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June 13, 2011Crises & controversyFailures & losseswell supported

A user reports the theft of 25,000 BTC

BitcoinTalk user allinvain reported that malware had stolen 25,000 BTC from an unencrypted wallet file.

The loss was one of the first large personal bitcoin thefts to receive broad attention. It showed that the protocol’s settlement assurances did not protect inadequately secured private keys on users’ computers.