Luke Dashjr, an original core developer of Bitcoin, claims someone stole “basically all” his BTC by compromising his PGP key; a wallet shows ~217 BTC were moved
The reported loss places a prominent Bitcoin developer in the same custody-risk arc as the earlier allegation that 713 bitcoins were remotely taken from a seized hardware wallet. It shifts attention from wallet hardware alone to the credentials used to authorize or protect access.
Luke Dashjr says a compromised PGP key led to the loss of essentially all of his BTC; the identified wallet movement puts roughly 217 BTC at issue.
The incident makes Dashjr's PGP-key security, rather than Bitcoin's base protocol, the immediate focus for users assessing the reported loss.
Second-order effects
Wallet providers and security-tool developers face stronger pressure to explain how their products isolate signing keys and recovery credentials from compromised adjacent systems.
Bitcoin holders may treat a wallet's hardware protections as insufficient without independent verification of the software and credentials surrounding it, a concern sharpened by the alleged remote theft from a seized hardware wallet.
Third-order effects
Repeated failures across credentials, firmware, and wallet software point to self-custody security becoming a stack-wide assurance problem rather than a question of choosing a hardware wallet alone.
If this pattern persists, wallet competition will increasingly center on auditable key isolation and recovery design, with security researchers gaining greater influence over which legacy wallet implementations users trust.
The trend: Bitcoin self-custody is moving toward scrutiny of the full key-management stack as credential, firmware, and software weaknesses expose holdings beyond the wallet device itself.
Look, if a core Bitcoin developer can get their whole wallet emptied out unrecoverably on them, and that developer's immediate reflex is to start calling a centralized authority for help, it's time to stop pretending this entire cryptocurrency exercise is ever going to work. …
@LukeDashjr Sorry to see you lose so much. Informed our security team to monitor. If it comes our way, we will freeze it. If there is anything else we can help with, please let us know. We deal with these often, and have Law Enforcement (LE) relationships worldwide.
Bad way to start 2023: realize that you had $3.5M in Bitcoin stolen from you yesterday. If a Bitcoin developer can't safely store his own keys, normal people can't either. We are very far from scaling self-custody in crypto. https://twitter.com/...
Once an identity thief stole a bunch of money out of my bank account, but then I got all the money back thanks to the beneficence of the state and a regulated banking system. https://www.slowboring.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Sad to see even an OG #Bitcoin Core Developer lost 200+ BTC ($3.5 million). Self custody have a different set of risks. We will try to monitor and see where we can help. 🙏 https://twitter.com/...
> Self custody have a different set of risks Self custody and financial sovereignty are the ENTIRE point of this movement. Ten years from now it will be as easy and as second-natured as having an email address. If you don't get this, you have no business here. You're Fiat 2.0. ht…
If an OG core #Bitcoin dev failing to manage his own private keys doesn't tell you that the private key is the biggest pain point in crypto - I don't know what will. This needs to be solved for mass crypto adoption. And there'll be a big prize waiting for whoever does.
Ok my theory: Maybe luke used LastPass, which was hacked the other day. If he stored seeds, PGP private keys etc. there and the hackers managed to brute force the LastPass file, it is clear. Be careful where you store things! (Just my thoughts, nothing is confirmed yet!) https://…
cryptocurrency has never advanced beyond the wires-on-a-lab-bench prototype stage https://davidgerard.co.uk/... this is why real finance runs on centralised trusted custodians ofc in crypto you can't trust those either https://twitter.com/...
Luke materially shifted human civilization with his open source contributions to Bitcoin. Before dunking on Luke, post your GitHub. https://twitter.com/...
This is sad to hear but, unfortunately, this kind of thing is not an uncommon story: secure key management is very difficult to do right for people with experience and training; it's nigh impossible for everyone else. This is something the industry as a whole needs to do better. …
Perhaps implementing the Digital Asset Recovery tool? Seems like a more justified answer than, not your keys, not your Bitcoin eh? https://twitter.com/...
We're not offering a serious alternative to the existing financial system when even extremely technical people cannot keep their crypto secure Priority order 1. Decentralize nodes 2. Improve usability of self custody tools 3. Scalability 4. Everything else https://twitter.com/...
Self custody in its current form is too difficult. Luke is a Bitcoin developer and absolutely obsessed with security. He can still get his bitcoin stolen. Now imagine an average dude. https://twitter.com/...