Bloomberg Exposes Bitcoin Paper Wallet Private Key on TV, Gets Stolen
Show a private key, get your funds stolen, learns a Bloomberg TV reporter
Bloomberg reporter Matt Miller has been hosting a series called 12 Days of Bitcoin where he is educating Bloomberg TV viewership about different aspects of the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Toward the end of a segment called How do you mine for Bitcoins?, Miller handed out Bitcoin paper wallets to his Bloomberg colleagues on air as a small gift for the holidays.
Paper wallets have both the public key and private key printed on them, everything you need to unlock funds from a Bitcoin address. Usually the private key is hidden in some way to prevent someone from taking a photo using the key to steal the funds.
One of the reporters opened up his paper wallet to show the private key, and, not too surprisingly, the funds were quickly stolen by a Bitcoiner who announced his conquest on Reddit.
I took it, it was only $20 worth. It was exhilarating nevertheless. I’ll send it back once Matt gives me a new address since someone else can sweep the old one. A segment on Bitcoin security and the importance of NOT showing the private key and also BIP0038 (Password Encrypted Private Keys) Wallets will be more than enough compensation. Blockchain confirmation and Public key of where i sent the bitcoin
Instead of being angry, Matt Miller told the thief that he could keep the funds.
haha — YES!!! so freaking classic but also a GREAT lesson in bitcoin security! you can keep the $20 — well earned.
Watch the full video of the episode where this happened.
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