A less technologically advanced form of crime appears to be on the rise within the cryptocurrency ecosystem: the use of violence and intimidation to steal Bitcoins (BTC). The developer Castlenine has left evidence of this, by narrating how he became the victim of a violent attack that ended up robbing him of his savings.

Castlenine, developer of the financial institution for holders , Dux Reserve, revealed that his mental health was at a breaking point, after three criminals attacked him in his own home. “They could have stolen my computer or my laptop, but they didn’t care, they were here for my bitcoins,” he said in a Twitter thread.

In the middle of the attack, he tried to dissuade to his three attackers claiming that he did not possess bitcoins, however, his lie was soon exposed when the criminals found his hardware wallets stored in a drawer of his desk . “My number one flaw,” Castlenine wrote to refer to his carelessness in not keeping his physical devices in a more secure place.

Generally, bitcoin cold storage is generally considered safe against hackers, viruses, keyloggers , and other cyberattacks, but whoever owns cryptocurrencies does not expect a physical attack, nor does he protect himself to avoid them, because they are not usually very frequent. Although, everything seems to be changing now, when violent activity in the sector is multiplying and diversifying. One of these events took place in Stockholm, where a couple She was surprised in her own home by armed men who forced them to divest themselves of their BTC savings.

In any case, willing not to give up the savings that had cost him so much to obtain, Castlenine disabled his Coldcard using the tool Brick Me that is activated by entering the wrong code, precisely for when the owner of the wallet faces coercion situations. But nothing worked. “They didn’t like this at all and they became more aggressive,” he explained.

Still, he decided moving forward in his attempt to fool his attackers, so he handed over the stored BTC to them at an address he had created as a ‘decoy’. But, his new plan did not work either, because, although the attackers kept these coins, insisted that he give them his main wallet. «They told me to leave to play and give them my real purse. So I opened my second wallet lure, hoping they would take the bait, but they still didn’t believe me », he confessed.

Worn out before so much violence his Body collapsed and already demoralized, he decided to hand over all his savings saved in his main bitcoin wallet. “I only had a few sats left on my ColdCard. The rest is gone », he commented.

“Me he was not a bitcoin genius, he was just a naive young man »

Once the offenders left, even though her body was able to rest from the violence and intimidation, then she had to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder. Even today, it is difficult for him to process what happened. «I developed an unhealthy paranoia. I didn’t trust anyone, not even my partner or my best friend ».

He assures that his mind continues to work, looking for a logical explanation for what happened, but from time to time the doubt attacks and he wonders how it came to become victim of strangers? He does not recall revealing anything related to his savings in BTC , not even to his most intimate surroundings. He is also sure that he removed his trail while staying online.

However, he suspects criminals noticed that he worked on multiple Canadian exchanges. “Maybe they thought I was a bitcoin genius when in reality I was just a naive young man,” he argues.

In spite of everything, he says that he does not distance himself from bitcoin, on the contrary, he continues to believe firmly in the pioneer cryptocurrency and that is why he now works with dedication to help others who, like him, one day made the decision to want to achieve their financial sovereignty. In this task, Castlenine develops the Dux Reserve platform, a key manager for hardware bitcoin wallets.

He says that he has spent many hours reflecting on more optimal ways to secure his bitcoins and help others to do it, but in that search he has discovered that this depends on the needs of each person. As a result of his research also it is clear to him that “statistically, the greatest danger to our BTC is ourselves”.

Castlenine’s traumatic experience adds to the avalanche of cryptocurrency exchanges and platforms hacks, as fraudulent activity in pursuit of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is on the rise.

The physical attack to deprive The users of their bitcoins also have their own history as made clear by the developer Jamesson Loop who has made a count of some known cases. According to its publication 66 attacks have been perpetrated using physical violence , of which five have occurred so far this year.

The Loop file still does not record a case recently reported by CriptoNoticias. This is an event that occurred in Argentina, when a man identified as FT was assaulted on March 18, after he agreed to a sale of bitcoins with unknown buyers. The robbery was perpetrated by armed hand, taking the criminals approximately USD 4,000.

The post “We are the greatest danger to our bitcoins”: developer who lost his savings appeared first on World Weekly News.