Quote:
Originally Posted by DBS.US
Why would anyone keep $500,000 in any account like that? Shit I never keep over $100 in my Paypal.
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Probably because the value is so volatile. A year ago 25,000BTC was worth fuck all. Can you imagine a modest investment growing by 100 or 1,000 times in a year or two? I guess he got caught by greed (and a little stupidity by not properly securing his wallet)
The other catch with wallets is that it doesn't need to be a CURRENT copy in order for someone to take over and send your BTC to somewhere else. If you throw out a HD that has an obscure backup of a wallet from 3 years ago, and some or all of those coins have not yet been spent by you, whoever acquires that old wallet can get at them.
It's relatively easy to get started with bitcoins but there's a lot to get your head around. Security is possibly the most important part, since you cannot have an authority reverse a fraudulent transaction, yet many people are probably blissfully unaware of what can happen if you don't secure your wallet.