Posted on 10/29/2018 4:35:17 AM PDT by lowbridge
A small Bitcoin exchange based in Alberta, Canada, has gone offline. Before their Twitter page went offline, MapleChange had announced on Twitter that they “[had] no more funds to pay anyone back.”
-snip
It’s been some time since we were able to report on a good old-fashioned exit scam. In the crypto space, we have primarily seen them in gambling, the dark web, and exchanges. The recipe is basic: gather trust of some clientele, get all their funds in one place, and run off with the money. It doesn’t actually matter the method by which you run off with the money, whether you claim a hack or simply up and disappear. The less-frequent (today) practice is precisely where the old wisdom of keeping one’s coins off exchanges and the like overnight comes from. You never know what’s going to happen next, and in cryptocurrency, you don’t have anything if you don’t have your own private keys. It’s just the nature of the thing.
Unfortunately, the MapleChange “hack” has all the signs of an exit scam.
For starters, there’s no need for the exchange to delete its social media pages or completely disappear in quite the fashion it has. There is no question that it is in debt to a number of depositors, gratefully a likely small number, but in business such things happen, and that’s what insurance or bankruptcy courts are for.
The short span of time between the announcement of the “bug” and the total disappearance of the exchange or its operators is another signal.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
“Ether money” can vanish in a blink of an eye.
Virtual money, why could go wrong?
Somebody is eating well tonight.
That’s ok, the money was never real to begin with.
For the uninitiated it is easy to blame crypto in general I suppose. The exchanges have always been the weak point. THEY have been hacked here and have been before. Bitcoin itself is not hackable outside the potential, distant future, of quantum computing.
If you keep your “keys” and keep your bitcoin in a hardware wallet, it is absolutely safe.
Also, a small exchange such as the one in this example, is particularly vulnerable, and the bigger more reputable exchanges are insured against such events.
The cryptocurrency exchange giant Coinbase for example, is insured and worldwide, and adding 30,000 new ‘wallets’ every day. Just don’t store your crypto there long term, because you are not in control of your “Keys”, which the exchange has to be to convert your money to crypto or vice versa.
Keeping your crypto safe offline is actually more convenient to use as a currency, and as easy to use, if not easier than a credit card from a wallet on your Iphone like the Breadwallet app which is an example of a hardware wallet.
So the lesson is; Buy and sell your cryptocurrency through an exchange, and then empty the accounts into an offline wallet. But people think it can never happen to them...
I wonder if it was “all gone” before or after he said it was “all gone”.
This reminds me of Itchy and Scratchy money from the Simpsons.
One sane post. Nothing else worth scanning here.
Think of it this way; An ‘exchange’ is like a bank. Banks can be robbed.
Crypto may be a failure, or not, but it is not a scam. I honestly don’t know the future, but it has the potential to revolutionize the financial industry as much as the internet, the smart phone, the cell phone.
For now it is a ‘disruptive technology’, that has potential.
““Ether money” can vanish in a blink of an eye.”
that’s because it was barely there to start with ...
Oh the HUGEMANATE! That’s what you get when you play with make believe ether money... POOF and it’s all gone.
And if you do hae your own private keys you have something. Currently $6400 but testing $6200. The price is completely arbitrary, but nonetheless still above $6000 for those of us who bought much lower. Of course I unloaded some and paid the gains taxes last December in the insane bubble.
Have no fear. The paper in your wallet with a note that says it’s legal tender is safer. Isn’t it?
Maybe not, but if my bank is robbed the money is federally insured.
Who didn’t see that coming?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.