Quote from: Phinnaeus Gage on April 04, 2013, 01:23:30 AM

Quote from: justusranvier on April 04, 2013, 01:00:36 AM

Quote from: Phinnaeus Gage on April 04, 2013, 12:58:03 AM

Without disclosing what this idiot had at InstaWallet, I could've easily purchased a house due to the recent exchange rate increase. Today, I don't have a single satoshi to my name, all because I never took the time to set up a secure wallet whether it be a paper wallet (no fuckin' idea what that's all about) or on a USB stick or downloading the client on some off-the-grid computer.

11000 posts and you never came across a thread explaining how to set up a secure paper wallet? Huh

I came across it, but opted to ignore it, not wanting to take the time to go through the learning curve. Hell, I purchased a Samsung III to use with Bitcoin in mind, but got frustrated with the screen, so I gave it to my niece.

I am capable of figuring things out, but sometimes the lack of time gets in the way of me doing certain things.

I'm on record for stating that even if Bitcoin went to zero, i'll be fine with that, for all-in-all I'm ahead of the game, with the exception of that fuckin' Bitcoinica fiasco of which I didn't have a single satoshi in, yet lost thousands indirectly, and still feeling the effects. This episode has my stomach in knots, but This Too Will Pass, a phrase I learnt about the same time as this one: Luck is preparation waiting for opportunity. Damn, I miss the early 80's. After a good night's sleep, I'll feel better, but still bitter.

Later, bud.

~Bruno K~

EDIT: Ironically, we cross-post:

Quote from: repentance on April 04, 2013, 01:21:36 AM

Quote from: Phinnaeus Gage on April 04, 2013, 12:58:03 AM

Without disclosing what this idiot had at InstaWallet, I could've easily purchased a house due to the recent exchange rate increase. Today, I don't have a single satoshi to my name, all because I never took the time to set up a secure wallet whether it be a paper wallet (no fuckin' idea what that's all about) or on a USB stick or downloading the client on some off-the-grid computer.

Sorry to hear than Phin. I guess I just kind of assumed that you above all people would be especially wary of leaving funds with third party services after the Bitcoinica debacle.

Looks like me and you are in the same boat Phinnaeus, nice to meet you. Shame it couldn't have been under better circumstances. Sad

Ok, I have been doing some analysis/thinking about the situation and am feeling (relatively) positive. Ladies and gentlemen, if you would care to indulge me.

INSTAWALLET DEBACLE 2013

Firstly i have made some assumptions

1. The people behind Instawallet are honest and want to return the money to their rightful owners.

I have assumed this based on the fact that they have their public profiles on record, some of them have been directors of big multinational companies (Orange), they have other businesses which i believe they want to keep earning them money and finally they probably realise that a higher percentage of the bitcoin userbase compared to the general public might go after them personally if the money was not returned. (Based on the fact that the currency is underground and only recently surfacing to most people).

Besides this, if we assume they are dishonest then our money might as well be gone anyway. :/

2. Everybody who had money in instawallet now realises the error of their ways and will be using a paper wallet rolled up into a tube and inserted anally at all times.

Some of the people here have lost a fair bit of money and the I told you so's are a little annoying. I for one will invest a few bitcoins in awareness of this problem for newbies if i get my money back.

3. The hacker has some info

This is as far as i could go with this. I am not technically minded and can only guess from reading this thread the kind of data he could have. I have listed the possibilites from worst cast scenario to best.

All 3.5 million URLS and public addresses in a list with balance attached to them in the list. - this would mean they have probably emptied all the big ones straight away
All 3.5 million URLS and public addresses in a list with no balance attached. - this would mean having to search each address on the blockchain to find out what is on each one. Quite time consuming. 2 people doing that for 90 days, 14 hours a day, looking up 1 every ten seconds would be 907,200
A portion of the URLS and public addresses, maybe gained from Google or Chrome as mentioned earlier in the thread - same as above but obviously some of us will not be affected
All 3.5 million URLS but not the public address - this would mean that as soon as the website was closed they no longer had access to the site to search for bitcoins in the URLS they were holding
A portion of the URLS but no public address - the same as above but again doesn't affect everyone

There may be more but that's all i could think of for now.

4. The hacker has already stolen something?

Now this i am not sure of. I feel that the wording of their agreement leads us to believe that some has gone but not all. If this is the case, when was it stolen? If it was only stolen in the last few days then maybe a date-stamped document in Time Machine (Mac recovery service) would be enough to prove that you have held the URLS for a while?

CONCLUSION

After all this we can conclude that if we claim back on an address and find that all large amounts are being double claimed we can be sure that the first option in section 3 is probably true.

If this is not the case then i think the chances of double claiming go down and we can hope to see our money again.

You never know, a 90 day force holding period might be a blessing in disguise. Cheesy

What do you guys think?