Bitcoins and gold coins


Is hiding your hoard in a rusty tin can safer?!

News stories have emerged about an American couple who have found buried treasure on their land. Initially they thought they might have found a marker for a grave, perhaps for a pet.  However, what they discovered were several tin cans full of rare 19th century American coins.  The haul is expected to fetch $10million.This good news coin story throws into relief last year's news of a man who threw away his ‘Bitcoin fortune' when he disposed of an old hard drive.The ‘cryptocurrency' has been in the news again.  MtGox, one of the biggest Bitcoin exchanges, went offline after technical issues and ‘unusual activity'.  It had been suggested that security loopholes had led to millions of Bitcoins being stolen.  MtGox has now filed for bankruptcy.It seems that many investors whose Bitcoins had been lodged with MtGox may have lost their investment and industry analysts are warning that Bitcoin will be subject to ‘more fraud'.  Fraudsters have already been busy according to Dell SecureWorks.  They have identified 150 different forms of malware designed to steal Bitcoins.An article in American Banker, draws the lessons learned from the history of PayPal to predict that Bitcoin is likely to be subject to transaction and phishing fraud, identify theft and organised crime.  The authors recommend that Bitcoin learns from PayPal's hard work in driving fraud elsewhere by focusing on security.Of course, Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency as this article in ITProPortal outlines.  What makes these currencies so attractive - they work across borders and are untraceable - is what makes them risky too.  Perhaps hiding your hoard in a rusty tin can is a safer bet!

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