With the fast rise of Ethereum and its cryptocurrency Ether’s value there have been a rash of large hacks and thefts associated with exchanges and storages of the cryptocurrency.Bitcoin as a tradable asset has been no stranger to theft since its inception, counting high profile losses such as Mt.Gox, however Ether’s relatively new exposure to exchanges and burgeoning technology to inexperienced customers and users seems to have left it with some relative vulnerabilities as far as security goes.One of the latest thefts of ETH has been reported on the reddit forums where 7218 ETH (roughly 160BTC) when a user tried to buy DAO tokens using the Ethereum Mist wallet.The technology surrounding the crowdsale of Slock.it’s DAO tokens as well as Digix’s gold-backed DGD tokens and Augur’s REP tokens has created demand for the ability to trade these assets after the crowdsale is complete.This has been a market opportunity that the likes of Gatecoin have gone after in creating an exchange offering for customers to be able to buy, sell and trade tokens along with other cryptocurrencies and fiat.

Some people believe that it’s highly unwise to store large amounts of cryptocurrency on exchanges due to their being prime targets for hackers.Those views would certainly be validated by Gatecoin’s recent hack.However, using the core technology of the Ethereum Mist wallet should seem like a secure technological bet if done correctly and with due technical precautions.ethereal knives gearHowever, with Ethereum being such a young technology along with many other aspects of the cryptocurrency world, there’s not a ton of user friendly material out there on how to transact using the software confidently from a layperson’s perspective.bitcoin bowl party deck ticketsIn the case of the noted theft above, the user was attempting to buy into the DAO token crowdsale using their Ethereum Mist wallet.samsung s5 bitcoin

While some information regarding the theft and the IP addresses used to take the ETH, doing research about what happened after the funds are already gone may prove to be .What can come of benefit from this highly unfortunately situation is possibly collective learnings for the DAO and other crowdsales like it to educate participants on how to safely buy and trade tokens.bitcoin ticker windows 7Back in early April before the DAO crowdsale began, Slock.it published a encouraging people to become “DAO ninjas” and become familiar with the process of using the Ethereum Mist wallet.dogecoin rate chartIt’s clear Slock.it wanted to make sure that people are perfectly comfortable sending and reciving ETH and interacting with a token as well as backing up their private keys for security’s sake.bitcoin hilo

There’s also a good amount of resources on social media and about fine details on keeping funds in an Ethereum Mist wallet safe.Many posts around this theft have to do with the person who lost their funds doing the wrong thing when handling their technical settings on their wallet.bitcoin amsterdam may 2014However, anyone who’s downloaded the Ethereum Mist wallet will know that while it’s a decent GUI interface, it’s certainly not 100% intuitive through and through and that inherent safety and security should not be trusting with it or any single internet connected cryptocurrency wallet.bitcoin wiki 51 attackRegardless if there’s a security bug with the Ethereum Mist wallet or there’s some lack of education around how to operate the wallet from a layperson’s perspective, something must be done to prevent continued cases like this.litecoin brasil

Of course, Ethereum has only just moved from its Frontier release to and is working on a more stable platform, however, there needs to be for people who wish to participate from a non-engineering level in DAO’s and cryptocurrency trading so that they’re not made victims to what seem like silly mistakes or misunderstandings after the fact.It’s the responsibility of not only the Ethereum developers to facilitate this education, but also the community of users who wish to see the ecosystem grow as well.Bitcoin made it through these sorts of events in its early days, and so will Ethereum.Edit: It seems that the user who lost 7218 Ether modified his default client, resulting in his loss off coins.More can be read here.Two competing Bitcoin forums on popular social media website strike a startlingly different tone when it comes to one of the most popular and influential corporations in the Bitcoin industry: Coinbase.Bitcoiners like to express disdain for leading Bitcoin wallet service and exchange Coinbase on r/Bitcoin, the Bitcoin forum moderated by the controversial administrator Theymos, who faces criticism for censorship.

R/btc, which sprouted as an alternative to r/bitcoin, strikes a more positive tone when it comes to the San Francisco startup.On Reddit, where Bitcoiners love to engage in lively debate, post after post appears disparaging the San Francisco-based Bitcoin startup.For example: Even on Coinbase’s own help Community, a post entitled “” shares the sentiment.Some have wondered if Coinbase is the victim of a .With Bitcoiners expressing consistent skepticism – most recently people lobbied claims that the Bitcoin and ether exchange is bankrupt – CEO Brian Armstrong felt the need to allay fears that Coinbase is out of money.He did so with a tweet: Coinbase has all funds to cover user deposits.If you prefer to cntrl you own private keys, see our multisig vault https://t.co/Dt1EdiohpG — Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) August 1, 2016 No cryptographic proof of funds was executed, a controversial move for an industry which prides itself on such verifiability.Skepticism remains among within the Bitcoin industry.

r/Bitcoin – a central gathering point for the self-proclaimed “Bitcoin Community” – has long been unkind to Armstrong’s company, as users regularly complain about Coinbase’s interpretation of know your customer and anti-money laundering policies, which results in account closures.As a money transmitter, Coinbase has a duty to monitor its user’s transactions for suspicious activity.Bitcoin ideologists don’t like this.One Reddit user recounted an incident which began in June 2015 when he began exploring the code to Coinbase’s multi sig vault, where the user held “anywhere from $2,500 worth of btc to $10,000.” He became interested in Coinbase’s “Vault” system and began experimenting with it.He purportedly found a “major exploit” which allowed him to put his account into negative balance while withdrawing the bitcoin, resulting in the user being able to cash out infinite bitcoins.“Instead of abusing the exploit i have decided to help Coinbase fix the exploit by telling them step to step instructions on how to reproduce the bug on ,” he wrote.

The Reddit user laments Coinbase’s “measly $5,000 bounty” for reporting the bug.“I was expecting to get upwards of $25,000,” he said.The user , “I helped them fix something that could have damaged them in hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe even millions if the exploit was executed correct with the right amount of people.” After the user received the bounty, Coinbase banned the user’s account  The user could not withdraw bitcoins.After further investigation, the user another exploit and notified them.It took Coinbase months to reply, according to the Redditor.My exchange with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong from Bitcoin Whether Coinbase’s actions were “compliance and banking” culture (the likely answer)-or more sinister- is often debated on Reddit.It’s not uncommon for posts to appear on r/Bitcoin lamenting how Coinbase shut down a user account.One of the more popular examples is a post entitled, “.” A series of complaints on Reddit even resulted in an article on Gizmodo wherein users how hackers had stolen their bitcoin held on the Coinbase platform.

Reddit consistently upvotes posts on Coinbase’s lackluster service.“Coinbase BitBet.Us last month posted on Reddit its alleged discovery that Coinbase “has silently strated tracking how their customers spend the coins purchased on their site.” The Bitcoin-based gambling site wrote: “One of our users was threatened by Coinbase with account closure after he placed a bet on our site,” according to BitBet.Us.“The implication is basically that Coinbase is now officially in the business of deciding of deciding what you can and can’t do with your own money.” Many Bitcoiners decry how Coinbase is no different than VISA and Paypal.A movement to take Coinbase off resulted in division and debate between bitcoiners.Last month, headlines did not help Coinbase’s reputation within the Bitcoin community.In July, headlines detailed how Coinbase reportedly helped the FBI to shutdown Kickass Torrents and how the US Secret Service seized $13,000 from a Coinbase account.Armstrong has been very public about his belief that for the future of digital currency.

Of course, the nature of Reddit makes drawing conclusions from posts on the site difficult to do.The site is routinely rigged, and even the Bitcoin space has taken note thereof.Still, Bitcoiners hold major debates there, and companies often claim posts on subreddits represent an opportunity for the Bitcoin “Community” to comment on the industry’s important issues.On another popular Reddit Bitcoin forum, the subredit r/btc, users the dislike for Coinbase demonstrated in r/Bitcoin.Some conjecture it began when Armstrong advocated for larger block sizes.But the distaste predates the block size debate, and is likely more rooted in Coinbase’s decision to abide by the law.Bitcoin’s anarchist sect, deeply rooted in bitcoin’s history, see Bitcoin above and beyond traditional financial regulation.When I reached out to Armstrong for this post, he deeply criticized an earlier version.He called speculation on r/Bitcoin “wildly inaccurate.” He pointed to the deep divide between the two Reddit sub-forums, saying this caused “a lot of bias.” I suppose he considered I had fallen for the bias.