Bitcoin Core Developer Loses $3.6 Million to PGP Key Compromise

• Bitcoin core developer Luke Dashjr lost 216 BTC ($3.6 million) to the compromise of his PGP key.
• Blockchain explorer showed that the wallet transacted four times and holds 216.93 BTC as of press time.
• Crypto-security experts have raised several theories behind the compromise, ranging from the possibility of a backdoored software to a data breach.

On January 1st, Bitcoin core developer Luke Dashjr revealed on Twitter that he had lost “basically” all of his Bitcoin stash due to the compromise of his PGP key. While Dashjr did not reveal the exact amount of BTC he lost, blockchain explorer showed that the wallet he was associated with transacted four times and holds 216.93 BTC, worth roughly $3.6 million, as of press time.

Dashjr added that his attempts to reach out to law enforcement agencies had been unsuccessful so far. This led to crypto-security experts from the community trying to explain the incidence. Blockchain engineer Peter Todd posited that Luke might not have been a victim of a targeted hack and that he didn’t keep different activities separated, which could have been one of the ways he was compromised. Meanwhile, other members of the community pointed out that Dashjr previously said his server was compromised on November 17th, 2022, and questioned if he used LastPass, which suffered a data breach in December 2022 that led to its users‘ data loss.

The incident has certainly been a tough lesson for Dashjr, and a reminder to the rest of the crypto community to always be vigilant and take the necessary steps to protect their crypto assets. Keeping one’s activities and accounts separate, using secure and trusted password managers, and not sharing PGP keys with anyone are just some of the steps that everyone should be taking to ensure the safety of their funds.