Three criminals beat their victim until they extracted the funds stored in his wallets. Cases of physical violence are increasing to strip users of their holdings in cryptocurrencies.
Castlenine, the developer of financial institution for holders Dux Reserve, revealed that three criminals attacked him in his home. He complained on Twitter that they could have stolen his computer or his laptop, but they were after his bitcoins.
During the assault, he tried to dissuade the three attackers by claiming that he did not own Bitcoin. However, the criminals soon found his hardware wallets stored in a drawer of his desk. Castlenine wrote that that was his “number one mistake”, referring to his carelessness not to safeguard his physical devices better.
The Thieves Use Violence until Getting the Bitcoin
Determined not to hand over his hard-earned savings, Castlenine disabled his Coldcard using the Brick Me tool. He did it by entering the wrong code, precisely while he was facing coercion, but nothing worked. He explained that the criminals did not like it at all and became more aggressive.
He decided to move forward in his attempt to deceive his attackers, so he gave them the Bitcoin stored at a “decoy” address. However, his new plan did not work either as they insisted that he give them his main wallet. “They told me to stop playing around and give them my real wallet, so I opened my second decoy wallet. I hoped that they would take the bait, but they still did not believe me,” he confessed.
Already demoralized after such violence, he decided to give them all the savings in his main Bitcoin wallet. “I only had a few sats left on my ColdCard but the rest are gone,” he said.
Not a Bitcoin Genius but a Naïve Young Man
His body was able to rest from the violence and intimidation, but he had to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder. He still has a hard time processing what happened as he “developed an unhealthy paranoia”. He explained that he did not trust anyone, including his partner or best friend.
He says that his mind is still looking for an explanation as to why he became the victim of strangers. He does not recall telling anyone about his savings in Bitcoin, not even the people closest to him. He also stated that he had removed the trace of his transactions while he stayed online.
Castlenine suspects that criminals noticed that he worked on various Canadian exchanges. “They may have thought that I was a Bitcoin genius when I was just a naïve young man,” he argues.
A Firm Belief in the First Cryptocurrency
Despite everything, he keeps close to Bitcoin as he continues to believe firmly in the pioneering cryptocurrency. For that reason, he is now dedicated to helping others who have also decided to achieve their financial sovereignty. In this sense, Castlenine is developing the Dux Reserve platform, a key manager for hardware Bitcoin wallets.
The developer says that he has spent many hours reflecting on more optimal ways to secure his bitcoins and help others do so. However, he has found that this depends on each person’s needs. It is also clear to him that “the greatest danger to our Bitcoin is ourselves.”
By Alexander Salazar
