitcoin's Biggest Threat Actually Human Error Rather Than Hackers?

[BABY SHOES]

Hackers are looking for loopholes that can exploit on various platforms.
Human error is his recklessness.

‎Bitcoin security is actually very strong but if you expose your private key or seed phrase, you will lose everything.
‎When it comes to Bitcoin your security depends on you.
‎

Everyone knows leaking seed phrases to anyone will lose their BTC.
Therefore, keep bitcoin in a safe place, especially its seed phrase, Don't forget your PC is not infected with dangerous malware.

‎For me, human mistakes cause more Bitcoin losses than technical attacks.

What about the recent new narrative from Ethereum researchers who say the new threat is now AI capable of reading math quickly, this is also their concern before quantum computers are ready.

Mistakes are not only in humans, but technology is also a concern.
I press it again... it's not about scaring or believing that this is just the opinion of such a popular person as Vitalik, you can conclude for yourself and do not be too hasty.

[1] https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2107976296320106851
[2] https://x.com/drakefjustin/status/2107837081313505768

[coupable]

‎For me, human mistakes cause more Bitcoin losses than technical attacks.

What about the recent new narrative from Ethereum researchers who say the new threat is now AI capable of reading math quickly, this is also their concern before quantum computers are ready.

It can be a threat to the whole crypto ecosystem if the AI can reach that level of analyzing performance. The whole crypto market would collapse right after the first incident of AI winning against the solidity of the blockchain.

However it can be read from another angle, as AI can be used to exploit natural himan mistakes to lead victims to expose their private information. It is also a big threat, if not the biggest threat to the crypto ecosystem before the emerging of some highly advanced tools to defeat the blockchain.

[Dogedegen]

The Bitcoin that hackers hack can re-circulate in the market, that is, it returns to the market as usable again on various exchanges or through wallets.
But the Bitcoin that users forget and lose forever never returns to the market, that is, it is forever locked in a specific place for its entire life. That is, you sent Bitcoin to the wrong address during a Bitcoin transaction, which can never be used by anyone, that is, the address will never be owned by anyone. Or if you lose your security seed phase forever, it is impossible to use that Bitcoin a second time. So the Bitcoin that we lose will be removed from the total supply, that is, the Bitcoin hacked by these Bitcoin hackers is more serious than the Bitcoin.

You are making big assumptions that don't apply to many cases. Some Bitcoin that is sent to the wrong address has been sent to addresses that are active, they just went to the wrong address instead of the intended. In that case, but in many other cases, the Bitcoin remains in circulation. There have been cases of wrongly paid fees where even the miners ended up returning the money to the sender, so you can't generalize about all cases like that. We must be detailed to avoid writing incorrectly.

For me, the real threat to Bitcoin is how more institutions are massively accumulating Bitcoin and starting to create the perception that holding an ETF = holding Bitcoin and that self-custody is a bad idea.

This idea did not start with the institutions, so this statement is not really true. Humans are the ones who are deciding this on their own, most humans never cared about self-custody. The ETFs are not creating a new idea or pushing something, they are just providing a service for the target market of the users who don't care about self-custody. If you want to blame someone then blame the ones that are responsible, the humans that don't want to self-custody and not the business that is providing an alternative for different customers. Some institutions would not even be able to buy Bitcoin at all without an ETF.

[tread93]

When someone loses access to their Bitcoin, they harm themselves rather than Bitcoin itself meaning it doesn't affect the price at all. Since such a loss doesn't impact the price, I don't view it as a threat to Bitcoin. In contrast, when a hacker steals millions of dollars' worth of Bitcoin, the news harms thousands of people and can affect the price; to me, that constitutes a threat. Similarly, if a highly influential government decides to ban Bitcoin, the price will be affected; in that scenario, the government poses a threat to Bitcoin. Let me give you a recent example of what I mean. Until a few hours ago, the price of Bitcoin was $86,000, with a strong possibility of continuing to rise significantly, but then this news broke:

Bitcoin dipped below $81,000 and oil prices gained after reports that military confrontation between the US and Iran could return.

source: https://cointelegraph.com/markets/bitcoin-nears-3-week-low-as-oil-heads-higher-on-iran-strike-woes

This illustrates my point: governments, hackers, and the ultra wealthy who hold hundreds of bitcoins are the only ones who can threaten Bitcoin though, of course, that applies to the price. As for adoption, there will always be plenty of people interested in buying Bitcoin, and the technology itself cannot be threatened. Fears of renewed conflict between Iran and the US have caused panic, leading to heavy selling over the past several hours. It is things like this that threaten Bitcoin.

Ugh, it’s so annoying, just when you think BTC is going to have a breakthrough some random shit happens in the news and tanks the price. Of course lol. This always happens. I can’t wait for one day soon seeing the headline and price just sky rocket. I know we have got to be close to that .Zoom out and check the chart, WAGMI fam!

[Maslate]

Here's also my personal view. More than the human error that leads us losing our bitcoin, its also the unstoppable hidden intentions of bad people around that become a threat in losing our bitcoin, and this happens not because we lack security, but because they will always find loopholes in order to attack or steal our bitcoin. That's why no matter how cautious and responsible we are when it comes to bitcoin security, bad people will always stick to their craft and target hitting on our bitcoin.

[X-ray]

It's both, human error causes frequent loss, but a hacker can steal billions in just a single day that potentially outnumber the amount of Bitcoin lost due to human error.

Though, I would only call something as "biggest threat" when it has systemic risk like quantum computers, or algorithm that could break encryption.

‎For me, human mistakes cause more Bitcoin losses than technical attacks.

Only true if there is data that shows us how much Bitcoin was lost because human mistakes, unfortunately people don't often report individual, self custody Bitcoin lost. The data could never be accurate.

[joniboini]

But how about those threats that are beyond our control like Quantum computing, solar flare and internet blackout? They can be very dangerous to bitcoin and can lost our bitcoin in just a blink of an eye. Still, there are threats that whether we like it or not, some things are still bound to happen and we can experience the worst if ever.

I'm not sure what do you mean by internet blackout and losing Bitcoin though. If you can't access internet for days, it doesn't mean your coins are gone. Even in the worst case scenario that someone might use that time to brute force your keys and use quantum computer for that, you can still take precautions such as never expose your full details online. I do understand some things are still outside of our control, but for an incident with very low probability like them, I think it's fine to lower their threat levels. At the very least, we have data that people make stupid mistakes more often than being attacked by quantum computer. CMIIW.

[tbct_mt2]

I'm not sure what do you mean by internet blackout and losing Bitcoin though. If you can't access internet for days, it doesn't mean your coins are gone. Even in the worst case scenario that someone might use that time to brute force your keys and use quantum computer for that, you can still take precautions such as never expose your full details online.

If people can lose bitcoin like this, for example with Internet blackout, many of us already lost our bitcoin. Satoshi Nakamoto lost bitcoins, and many people who bought bitcoin in past years, had inactive UTXOs already lost bitcoins. More severely, people who store their bitcoins in cold wallets already lost their bitcoins too.

What's difference between cold wallet storage and issue with Internet blackout?
I don't find difference between these situations so with what have actually happened so far, Internet blackouts certainly won't cause bitcoin loss for anyone. Only wallets and devices compromised can cause bitcoin losses.

[Luzin]

‎For me, human mistakes cause more Bitcoin losses than technical attacks.
‎
‎What do you guys think?

Blaming only one part is wrong, I strongly disagree. Wicked people who are at fault always exploit the weaknesses of those who do not understand security. Just look at how thieves explore target computers. They try to find keys that should have been encrypted passwords, and they succeed in obtaining the secret keys. Everyone has tried to ensure security in all aspects, including personal wallets. But sometimes criminals can always find loopholes that we do not understand or even realize.

[Die_empty]

Here's also my personal view. More than the human error that leads us losing our bitcoin, its also the unstoppable hidden intentions of bad people around that become a threat in losing our bitcoin, and this happens not because we lack security, but because they will always find loopholes in order to attack or steal our bitcoin. That's why no matter how cautious and responsible we are when it comes to bitcoin security, bad people will always stick to their craft and target hitting on our bitcoin.

With the aid of artificial intelligence, these scammers are coming up with innovative ways to identify and exploit loopholes in crypto wallets and other projects. The high rate of attacks on some popular wallets using AI is proof that we need to always upgrade our knowledge of security. There are basic security tips that every crypto user should have. But sometimes I am amazed that people still fall for cheap or well-known hacking or scamming strategies. Let's do our part and hope that we would always outsmart these criminals.

[Alpha Marine]

hackers may steal Bitcoin by exploiting a vulnerability, but a lot of Bitcoin loss happens because of some simple mistakes that people make, for example, sending Bitcoin to the wrong address, losing seed phrase,

When you say "a threat to Bitcoin", you should be talking about things that are a threat to the whole Bitcoin network, not things that can affect some people if they are not careful. Those things are risks, not threats to Bitcoin.
I don't see sending BTC to the wrong address as a threat to Bitcoin. It is not something that happens often. In fact, it happens lesser and leasser as the years go by. This might have been a big issue in the past when wallets didn't have the sophistication to identify a wrong address, but today, it's very rare. I don't even think wallets allow you to send Bitcoin to the wrong network anymore.
The same goes with seed phrases. People don't lose their seed phrases as they used to anymore. In the past, Bitcoin was not worth much, so people didn't pay much attention to securing it, but today, Bitcoin is worth a lot and anybody that holds it tries to be extra careful because it's a lot of money.
The risk that exists now is allowing your seed phrase to fall into the hands of hackers or thieves. Or just being careless with it for others to see.

These are risks associated with holding or using Bitcoin, not threats. Most times when people talk about risk, they only talk about prices, but that is not the only risk. The risk of losing your Bitcoin through scams and hacks.
And yes, most of it are from human error and not mainly vulnerabilities of softwares.

[Kol:on]

well most of this supposed technical error are as a result of humans errors.

biggest threat to Bitcoin they usually say it is hackers, exchange being attacked or government restrictions, but what if I tell you the biggest threat are actually the people that are using Bitcoin.

Not necessarily
A persons error only affects the person not the blockchain
So yeah Bitcoin threat are usually around the above and as well as the QC risk that's open in the future.

I agree to this concept I agree that human error is a risk, but we need to distinguish between risks to individual users and threats to the Bitcoin network itself.

[Darker45]

When people are talking about the biggest threat to Bitcoin they usually say it is hackers, exchange being attacked or government restrictions, but what if I tell you the biggest threat are actually the people that are using Bitcoin.
‎
Bitcoin security is actually very strong but if you expose your private key or seed phrase, you will lose everything.
‎When it comes to Bitcoin your security depends on you.
‎
‎For me, human mistakes cause more Bitcoin losses than technical attacks.

Bitcoin's biggest threat isn't one that's directed at Bitcoin itself. There's no question about Bitcoin's security. I'd say not a single Bitcoin is lost because of Bitcoin's vulnerability.

Much of what's lost is due to the vulnerabilities of centralization. I don't think there are as many coins lost from those who decided to be their own bank.

However, when it comes to human mistakes, it should include trusting and storing their coins on exchanges and other centralized services. Those technical attacks are simply taking advantage of this fundamental mistake.

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

When people are talking about the biggest threat to Bitcoin they usually say it is hackers, exchange being attacked or government restrictions, but what if I tell you the biggest threat are actually the people that are using Bitcoin.
‎
‎hackers may steal Bitcoin by exploiting a vulnerability, but a lot of Bitcoin loss happens because of some simple mistakes that people make, for example, sending Bitcoin to the wrong address, losing seed phrase, falling for phishing scams, exposing private keys and signing a malicious transaction. this are the things that are causing many Bitcoin users to lose there Bitcoin.
‎
‎Bitcoin security is actually very strong but if you expose your private key or seed phrase, you will lose everything.
‎When it comes to Bitcoin your security depends on you.
‎
‎For me, human mistakes cause more Bitcoin losses than technical attacks.
‎
‎What do you guys think?


~Supreme

Bitcoin's biggest threat is hackers and not literally human errors, because despite the fact that many Bitcoin might have been lost due to human errors, that does not in any way pose a threat to Bitcoin. Because even if 1000 users loses access to their Bitcoin today, that alone will even make Bitcoin stronger, simply because it will reduce it's circulating market supply on the Bitcoin blockchain, and that will indirectly increase the market supply of Bitcoin. Unlike if it had been a hacker that hacked the Bitcoin blockchain, it definitely would have affected everybody who owns and invented in Bitcoin.

[Dearon Grif]

I think human error is probably a bigger everyday risk than hackers for most Bitcoin users. The protocol itself can be secure, but people still lose funds by sending to the wrong address, storing seed phrases badly, using fake wallets, or trusting phishing links.
Hackers are still a real threat, of course, especially when exchanges or poorly secured services are involved. But for an individual user, simple mistakes and bad security habits are often more realistic risks.
In my opinion, the best protection is not complicated: use a hardware wallet for larger amounts, keep backups offline, verify addresses carefully, and never share your seed phrase.

[Tamaperdana]

Snip

I agree with your assumption, as it's true that sometimes human error can actually trigger the loss of Bitcoin. For example, forgetting your wallet password or falling into a phishing trap is clearly due to carelessness in safeguarding your Bitcoin. However, even so, in this context, we can't blame just one party. If hackers or fraudsters didn't exist, it would clearly make Bitcoin safer for anyone to own. So, with that in mind, I believe hackers are still the biggest cause of Bitcoin loss. Because they clearly intend to steal, they are rightly labeled as a very dangerous threat today. Even if hackers weren't present, the potential for Bitcoin loss would be much slimmer. So, that's my assumption.

[Perfectbaby]

I will completely agree with you on notion.
As we know security is very important to Bitcoin users but whenever there is a mistake from the end users then such person stand a higher chances to lose all their investment. If we are more careful with our security, one could find it very difficult to lose their investment or holdings. Hence, if a better security measure are being applied it would be that difficult for someone to lose their Bitcoin without either sending to wrong address, clicking on phishing links or misplacing their private and seed phrase. Back then, I had someone saying that he would store their information on their mail that they can access their seed whenever they login to their mail, then I looked at him and laughed, I told him is the wrong place to store your sensitive information as anyone could have access to your mail and deal away with your investment.
So, I completely agreed with you. But however, we can't overlook the exchange hack as that comes with thousands of Bitcoin in a bulk.

[Bigjoe33]

I think that we have not seen real human errors by now, because BTC has not went mainstream as a medium of everyday payments (in is mainly the store of value now). When you make (for example) one payment per month you are usually very careful doing it correctly but if you start making many payments per day the role of human errors increases a lot.

Somehow, you are correct, because there might even be more mistakes in the future when Bitcoin is fully adopted as a medium of buying and selling in our everyday market and business activities. At least for now, even though there are still lots of mistake, there is the possibility of more mistakes when we begin to do it regularly.

Buy I still believe that after the series of high level of mistakes and wrong transactions, people would learn to be careful even more. Nobody wants to lose there Bitcoin to the wrong address, or loose there access point in form of seed phrase, so they will learn the hard way I guess. Just like there are lots of mistakes in our daily bank and electronic fiat transfers recently, so also Bitcoin transaction mistakes are and/or would be some sort of problems always. People would always make mistakes once in a while.

[slaman29]

Well I don't disagree in a way, but human error or human weakness is by default the biggest weakness of anything that humans use. Transport, tools, whatever you can think of.

But these are threats to us, ourselves. It doesn't threaten Bitcoin's existence. You get it, right?

[Merit.s]

I agree with you OP. You know that we human aren't perfect enough to avoid errors. Of course, human error is what is affecting the entire economy system and nothing more. It's the same with keeping our bitcoin save. The hardware wallet devs are also having one error or the other that has made hackers to take advantage of the vulnerability in the wallet.

Yesterday, ledger third-party reseller in the South East Asia has sold ledger wallets with bug that has stolen people who bought this device from CryptoBilis to run at loss. Be careful about your wallet security and where you store your bitcoin.