In July, cryptocurrency wallet Bitfi boasted of its tight security and even went as far as daring security experts to try their hand at taking down the supposedly “unhackable” wallet. More than a month and several hacks later, the startup has come out to admit defeat.
On Twitter, Bitfi announced that it has officially closed its bounty program following the fiasco that found the company dealing with at least two bounties in less than a month after it launched its “unhackable” product.
Important announcement from Bitfi: pic.twitter.com/SD4ZCJxvLn
— hgtp://Bitfi (@TheBitfi) August 30, 2018
The company also agreed to remove the “unhackable” claim from the wallet’s features and marketing materials. After a series of allegations about the wallet being hacked, the company admitted that the wallet has vulnerabilities, although the statement left out reports of Bitfi security being compromised.
“While our intention has always been to unite the community and accelerate the adoption of digital assets worldwide, we realize that some of our actions have been counterproductive to that goal,” according to Bitfi.
The statement also revealed that the company had hired the service of security managers who confirmed the vulnerability of the wallet. The statement went further to state the official closure of the bounty program.
It is worth mentioning that Bitfi has been a project that once prided itself with a supposed unhackable prowess. In July, John McAfee, after claiming the wallet was unhackable, posted a challenge to hack the wallet. According to him, Bitfi is “the world’s first unhackable device.” He took his bet to the next level by offering $100,000 to security experts who could breach the security of the wallet.
Security experts took up the challenge: The first group exploited loopholes to play video game DOOM on Bitfi wallet servers. Then another group of cybersecurity researchers managed to send signed transactions, in spite of so-called ‘security’ measures designed to prevent these types of exploits.
It’s safe to say that McAfee lost his bet, although it is still not clear whether he kept his word and paid the promised $100,000.
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