‚Bitcoin has never been hacked‘, community responds

Hacker attack on US Treasury Department: ‚Bitcoin has never been hacked‘, community responds

Blockfolio on Twitter: ‚Bitcoin is about trusting a SHA-256 algorithm more than the US Treasury‘

Cryptocurrency supporters have responded quickly to the news that hackers have allegedly managed to breach the security of the US Treasury Department.

According to a Reuters report, a „sophisticated hacking group“ backed by a foreign government – apparently Russia, Ethereum Code according to people close to the investigation – was able to breach the security of the Treasury Department and the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).

The incident came less than a month after Donald Trump fired Chris Krebs, former Cybersecurity Chief of the Department of Homeland Security. Hackers apparently had been monitoring NTIA staff emails on Microsoft’s Office 365 „for months“. Other government agencies may also have been hacked, but sources did not provide further details on this.

In response to the news, cryptocurrency advocates have taken to highlighting the benefits of Bitcoin (BTC)

Dan Held, Head of Business at Kraken, commented on Twitter, „Bitcoin never gets hacked.“ Anthony Pompliano echoed Held’s message: ‚Bitcoin has never been hacked‘.

Blockfolio criticised the NTIA’s level of security, arguing that the agency probably uses outdated cryptographic algorithms:

„Bitcoin means trusting a SHA-256 algorithm more than the US Treasury.“

Bitcoin means trusting a SHA256 algorithm more than the U.S Treasury.
– Blockfolio (@blockfolio) December 13, 2020

It is unclear whether any funds were compromised as a result of the breach. At the time of publication, it appears that the attack was limited to stealing information related to government agency emails.

„Poor fools,“ commented Taylor Monahan, founder and CEO of MyCrypto. „Treasury had already been hacked by internal agents.“ This statement refers to the fact that, throughout the 2020s, the US government printed massive amounts of money to prevent the economy from collapsing during the lockdown.