Out of the Ether - The Amazing Story of Ethereum and the GBP55 Million Heist that Almost Destroyed It All

"Truth is stranger than fiction, in the world of cryptocurrencies. Not so long ago, in June 2016, there was a bug in line 666 of Ethereum's code which enabled $55 million to be stolen in a nanosecond. The remaining $100 million barely escaped the same fate. There's no FDIC for digital currency. This was a nightmare scenario for the entire virtual money and commerce model. Vitalik Buterin, the 20-year-old creator of the program, desperately implemented a highly controversial fix that may ultimately prove be much more problematic worse than the crime in the eyes of many: he reversed time to a point before the theft happened, thereby nullifying the $55 million theft while reinstating all valid transactions. This was an extremely controversial move, since itsent a clear message that all transactions could be wiped out after the fact, which would create a chaotic situation. All stakeholders in the multibillion-dollar digital currency economy are struggling to explain and understand the future of money in thewake of the Ethereum crisis and the way its founder unilaterally chose to cure it. This remarkable event marked the beginning of one of the largest digital heists in history, and as it wore on that morning it gained viewers from Rio de Janeiro to New York to Tokyo. You could have watched it too if you knew how to point your computer browser to the right place. That's because it played out on the blockchain, a breakthrough in computer science that enabled Bitcoin to go from a mere idea in 2008 to a $121 billion unstoppable digital currency today. What a coder named Jentztsch had done was build an investment fund that relied on blockchain software to allow anyone in the world to invest their money with him. What he hadn't meant to do was insert a bug in his code, a mistake on line 666 to be exact, that provided a backdoor for the thief to enter and drain the fund of money. About $55 million would be stolen before the morning was over, yet that was only the beginning"--
Discover how $55 million in cryptocurrency vanished in one of the most bizarre thefts in history Out of the Ether: The Amazing Story of Ethereum and the $55 Million Heist that Almost Destroyed It All tells the astonishing tale of the disappearance of $55 million worth of the cryptocurrency ether in June 2016. It also chronicles the creation of the Ethereum blockchain from the mind of inventor Vitalik Buterin to the ragtag group of people he assembled around him to build the second-largest crypto universe after Bitcoin. Celebrated journalist and author Matthew Leising tells the full story of one of the most incredible chapters in cryptocurrency history. He covers the aftermath of the heist as well, explaining the extreme lengths the victims of the theft and the creators of Ethereum went to in order to try and limit the damage. The book covers: The creation of Ethereum An explanation of the nature of blockchain and cryptocurrency The activities of a colorful cast of hackers, coders, investors, and thieves Perfect for anyone with even a passing interest in the world of modern fintech or daring electronic heists, Out of the Ether is a story of genius and greed that’s so incredible you may just choose not to believe it.