In 2010, a 16-year-old Chinese teenager named Zhou Tong bought Bitcoin for $10. Later, this self-taught programming genius established the first cryptocurrency margin trading platform, Bitcoinica, in just 4 days. The exchange's trading volume once reached $40 million per month, second only to the largest exchange at the time, Mt. Gox. However, due to three consecutive hacker attacks, Bitcoinica unfortunately lost 101,554 BTC.
Recently, foreign blogger Rizzo from platform X recounted this legendary story. PANews has translated the original article and will tell the story of the teenager who lost 102,000 bitcoins, now worth $6.8 billion, a dramatic tale.
At the age of 16, the Chinese teenager Zhou Tong bought Bitcoin for $10 and was deeply interested in the idea of a currency that could be sent globally. He introduced Bitcoin to all his friends because he thought it was "cool."
At that time, buying Bitcoin in 2011 was very difficult and required time and intermediaries. The largest exchange at the time, Mt. Gox, was often offline. Shortly after Zhou Tong bought Bitcoin, Mt. Gox even experienced a flash crash, causing the price of Bitcoin to drop to $0.01.
Zhou Tong was not discouraged by the price drop. The self-taught programmer established an exchange called Bitcoinica in just 4 days. It was not just another Bitcoin exchange; it allowed for margin trading, enabling traders and miners to speculate on future prices. Users could immediately bet up to 50 bitcoins.
After going live, Bitcoinica's trading volume quickly soared, reaching a monthly trading volume of $40 million, second only to Mt. Gox. As for Zhou Tong, he earned $10,000 in the first two weeks, equivalent to about 2,000 bitcoins.
However, Bitcoinica soon encountered some resistance. Some users were concerned about Zhou Tong's young age, while others worried about his lack of experience. As Bitcoin appreciated, users became increasingly concerned about the security measures taken by the exchange to protect Bitcoin.
Bitcoinica continued to trade hundreds of thousands of bitcoins per month. But by the end of 2011, when investors found him, Zhou Tong quickly sold the company. At that time, he was still in school and busy with exams.
The new owner, Wendon Group, had some doubts about Zhou Tong's work. Therefore, they sought the help of experienced Bitcoin developers to conduct the necessary audits for the exchange. One of them was Amir Taaki, a outspoken activist hacker who was passionate about WikiLeaks and 3D-printed firearms.
Wendon Group wanted to prove to Zhou Tong and Amir that they were serious—they made a large investment. They even spent $1 million to purchase the most sought-after domain in the industry: http://Bitcoin.com.
However, Bitcoinica soon fell victim to hacker attacks. In March 2012, it lost 43,554 bitcoins. This loss caused a huge stir and was even permanently engraved on the cover of the second issue of "Bitcoin Magazine."
The situation further deteriorated. In May and July of the same year, Bitcoinica's servers were attacked twice more. Hackers stole a total of 58,000 bitcoins. At that time, there were no hardware wallets or multi-signature solutions; all the hackers had to do was reset a few passwords. (Note: The original X platform post mentioned a loss of 99,000 bitcoins, which may be an incomplete calculation.)
Who should be held responsible for the consecutive attacks? Zhou Tong? Wendon Group? Or Amir? Users didn't care; they wanted to recover the lost bitcoins. Users like @rogerkver lost over 24,000 BTC.
Today, what happened remains a mystery. Zhou Tong's conclusion on this situation is that Bitcoin users and businesses need to take their personal security seriously.
Due to these attack incidents, Zhou Tong's reputation collapsed overnight. His name became one of the earliest viral Bitcoin memes. Among OGs, the term "Zhou Tonged" is still used to describe investors who have been robbed and deceived.
Zhou Tong's final move was to invest 1,000 bitcoins in rare Casascius coins. In fact, he owns one of only three of these rare collectibles, now worth over $60 million. Then, he left the industry…
The exchange's hacker attacks continue to this day. This is why serious Bitcoin investors are advised to use hardware wallets or multi-signature custody. It is estimated that over 1 million bitcoins, worth $65 billion, have been lost in exchange hacker attacks. Based on the total number of lost bitcoins, Bitcoinica is the third largest loss in history.
Today, Bitcoinica remains a warning, reminding people of the lost $6.8 billion worth of bitcoins. Users should take their custody seriously, use multi-signature security measures, and learn from the Bitcoinica incident.
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
