Revolution is economic. It's important to note that Bitcoin spawned as a response to an economic injustice that took place in 2008, which was the year of the Great Recession, where banks got bailed out but people got rolled over. 16 years later, anyone can transact on Bitcoin and other digital asset ecosystems. Anyone means anyone. While Bitcoin does Bitcoin things, humans in power do things that humans in power do, and sometimes that means war. If you have been watching the news lately, you've heard of a slew of wars and proxy wars. Russia vs. Ukraine. Pakistan vs. India. China vs. Taiwan. Israel vs. Palestine. Israel vs. Iran. One thing you may not have heard about was the fact that Israel has an elite team of hackers, and while missiles were being sent back and forth like a heated match of tennis, Israel struck on a digital front.
On June 18, pro-Israel hacker/activists Gonjeshke Darande hacked Nobitex, an Iranian cryptocurrency exchange, for at least $90M. The hackers did not stop there. They stole the BTC from the exchange and then leaked the source code of the exchange and triggered a cascading effect for the exchange to pause operations. Nobitex, which is the biggest crypto exchange in Iran and boasts of 10M users, has no way of retrieving the stolen Bitcoin because it was not only stolen by Gonjeshke Darande but also burned; to "burn" digital assets such as Bitcoin means you send your digital asset to a wallet that you have no control over, and you have no way of ever contacting the person who may own that wallet, hence burning it. Burn wallets exist solely to lock access from digital assets. Rather than keep the stolen Bitcoin, which could be tracked by the Iranian exchange, Gonjeshke Darande decided to burn $90M in Bitcoin. Not only that, but Gonjeshke Darande also hacked the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps bank, which crippled ATM systems. Wowzers.
We are living in a new world where everyone wants a piece of Bitcoin and decentralized money, but here lies a lesson: protect your assets at all times.
Nation-states under sanctions may look to create elaborate schemes to swindle people and steal their Bitcoin. Reasons may vary, but the threat still remains.
If you post your location, wallet address, and other pieces of information online, you could be susceptible to a phishing scam. Whether you have $90M in Bitcoin or $9 in Bitcoin, this is the future of value, so you must consider what security looks like for you, because this may be the last “normal” summer in American history. In an age of war and economic downturn, gold was stolen. This time, Bitcoin will be stolen, along with other assets. This is not to scare you but to make you aware. Be careful.
— Christopher Perceptions, TwentyOneSociety.com