Cryptocurrency YouTuber Ian Balina hacked out of $2M during a livestream (opens in new tab)

(thenextweb.com)

69 pointsFuturisticLover8y ago40 comments

40 comments

32 comments · 9 top-level

jasonwen8y ago· 6 in thread

I think its an exit scam. He will not be able to sell coins without upsetting his following, because he sells and then announced it on his channels. This will be followed a major dump and his followers will lose significant value during this dump.

Perfect cover up to liquidate his assets while covering his ass. No person seriously into crypto (especially with his amounts) does not keep it in a hardware wallet.

roflchoppa8y ago

Back in my day when we made wallets on air-blocked computers, that had the single purpose of just generating wallets.

Not sure if I would trust hardware wallets//online wallets in the same way.

The other benefit to this is if you misplace a wallet, and find it years later it’s like finding cash in your dress pants you don’t really wear all the time.

tony1018y ago

> The other benefit to this is if you misplace a wallet, and find it years later it’s like finding cash in your dress pants you don’t really wear all the time.

There were also some who accidentally threw their old computers / hard drives away.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/ne...

girvo8y ago

I found some BTC change on a backup drive. Said change was now worth a few hundred dollars. Was neat!

loceng8y ago

Interesting theory. One point towards another bad behaviour that incentivized crypto-assets can lead to..

jiveturkey8y ago

after he sells, why does he care if he upsets his following?

moltar8y ago

Because he pumped them coinz

sspiff8y ago· 5 in thread

At the risk of sounding pedantic, can we not use the term crypto for cryptocurrency or blockchain related stuff?

Crypto already has a well defined meaning that is in common use, which is related to cryptography, not cryptocurrency.

Edit: Post title was changed to use the full word "cryptocurrency", great :)

marak8308y ago

As much as I agree (and I upvoted you), I do think that ship has sailed.

Same as hacker has different meanings when used here on HN and on most news articles.

camgunz8y ago

I'm fine with it being a shibboleth for people deeply embedded in the cryptocurrency world, whereas for people in the wider world of software engineering (and hopefully the world at large) we stick with the original meaning.

It's also worth saying the prefix doesn't really make sense. "crypto"-"graphy" means hidden writing. "crypto"-"currency" means hidden currency, and nothing about Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc. is hidden.

csomar8y ago

I don't think it is going to work. Maybe in HN but as some other commenter said the ship has sailed. Most people don't know crypto and know cryptocurrencies. They associated them with that word.

cpplinuxdude8y ago

At the risk of sounding pedantic too, crypto is short for both cryptography and cryptocurrency. Knowing which one it refers to is inferred from context.

SlowRobotAhead8y ago

I’ll go one further and call the cryptocommodities.

tomglynch8y ago· 5 in thread

Lots of talk about this being setup and a way to get out of taxes (which are apparently due tomorrow in the US). Any chance this could be the case?

AznHisoka8y ago

How would this affect 2017 taxes though if it happened in 2018?

txsh8y ago

Losing money in 2018 would not affect 2017 income tax.

csomar8y ago

Aren't you taxed on money you lost?

cpplinuxdude8y ago

Nope. Offsetting losses is therefor a very commonly used loophole. Hence the speculation.

1 more reply

ebbv8y ago

Definitely possible but kinda hard to know for sure.

berberous8y ago· 2 in thread

The livestream had nothing to do with it. Here's how he says he thinks he was hacked (from the bottom of the article):

"This is how I think I got hacked. My college email was listed as a recovery email to my Gmail. I remember getting an email about it being compromised, and tried to follow up with my college security to get it resolved, but wasn’t able to get it handled in fast manner and gave up on it thinking it was just an old email.

I kept text versions of my private keys stored in my Evernote, as encrypted text files with passwords. I think they hacked my email using my college email, and then hacked my Evernote."

danso8y ago

The time stamps of the purported transfer took place during his livestream so the headline ("during a livestream") is correct

berberous8y ago

Yes, understood, but it seemed to me like an irrelevant and misleading detail, as if he accidentally revealed his passwords or some other security detail on camera.

3 more replies

rajacombinator8y ago· 2 in thread

Sounds like a great marketing hack / donation scam quite honestly.

curiousgal8y ago

A comment on the article also raises a valid point:

>Could it be that he made it up to avoid taxes? Perhaps we'll never know

rajacombinator8y ago

Yea I ignored that one thinking the IRS would just laugh but I suppose a naive crypto youtuber might try such a thing.

bredren8y ago· 2 in thread

Keys kept in plaintext on Evernote.

mcjiggerlog8y ago

From the article: "I kept text versions of my private keys stored in my Evernote, as encrypted text files with passwords."

sambull8y ago

Don't worry he encrypted them with a winzip password

1 more reply

capoditutticapi8y ago· 1 in thread

I thought Gmail required a phone number as well when 2FA is configured and someone is trying to recover their account. Otherwise it would be to easy to bypass. But maybe the dude just likes to live dangerous by keeping his millions in a cleartext evernote file.

Crosseye_Jack8y ago

While they do make you add a phone number to the account first when enabling 2FA you can remove it afterwards though (iirc) you have to remember to not just remove the number as an auth method but also remove it as a recovery method.

Failing to do so opens you up to getting your phone account transferred to a different phone/sim and using that to do the recovery process to gain access to the account.

n3dm8y ago

>I kept text versions of my private keys stored in my Evernote, as encrypted text files with passwords. I think they hacked my email using my college email, and then hacked my Evernote.

>Storing private keys for wallets worth $2,000,000 online...

A fool and his money are soon parted.

jiveturkey8y ago

not to lack compassion, but lolol

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

40 comments

32 comments · 9 top-level

jasonwen8y ago· 6 in thread

Perfect cover up to liquidate his assets while covering his ass. No person seriously into crypto (especially with his amounts) does not keep it in a hardware wallet.

roflchoppa8y ago

Back in my day when we made wallets on air-blocked computers, that had the single purpose of just generating wallets.

Not sure if I would trust hardware wallets//online wallets in the same way.

The other benefit to this is if you misplace a wallet, and find it years later it’s like finding cash in your dress pants you don’t really wear all the time.

tony1018y ago

> The other benefit to this is if you misplace a wallet, and find it years later it’s like finding cash in your dress pants you don’t really wear all the time.

There were also some who accidentally threw their old computers / hard drives away.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/ne...

girvo8y ago

I found some BTC change on a backup drive. Said change was now worth a few hundred dollars. Was neat!

loceng8y ago

Interesting theory. One point towards another bad behaviour that incentivized crypto-assets can lead to..

jiveturkey8y ago

after he sells, why does he care if he upsets his following?

moltar8y ago

Because he pumped them coinz

sspiff8y ago· 5 in thread

At the risk of sounding pedantic, can we not use the term crypto for cryptocurrency or blockchain related stuff?

Crypto already has a well defined meaning that is in common use, which is related to cryptography, not cryptocurrency.

Edit: Post title was changed to use the full word "cryptocurrency", great :)

marak8308y ago

As much as I agree (and I upvoted you), I do think that ship has sailed.

Same as hacker has different meanings when used here on HN and on most news articles.

camgunz8y ago

It's also worth saying the prefix doesn't really make sense. "crypto"-"graphy" means hidden writing. "crypto"-"currency" means hidden currency, and nothing about Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc. is hidden.

csomar8y ago

I don't think it is going to work. Maybe in HN but as some other commenter said the ship has sailed. Most people don't know crypto and know cryptocurrencies. They associated them with that word.

cpplinuxdude8y ago

At the risk of sounding pedantic too, crypto is short for both cryptography and cryptocurrency. Knowing which one it refers to is inferred from context.

SlowRobotAhead8y ago

I’ll go one further and call the cryptocommodities.

tomglynch8y ago· 5 in thread

Lots of talk about this being setup and a way to get out of taxes (which are apparently due tomorrow in the US). Any chance this could be the case?

AznHisoka8y ago

How would this affect 2017 taxes though if it happened in 2018?

txsh8y ago

Losing money in 2018 would not affect 2017 income tax.

csomar8y ago

Aren't you taxed on money you lost?

cpplinuxdude8y ago

Nope. Offsetting losses is therefor a very commonly used loophole. Hence the speculation.

1 more reply

ebbv8y ago

Definitely possible but kinda hard to know for sure.

berberous8y ago· 2 in thread

The livestream had nothing to do with it. Here's how he says he thinks he was hacked (from the bottom of the article):

I kept text versions of my private keys stored in my Evernote, as encrypted text files with passwords. I think they hacked my email using my college email, and then hacked my Evernote."

danso8y ago

The time stamps of the purported transfer took place during his livestream so the headline ("during a livestream") is correct

berberous8y ago

Yes, understood, but it seemed to me like an irrelevant and misleading detail, as if he accidentally revealed his passwords or some other security detail on camera.

3 more replies

rajacombinator8y ago· 2 in thread

Sounds like a great marketing hack / donation scam quite honestly.

curiousgal8y ago

A comment on the article also raises a valid point:

>Could it be that he made it up to avoid taxes? Perhaps we'll never know

rajacombinator8y ago

Yea I ignored that one thinking the IRS would just laugh but I suppose a naive crypto youtuber might try such a thing.

bredren8y ago· 2 in thread

Keys kept in plaintext on Evernote.

mcjiggerlog8y ago

From the article: "I kept text versions of my private keys stored in my Evernote, as encrypted text files with passwords."

sambull8y ago

Don't worry he encrypted them with a winzip password

1 more reply

capoditutticapi8y ago· 1 in thread

Crosseye_Jack8y ago

Failing to do so opens you up to getting your phone account transferred to a different phone/sim and using that to do the recovery process to gain access to the account.

n3dm8y ago

>I kept text versions of my private keys stored in my Evernote, as encrypted text files with passwords. I think they hacked my email using my college email, and then hacked my Evernote.

>Storing private keys for wallets worth $2,000,000 online...

A fool and his money are soon parted.

jiveturkey8y ago

not to lack compassion, but lolol

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse