One of the original core developers behind Bitcoin (BTC), Luke Dashjr, claims to have lost “basically” all his BTC as a result of a hack that occurred just before the new year.
In a Jan. 1 post on Twitter, the developer said the alleged hackers had somehow gained access to his PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) key, a common security method that uses two keys to gain access to encrypted information.
In the thread, he shared a wallet address where some of the stolen BTC had been sent but did not reveal how much of his BTC was stolen in total.
PSA: My PGP key is compromised, and at least many of my bitcoins stolen. I have no idea how. Help please. #Bitcoin
— @LukeDashjr@BitcoinHackers.org on Mastodon (@LukeDashjr) January 1, 2023
At the time of writing the wallet address in question shows four transactions between 2:08 and 2:16 pm UTC on Dec. 31, with a total of 216.93 BTC pilfered from his wallet — worth $3.6 million at current prices.
Dashjr said he had “no idea how” the attackers gained access to his key, though some in the community have pointed to a possible connection to an earlier Twitter post from Dashjr on Nov. 17 which noted that his server had been compromised by “new malware/backdoors on the system.”
PSA: My server was accessed this morning by an unknown person. Full analysis in progress, but take extra care that you PGP-verified any downloads. #Bitcoin
— @LukeDashjr@BitcoinHackers.org on Mastodon (@LukeDashjr) November 17, 2022
Dashjr told a user in his most recent Twitter thread that he had only noticed the recent hack after getting emails from Coinbase and Kraken about login attempts.
The incident has also caught the attention of Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao offering condolences and support in a Jan. 1 post.
“Sorry to see you lose so much. Informed our security team to monitor. If it comes our way, we will freeze it. If there is anything else we can help with, please let us know. We deal with these often, and have Law Enforcement (LE) relationships worldwide,” he wrote.
Some in the crypto community have speculated that lax security might be to blame for the loss.
In a Jan. 1 Reddit thread, a user calling themselves SatStandard suggested that Dashjr may not have taken the Nov. 17 security breach “seriously enough” and later suggested that the Bitcoin developer “did not keep different activities separated.”
“He had hot wallet on the same computer he did everything else. It looks like he was really…
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