A Trader So Secret Theyre Only Known by a Number Just Made Over $200

Million in One Month

By Tom Metcalf
July 10, 2017, 5:00 AM CDT

Bitcoin, ether may mint new crypto-billionaires this year

After Dread Pirate Roberts, mystery still dogs transactions

An unknown cryptocurrency trader turned $55 million of paper wealth into $283 million in just over a month.

The only clue about this person or persons, beyond a virtual wallet with the identication code 0x00A651D43B6e209F5Ada45A35F92EFC0De3A5184,
surfaced on a June 11 Instagram posting, in Bahasa, in which he or she (or they) (or somebody posing as them) boasted about the 413 percent prot
accumulated earlier this year from ether, the digital money of the Ethereum blockchain.

<https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2017-the-ether-thief/>
Read more: Inside the Bold Attempt to Reverse a $55 Million Digital Heist <https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2017-the-ether-thief/>

I get many private messages asking how much ether I have, the post read, alongside photos that purported to be the hardware powering a mining
operation but looked lifted from another website. One of the cool things about Ethereum is that all wallets around the world are transparent and
open for everyone to see. And this is my wallets savings.

Hidden identities are a popular feature of the twilight world of virtual money. Now that the total value of cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin and ether,
soared June 6 to more than $100 billion, approaching the market value of McDonalds Corp., concerned regulators say it might be time to link wallet
IDs with actual humans.

Nom de Guerre
Secrecy persists from the days, earlier this decade, when Ross Ulbricht, going by the nom de guerre Dread Pirate Roberts, used bitcoin to launder
money and trac in narcotics, activities for which he started serving a life term at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York.

Thats not to say that 0x00A651D43B6e209F5Ada45A35F92EFC0De3A5184 or any other entities are doing anything illegal. But opacity may be
worsening jagged price movements. The value of ether, for example, rose from about $8 a unit at the start of the year to crest at $400 in June before
settling around $250 today. A lack of transparency could also be stiing the mainstreaming of online money, according to draft legislation issued by
the European Parliament in March.

The credibility of virtual currencies will not rise if they are used for criminal purposes, the draft <http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?
pubRef=-%2F%2FEP%2F%2FTEXT%2BREPORT%2BA8-2017-0056%2B0%2BDOC%2BXML%2BV0%2F%2FEN> said. In this context, anonymity will
become more a hindrance than an asset for virtual currencies and their potential future popularity.

Pseudonymity has always been a big part of the markets allure. Upending traditional ways of doing business was the lodestar for Ethereums inventor,
23-year-old Vitalik Buterin. He released his software in 2015, not long after dropping out of Canadas University of Waterloo.

Financial Privacy

One of its more important features is that you dont have identities tied to this, said Spencer Bogart, head of research at venture rm Blockchain
Capital. This nancial privacy is an important characteristic.

Ether, the second-most-popular cryptocurrency after bitcoin, is used to pay for applications or programs that run on the Ethereum blockchain, a
secured list of transactions that can be shared. That allows for the use of smart contracts, or pieces of computer code that make the terms of such
agreements operate automatically. The blockchain has the potential to reshape business and nance by enabling immediate settlements of activities
such as bank transfers and securities trades.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., BP Plc, Microsoft Corp. and ING Groep NV are among those experimenting with it.

The current value of all the ether held, $23 billion, means dozens of electronic wallets have accrued nine-gure positions. Many of them could be held
by individuals, according to a Bloomberg analysis. Individuals can hold multiple wallets.

Crypto-Billionaire

Likely candidates to be crypto-billionaires include hedge fund manager Michael Novogratz, Joseph Lubin, founder of ConsenSys, a blockchain
production studio that works on Ethereum, and Ethereum creator Buterin.

Novogratz, a former executive at Fortress Investment Group and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., has a long way to go, but hes been a consistent booster.
He said last month that he has 10 percent of his net worth invested in virtual money. Thats a stake worth at least $90 million, given a net worth
calculated at $925 million, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index <https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/> . Novogratz declined to
comment.

Cryptocurrencies could become a $5 trillion industry, but they need to develop sound business principles to satisfy regulators and lend legitimacy,
Novogratz said <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-27/novogratz-says-cryptocurrencies-face-monster-regulatory-risks> June 27 at a
ntech conference in New York.

Lubin, the former chief operating ocer for Ethereum Switzerland GmbH, which developed the software, could hold hundreds of millions of dollars
worth of ether, several investors said. The Canadian entrepreneur didnt respond to requests for comment on his holdings.

The long-range vision is moving the fundamental transactional elements of our society from analog, friction-lled systems to natively digital
frictionless systems, Lubin told Bloomberg Radio June 21.

Buterin said in a Reddit post last month his ether holdings equal what would amount to about $117 million today, according to calculations by
Bloomberg.

Like bitcoin, ether is struggling to overcome a reputation sullied by cyberattacks and technology bottlenecks. A ash crash last month saw the price of
the cryptocurrency tumble to just 10 cents before rebounding to about $300.
A lot of lessons will be learned, said Peter Denious, head of global venture capital at Aberdeen Asset Management in Stamford, Connecticut. A lot of
money will be lost before a lot of money can be made.

0x00A651D43B6e209F5Ada45A35F92EFC0De3A5184 couldnt be reached for further comment.

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