The article by Philip Stafford concerning the most recent loss of crypto coins (“‘Fat finger’ payout of $24m exposes blockchain risks”, Report, October 5) is only one of the smaller breaches to the supposed invincibility of blockchain.
Few details were available, but we find in the “Fat Finger” caper, that DeversiFi’s workers could “see” through the blockchain that the ransom recipient was a top miner. Their “investigation” followed the chain to Binance and then contacted the miner. This is just one thread available. Yet investors and users seem to ignore the obvious vulnerabilities of the system.
But then, it has become more than an exchange system. It is now a matter of faith, groupthink and identity. While crypto/blockchain magnates rearrange the deck chairs on this Titanic, we can only be amused by their explanations.
Niccolo Caldararo
Department of Anthropology
San Francisco State University
San Francisco, CA, US