On February 21, the crypto Twitter commentator Dovey Wan published a series of tweets about an alleged SIM card hack that purportedly saw the loss of $30 million in bitcoin cash. The story stemmed from a Reddit post that’s now deleted and so far no one has provided any verifiable proof from the proclaimed victim.
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$30 Million in BCH and $14 Million in BTC Allegedly Stolen in a SIM Hack
A rumor has been floating around crypto Twitter after a now-deleted Reddit post said that a major Chinese investor allegedly lost $30 million worth of BCH and $14.4 million worth of BTC. The Reddit thread noted that the investor’s SIM card was breached and within the post, the supposed victim begs BCH miners to help with the transactions. “It’s only had 3 confirmations […] if any miners/the community can help somehow,” the alleged victim stressed. Not too long after the $30 million SIM hack post appeared, it was deleted by the person who created it. Then the crypto Twitter pundit Dovey Wan published a series of tweets about the SIM hack situation and her thoughts about the deleted Reddit post.
“Breaking – BCH sim hack! Worth $30M from [a] single Chinese whale (he claimed lost $15M BTC too) He’s now asking for help from miners ..I’m talking with top BCH pool owners on this OMFG,” Wan tweeted. She then said it seems to her that the hacker was splitting the BTC into smaller amounts and she wrote “RIP BCH … only a double-spend can help this poor guy now.” For some odd reason, Wan’s tweets suggest that BCH miners needed to hard fork. “The best strategy for bcash now is an urgent hard fork it seems like …,” Wan insisted. She added:
No matter what, this 60,000 BCH hack, the dispute among BCH camp between Ver and Johansson, all these will mark a slow death of it.
Despite the fact that most of the facts from this story stemmed from a deleted Reddit post and Dovey Wan’s biased statements against bitcoin cash, a few news outlets ran with the story. The only verifiable source that can be found is a BCH address that shows $30 million worth of BCH sent from the wallet. Publications like Toshi Times and Cointelegraph both wrote about the tale and both authors noted that it was “unclear” what Wan was talking about, as far as her alleged feud between Johansson and Ver goes. The story itself looks like propaganda meant to smear BCH, especially with the added claims that BCH needs to hard fork to erase one man’s crisis. Notably, Wan’s tweets are filled with derogatory statements about BCH and an absurd solution to fix the problem. Despite what she or any of the other Twitter commentators think, BCH supporters understand a hard fork to reverse these transactions won’t happen.
The Unverified Bitcoin Mining Flood Video
The story about the so-called $30 million BCH SIM card hack is another example of how hearsay and rumors can become wild crypto stories. This particular story seemingly stemmed from the “bitcoin cash isn’t bitcoin” crowd of maximalists. Another example is when Wan shared a video tweet of a flooded mining farm in November 2018.
However, Wan was accused of sharing a video that was ostensibly filmed months prior and one person said: “This is fake – Don’t fall for the BS. Pictures/video are from last year after a flood.” “Can you prove this was from recently? Seems it’s from earlier this year during flooding,” another person tweeted.
This is a video from a last year’s flood in China.Great job on the $CRYPTO #FakeNews .And after #DMOR I’m so glad I don’t follow you or any of the projects you are working on/for! pic.twitter.com/1LQkxU1JSh
— m3rt1x up in: $BTC $USDT $XTZ $ETH #Altcoins (@m3rt1x) November 20, 2018
“Those look like older generation Avalons, probably Avalon 741s,” crypto miner Jonathan Toomin responded to Wan’s tweet in November. “Those probably make about $0.05/kWh right now on BTC. Many Chinese mines pay about $0.05/kWh just for electricity, so they are obsolete and unprofitable.”
Many skeptics believed at the time the video Wan shared in November came from the flooded Sichuan bitcoin mine story that actually happened in July. “Are there any links/sources to back this up?” another person asked Wan.
SIM Card Story Has Numerous Skeptics and People Believe the Tale Is Fishy
The $30 million BCH SIM hack story has a lot of similarities with the flood tale and there are vague reports and accusations floating around Twitter because of it. According to a few individuals who dug further into the tale, it was noted that the SIM hack victim was allegedly Dreamhost founder Josh Jones.
Reportedly, Jones is one of Mt Gox’s largest creditors and during the SIM hack someone also signed a message with the private keys. It’s still unknown why the victim had his private keys, but yet he still couldn’t access his funds. Throughout numerous Reddit threads and a few Twitter posts, a number of BCH proponents thought the latest SIM hack story was extremely fishy.
“Are we being trolled? I don’t get it,” one Redditor commented on the r/btc forum. “How do you get a private key with a SIM hack? Something isn’t right here.”
What do you think about the rumors and ostensible story of a $30 million BCH SIM card hack? Do you think this story is legitimate or fishy? Let us know what you think about this topic in the comments section below.
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Image credits: Shutterstock, Twitter, the Bitcoin Block Explorer tool, r/btc, Fair Use, Wiki Commons, and Pixabay.
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