Bitcoin Core developer Luke Dashjr claimed in early 2023 that he had lost 216.93 bitcoins, which are currently worth over $15 million, due to the leakage of his PGP private key. It has now been reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States has also intervened in the investigation of this case.
Background:
Bitcoin Core developer’s “private key leakage” hacked over 200 BTC! CZ: Proof that self-custody also carries risks.
Luke Dashjr, a Bitcoin Core developer, claimed in early 2023 that he had lost 216.93 bitcoins, valued at approximately $3.5 million at the time, due to the leakage of his private key. However, at the current price, the value exceeds $15 million.
FBI investigates Luke Dashjr’s theft incident.
Now, it seems that this bitcoin theft incident is under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States. According to The Block’s report, Mike Schmidt, co-founder of the non-profit organization Brink, received a subpoena from the FBI requesting information about the participants in the October 2022 CoreDev meeting for the investigation of Luke Dashjr’s theft incident.
Legal advisors advised him to cooperate with the investigation, so Schmidt has provided the names, surnames, GitHub usernames, and email addresses of the attendees to the FBI. The email also mentioned that the FBI had requested a one-year confidentiality period, which had expired shortly before the email was sent. Schmidt stated that he knows very little about the specifics of the investigation and is unsure whether it is targeting specific suspects or just gathering general information.
Since providing the information, he has had no further contact with the FBI. Currently, both Brink and Luke Dashjr have not made any further public comments on this incident.
Mike Schmidt’s email sent to the attendees.
Luke Dashjr’s theft incident:
In January 2023, Luke Dashjr posted a message stating that all of his bitcoins were stolen on December 31. The incident was caused by the leakage of his PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) private key. PGP is a highly secure encryption software.
After the theft, the hackers used a mixing service to transfer some of the bitcoins to suspicious addresses. According to on-chain data, this incident led to Dashjr losing 216.93 bitcoins.
Cryptographer Peter Todd speculated that the leakage of the private key may have been caused by backdoor software and recommended using disposable virtual machines (VMs) for web browsing to enhance network security. This incident attracted the attention of industry professionals, including Zhao Changpeng, the former CEO of Binance, who stated that he would assist in the investigation and emphasized the risks of self-custody.