[ANN][VRC] VeriCoin Proof of Stake-Time Currency | New Roadmap Released

[BitcoinPorn]

MintPal Exchange Suffers VeriCoin Hack
July 14, 2014

On Sunday, June 13, 2014, the popular cryptocurrency exchange MintPal made an announcement revealing that they had been the victim of an attack which targeted the exchange's VeriCoin wallets [1]. While the amount stolen was not disclosed, MintPal did confirm in the post that they lost "a considerable amount of VeriCoin in the attack". Some rumors suggest that the exchange may have lost roughly 8 million VeriCoin -- or $1,900,000 USD at current market price. While this amount has not yet been verified by MintPal officials, recent transactions on the VeriCoin blockchain confirm that two large transfers in the amount of 5 million and 3 million VRC had taken place [2] [3]. As evidenced by the blockchain, the stolen coins do not appear to have been sold on any exchange.

Community Response
Upon disclosure of this information, MintPal and competing exchanges were quick to suspend trading of VeriCoin. According to the announcement, the exchange plans on pursuing a hard fork which would essentially rollback VeriCoin's blockchain to a position before the attack. This decision would render the stolen coins worthless and restore user’s balances. This news comes as a surprise to many because hard forks are generally considered to be extremely disruptive procedures reserved only for flaws with the core protocol -- not mistakes made by a third party exchange.

Some speculators have raised the point that the decision to roll back a coin at the request of a private corporation undermines the very nature of decentralized cryptocurrencies. While true, it should be noted that this decision can also be largely attributed to the fact that VeriCoin is a Proof-of-Stake coin. A stakeholder with access to 8 million coins (roughly 30% of the total coin count) could compromise the network by executing the nefarious 51% attack (or 30% in this case) [4]. Regardless of the rationale, the decision to hard fork the coin undoubtedly appears to be necessary and the VeriCoin developers seem to agree [5].

Whats Next
It remains to be seen what kind of effect this news will have on VeriCoin's price once markets are re-enabled. While this news certainly calls MintPal's security procedures into question, the VeriCoin community and developers have generally been receptive to the idea of a hard fork and have since successfully forked the coin. It is unclear whether or not MintPal will be reversing any trades prior to the announcement.

1. https://support.mintpal.com/index.php?module=announce&sec=view&id=17

2. http://chainz.cryptoid.info/vrc/address.dws?80779.htm

3. http://chainz.cryptoid.info/vrc/address.dws?80780.htm

4. https://twitter.com/pnosker/status/488355728491819009

5. http://www.vericoin.info/downloads/Statement.pdf

Written by Michael Toth  https://plus.google.com/u/0/106211569656491875003?rel=author


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Great write up from RapidCX/Michael Toth  @ https://www.rapidcx.com/blog/mintpal-exchange-suffers-vericoin-hack

[Alns]

I am not sure why people are arguing about the rollback.  This is a democratic process.  If you do not agree with the rollback fork, do not switch to the new wallet.  If you do agree, switch to the new wallet.  Majority wins.

This.


The usual people in this thread approve the fork, period.


Haters gonna hate.

[XbladeX]

I purchased VRC daily. If done hardfork, my coins deleted before the hack ?

Don't worry bro, the only one who is losing it's coins is the hacker. Not you. Just stay relaxed and fud the fudsters. Much more fun to do

IF hacker sold that coin rollback will steal coin from people who were innocent merchant/exchanges/individual traders but touched stolen coins...

[lucates]

Kudos to VRC devs for having the stones to do something and do it quickly.

This will be historic in the crypto timeline and people will continue to disagree if it was the right decision. Crypto is still getting it's legs so things like this will happen. What matter most is we continue to move down the field towards our ultimate goal of mass adoption of crypto.

One of the issues today is the "cool" social status criminals are given. Script kiddies and hackers are just smarter criminals than the guy slinging dope on the corner. Both are part of the problem and should pay for their choices.

All you haters please dump into my buy walls.

When I look to the future I see VRC.

+1000 

[pnosker]

I purchased VRC daily. If done hardfork, my coins deleted before the hack ?

Don't worry bro, the only one who is losing it's coins is the hacker. Not you. Just stay relaxed and fud the fudsters. Much more fun to do

IF hacker sold that coin rollback will steal coin from people who were innocent merchant/exchanges/individual traders but touched stolen coins...

The hacker did not sell the coin.

[buy4crypto]

I purchased VRC daily. If done hardfork, my coins deleted before the hack ?

Don't worry bro, the only one who is losing it's coins is the hacker. Not you. Just stay relaxed and fud the fudsters. Much more fun to do

IF hacker sold that coin rollback will steal coin from people who were innocent merchant/exchanges/individual traders but touched stolen coins...

the coin never moved from mintpal, hacker got nothing, thats the whole point of this.

VeriCoin 8million - thief 0

[cryptodevil]

IF hacker sold that coin rollback will steal coin from people who were innocent merchant/exchanges/individual traders but touched stolen coins...

Mintpal have said they will reimburse anyone who can show they lost funds as part of the rollback.

It's far cheaper for them to come up with a fistful of bitcoin in compensation for proven loss than it would have been for 8mil VRC.

[CryptoJohn]

IF hacker sold that coin rollback will steal coin from people who were innocent merchant/exchanges/individual traders but touched stolen coins...

Hasnt it already been proven that no VRC was moved from thief's wallet? Should this be the case then mintpal should step up and compensate anyone who lost because of this incident.

[buy4crypto]

Mintpal owes VeriCoin bigtime. It somehow seems through all this that people forget, VeriCoin was THE victim, not the criminal here. They moved to directly protect is own crypto from vulnerability, and the network voted to accept the changes. Nothing more, nothing less.

But indirectly, VeriCoin saved the whole exchange and every alt that was on Mintpal from a potential dump / run on the currencies. And Surely another black eye for crypto and exchanges. MintGox could have happened without such actions from VeriCoin.


VeriCoin saved crypto today, and all this trouble in the end may help grow us further than we could have ever got before.

[phzi]

the coin never moved from mintpal, hacker got nothing, thats the whole point of this.

VeriCoin 8million - thief 0

AKA: The coins were never stolen...  MintPal screwed up and lost their private keys, or something similar.

It's by and far a more reasonable explanation then any of the bullshit stories from MintPal and the VRC devs.

VRC - we bail out exchanges when they fuck up, and the cost of blockchain integrity.
MintPal - declared too big to fail by VRC.

It's like fiat in a crypto, lol....

Mintpal have said they will reimburse anyone who can show they lost funds as part of the rollback.

It's far cheaper for them to come up with a fistful of bitcoin in compensation for proven loss than it would have been for 8mil VRC.

Tip:  If you had a ton of VRC, you would have been very smart to send them from one address you own to another before the blockchain rollback occured. 
Then, contact mintpal, show them the transaction (which will have been reverted), and demand they reimburse you for your lost VRC from the private sale of <insert good here>.

Double your money! Woot.  Hopefully lots of people clued into this.

[buy4crypto]

the coin never moved from mintpal, hacker got nothing, thats the whole point of this.

VeriCoin 8million - thief 0

AKA: The coins were never stolen...  MintPal screwed up and lost their private keys, or something similar.

It's by and far a more reasonable explanation then any of the bullshit stories from MintPal and the VRC devs.

VRC - we bail out exchanges when they fuck up, and the cost of blockchain integrity.
MintPal - declared too big to fail by VRC.

It's like fiat in a crypto, lol...

Just curious. Is becoming mainstream bad? Because I don't see bitcoin getting any bigger without continued media attention. What do you prefer the next crypto related headline be?

Another in a long line of failures from the crypto community? Or a success?

[buy4crypto]

Alright everyone lets try and get ready, looks like on twitter they are getting the wallets ready and say its fixing the issues.

After everything is settled, those of you who wish for more clarity can join the google hangout hosted by VeriCoin developers.

[thensa]

R.I.P

Predicted price after the hardfork: 1 satoshi - assuming anyone is willing to trade this crap.

Can't believe the devs are so short sighted. You can't interfere with coins moving from one place to another. Stolen or not. This opens a bad precedent. People, whoever of you loses any coins make sure to contact the devs they will gladly hardfork the coin for you! They are so caring! Not...

Hardforking is admitting this is a P&D scheme. Hardforking is admitting that this is no currency, this is a toy in the hands of Mintpal and the devs.
It's against the nature and spirit of crypto currency. Why does an exchange dictate the shape of the blockchain? It's a disastrous and ill situation!

If the exchanges weren't greedy they could keep some sort of a insurance to pay people back in bitcoins for their losses. They make hundreds of bitcoins from transactions fees.

I am sure all the people who have been happily trading this "coin" post incident on other exchanges, that were not aware of the hardfork are going to be very happy the moment they notice that any legitimate trading they have done is going to vanish to thin air!

http://images.rapgenius.com/bmyad5iaf56zyh3kgtrreivxd.457x189x19.gif

[buy4crypto]

They are protecting the currency, Bitcoin had a 184 billion block created.

It was a unique situation at the time, It was worked out and bitcoin grew.


VeriCoin is the first to break the trend of accepting exchange failures that HURT THE COMMUNITY.


Why? Because they are capable and can, I dont know if any other crypto has had this oppertunity due to the fact they are too decentralized (btc), or incapable (bc). They never had the ability to act quick.  Ever thought about that? Maybe there is a good balance for centralization and decetralization that could work and bring in more people?

Not everything / everyone wants to be decentralized all the time. Its sad crypto puts itself in this box. I got nothing to hide. do you?

This coin will be bigger than ever.

[EtherCoin]

We've been alerted that there are a couple of forked chains right now still. Please, for safety of your coins, don't move them yet. We are determining the problem.

What will happen to those who made a buy and withdrawal on Poloniex after the wallet update?  Is Poloniex on the right chain?  Same question for Mint.

That's why Poloniex is not yet processing VRC withdrawals. They're making sure they are on the right chain.
From the announcement section: "VRC frozen temporarily while we wait for developers to address a new fork."

Exactly, inside Polo still trading going on cos is managed by their internal software, withdrawals are not temporarily not allowed since would be unsafe till the fork is completed and checked. Just that.

Pat just tweeted that will be around 1 hour more, new wallet is finishing comp.

Eth.

[lucates]

R.I.P

Predicted price after the hardfork: 1 satoshi - assuming anyone is willing to trade this crap.

Can't believe the devs are so short sighted. You can't interfere with coins moving from one place to another. Stolen or not. This opens a bad precedent. People, whoever of you loses any coins make sure to contact the devs they will gladly hardfork the coin for you! They are so caring! Not...

Hardforking is admitting this is a P&D scheme. Hardforking is admitting that this is no currency, this is a toy in the hands of Mintpal and the devs.
It's against the nature and spirit of crypto currency. Why does an exchange dictate the shape of the blockchain? It's a disastrous and ill situation!

If the exchanges weren't greedy they could keep some sort of a insurance to pay people back in bitcoins for their losses. They make hundreds of bitcoins from transactions fees.

I am sure all the people who have been happily trading this "coin" post incident, that are not aware of the hardfork are going to be very happy the moment they notice that any legitimate trading they have done is going to vanish to thin air!

Newbie with some wrong prognosis!

[EtherCoin]

omitted babbling

Activity: 6

Post with your real acc or get the fuck out

Now that I think, if you do that I wouldn't even see it cos I am sure I already got your main on ignore..

Eth.

[pnosker]

The new Linux and OS X wallets are up on the site http://www.vericoin.info as is the source code on http://www.github.com/vericoin/master. Bootstrap is available: http://vericoin.info/downloads/bootstrap.dat

Please update. We are building the Windows wallet now.

[DogTheHunter]

the coin never moved from mintpal, hacker got nothing, thats the whole point of this.

VeriCoin 8million - thief 0

AKA: The coins were never stolen...  MintPal screwed up and lost their private keys, or something similar.

It's by and far a more reasonable explanation then any of the bullshit stories from MintPal and the VRC devs.

VRC - we bail out exchanges when they fuck up, and the cost of blockchain integrity.
MintPal - declared too big to fail by VRC.

It's like fiat in a crypto, lol....

Mintpal have said they will reimburse anyone who can show they lost funds as part of the rollback.

It's far cheaper for them to come up with a fistful of bitcoin in compensation for proven loss than it would have been for 8mil VRC.

Tip:  If you had a ton of VRC, you would have been very smart to send them from one address you own to another before the blockchain rollback occured. 
Then, contact mintpal, show them the transaction (which will have been reverted), and demand they reimburse you for your lost VRC from the private sale of <insert good here>.

Double your money! Woot.  Hopefully lots of people clued into this.

I doubt very much that any exchange would say they got hacked if all they did was lose private keys or a password.

Exchange security is Nr.1 / Nr.2 issue, other than liquidity.

[mikesrevenge]

Rolling back really damages the integrity of the blockchain..

Should have switched to a new coin, and let the exchanges convert 1 for 1

Veri2coin

EDIT: Probably both needed to happen in this case for Vericoin to succeed.  Roll back to before the theft, then freeze markets and exchange for new coin.