Tuesday, August 09, 2011

A Surprise Not Quite as Unpleasant as Expected

When MyBitcoin.com disappeared for a week, then came back online to announce that it had been hacked and was going into a "receivership" under which customers would be reimbursed at 49% of their account values, I was skeptical. I figured the proprietors were running off with the (digital) money and that the "claims procedure" was just a way of buying more time to get away.

I'm still somewhat skeptical of the hacking story -- it seems to be making the rounds, if you take my meaning -- but I have now in fact received reimbursement as promised. I had BC1 in my MyBitcoin account, and now (less than 24 hours after filing my claim; they promised 48-hour turnaround) I have BC0.49 in hand.

Based on value at time of purchase, etc., I've lost about $10USD on Bitcoin. That doesn't seem like a big price to pay for being part of the advance of anonymous digital currencies toward maturity.

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