Gold bug and infamous cryptocurrency critic Peter Schiff wonders whether or not the current hack of verified profiles on Twitter is “a harbinger of
Gold bug and infamous cryptocurrency critic Peter Schiff wonders whether or not the current hack of verified profiles on Twitter is “a harbinger of Bitcoin itself being hacked.”
In a July 16 tweet, Schiff talked about yesterday’s mass hack of verified Twitter profiles which have been used to advertise a Bitcoin rip-off, additional suggesting that it may very well be a prelude to a hack of the cryptocurrency itself.
It seems like all verified Twitter accounts have been hacked by somebody operating a #Bitcoin rip-off. For as soon as not being verified has its advantageous. I’m wondering if this can be a harbinger of Bitcoin itself being hacked? Higher to play it secure and simply purchase #gold.
— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) July 15, 2020
Twitter hack fully unrelated to Bitcoin safety
Pavel Luptak — co-founder of Czech cryptocurrency group hub Parallel Polis and Hackers Congress Prague — instructed Cointelegraph that the Twitter hack and the opportunity of Bitcoin’s community being compromised don’t have any connection in any respect:
“It is a hack of Twitter, not Bitcoin. Bitcoin was only a scammer’s approach to ask folks for cash. After all, it might be a fame difficulty for Bitcoin (I anticipate some crypto exchanges begin to blacklist these stolen Bitcoins). However it’s primarily a giant fame difficulty for Twitter that isn’t capable of defend their person accounts.”
As Luptak identified, Bitcoin was only a medium of worth switch that the hackers duped their victims into utilizing. In truth — as some group members identified within the Twitter thread — the scammer’s determination to make use of Bitcoin was in all probability motivated by authorities’ lack of ability to censor and reverse Bitcoin transactions.
Transaction irreversibility is a extremely appreciated function of Bitcoin that many imagine to be the inspiration of its worth. It’s also value noting that whereas this Bitcoin attribute is appreciated by scammers, additionally they used different methods previously.
Luptak mentioned, “It’s essential to know that almost all scammers in historical past used fiat cash. […] This isn’t an issue of Bitcoin; any forex can be utilized for scams.”
Hacking Bitcoin is difficult
Moreover, Luptak defined that “Bitcoin has a decentralized protocol, hundreds of nodes, the whole lot is clear and auditable.” All of these options make the community a lot tougher to hack than Twitter.
Whereas assaults on Bitcoin’s community — similar to a 51% assault — are theoretically potential, it’s broadly believed that they might be extremely troublesome, a lot in order to preclude any potential hacker from even attempting.
Bitcoin was launched in 2009 and up to now no coin was stolen on the community by means of a hack. Luptak recommends:
“Pay attention to social engineering scams, and naturally, [keep in mind that] no one provides you something without cost.”