2018-9-3 15:52 |
The rise in price of Bitcoin led to an increased spotlight on several aspects of the ever-expanding cryptocurrency markets. Millions of new investors have poured their fiat funds into a variety of alternative coins, the most popular of which being Bitcoin. But despite the massive hype surrounding coins of all different backgrounds, a number of security concerns continue to slip past the minds of new investors, many of whom do not have the background in cryptography that some initial holders of Bitcoin might have had.
This past week has seen the resurgence of a particular issue in the world of Bitcoin. A single Bitcoin wallet is rumored to hold nearly USD $850 million in Bitcoin. The wallet had laid dormant for nearly four years, with very little happening in regard to the massive amount of money. It is still unclear who owns the incredibly wealthy wallet, or why they decided to let the funds simply sit in the account, untouched, since late 2012.
But now, the mysterious owner of the wallet has attempted to move some of the funds in the account. Because moving the funds all at one time would likely tank the price of Bitcoin and hurt the overall value of the account and the wealth of its owner, the person holding the account is planning to slowly move some of the 111,000 Bitcoin hidden within the wallet.
Massive SpeculationFollowing the story breaking on several notable news sites within the Bitcoin community, thousands of developers, researchers, and investors began to speculate on who might own the massive wallet. For the most part, speculation holds that the wallet must belong to a whale, which is crypto-talk for an investor who holds enough funds to profoundly effect the market in which they participate.
One theory argues that the Silk Road might be in charge of the wallet. This would be interesting to see, considering that the original Silk Road was brought down by authorities years ago, and Silk Road 2.0 faced a similar fate back in 2015. Another theory is that Mt Gox, a major cryptocurrency exchange in China, is hoarding funds in the insurmountably large wallet.
Risks Of A Large WalletFor many professionals in the cryptocurrency community, this story is worth far more than its speculation. The theorizing regarding the owner of the wallet has brought up an important problem with holding significant amounts of money in a single wallet. When the movement of the funds starts, which must eventually happen, the wallet will definitely become the target of both identity speculation and dangerous threats on the part of nefarious parties.
Put simply, any wallet that holds enough funds to draw the interest of the national media will also captivate the attention of hackers, thieves, and hustlers. In addition to typical hacking attempts once the owner of the account is exposed, the account could be the target of specialized social engineering attempts. For consumers that hold large amounts of coin, it is advised to keep currency in multiple different accounts.
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