View source for Bitomat Exchange Wallet.dat File Deleted

{{Case Study Under Construction}}{{Unattributed Sources}}

[[File:Bitomatpl.jpg|thumb|Bitomat.pl Logo/Homepage]]Before seed phrases, users had to keep a wallet.dat file safe and backed up. The space was rife with users who failed to do that and permanently lost funds. One of the largest and most notable case was Bitomat - Poland's third largest exchange, where the wallet.dat file held the assets for all users of the platform. Some 17,000 bitcoin were permanently lost, which would be worth over $1 billion USD today, but at the time were worth just $221k USD.

<ref name="bitcointalklist-87" /><ref name="bitcoinexchangeguide-218" /><ref name=":0">[https://siliconangle.com/2011/08/01/third-largest-bitcoin-exchange-bitomat-lost-their-wallet-over-17000-bitcoins-missing/ Third Largest Bitcoin Exchange Bitomat Lost Their Wallet, Over 17,000 Bitcoins Missing - SiliconAngle] (Accessed Aug 26, 2024)</ref><ref>[https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/j4t58/3rd_largest_bitcoin_exchange_has_lost_its/ <nowiki>3rd largest bitcoin exchange has lost its wallet.dat [Translation in comments] - Reddit</nowiki>] (Accessed Aug 26, 2024)</ref><ref name=":1">[https://web.archive.org/web/20110406180353/http://bitomat.pl/ Bitomat Homepage Archive April 6th, 2011 12:03:53 PM MDT] (Accessed Aug 26, 2024)</ref><ref>[https://siliconangle.com/2011/08/11/mtgox-acquires-bitomat-pl-in-bid-to-restore-confidence-in-bitcoin-market/ MtGox Acquires Bitomat.pl as Bid to Restore Confidence in Bitcoin Market - SiliconAngle] (Accessed Aug 26, 2024)</ref><ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20110804225352/http://btcbase.com/2011/08/01/bitomat-pl-statement/ (Accessed Aug 26, 2024)</ref><ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20111014032908/https://www.mtgox.com/press_release_20110811.html (Accessed Aug 26, 2024)</ref><ref>https://archive.ph/gi80e (Accessed Aug 26, 2024)</ref><ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20110406180353/http://bitomat.pl/ (Accessed Aug 26, 2024)</ref><ref>https://x.com/search?q=bitomat+until%3A2011-12-31+since%3A2011-01-01&src=typed_query</ref><ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20110812130108/http://bitomat.pl/</ref>

== About Bitomat ==
Bitomat's was a Polish cryptocurrency exchange service, which was hosted on a remote Amazon service<ref name="bitcoinmagazine-6" />.

Include:

* Known history of when and how the service was started.
* What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
* What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
* Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
* Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
* How were people recruited to participate?
* Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.

Don't Include:
* Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
* Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.
There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.

== The Reality ==
No backups were kept of the wallet.dat file<ref name="bitcoinmagazine-6" /><ref name="bitcointalklistold-19" />.

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

* When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
* Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
* How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
* Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

== What Happened ==
“During a server restart, the remote Amazon service that housed Bitomat.pl’s wallet was wiped."<ref name="bitcointalklistold-19" /><ref name="bitcoinmagazine-6" />
{| class="wikitable"
|+Key Event Timeline - Bitomat Exchange Wallet.dat File Deleted
!Date
!Event
!Description
|-
|April 6th, 2011 12:03:53 PM MDT
|Bitomat Website Online
|The Bitomat website is captured as online and operational. Unfortunately the logo and stylesheet are both missing from the capture<ref name=":1" />.
|-
|July 27th, 2011
|Wallet File Lost
|The wallet.dat file is lost in a server upgrade<ref name="bitcoinmagazine-6" /><ref name="bitcointalklistold-19" /><ref name="kylegibson-86" />. There is inconsistency in the dates reported for the event. An incorrect date of August 1st, 2011 is provided in a list compiled by Kyle Gibson<ref name="kylegibson-86" />. Similarly, a table on the BitcoinTalk forums states August 2011<ref name="bitcointalklistold-19" />, however the same BitcoinTalk list has the correct date of July 27th elsewhere<ref name="bitcointalklistold-19" />.
|-
|August 2011
|Debt Sold To Mt. Gox
|The users/debt is reportedly sold to Mt. Gox<ref name="kylegibson-86" />.
|}

== Technical Analysis ==
The bitomat.pl platform were using an AWS Elastic Cloud<ref name="kylegibson-86" />. During a server upgrade, the 

Kyle Gibson states that there was a "Glitch - Funds Lost"<ref name="kylegibson-86" />, however there is no indication of any glitch having occurred except at the server where the wallet was hosted<ref name="kylegibson-86" />.

<ref name=":0" /><blockquote>On 26 July 2011 at about 11:00 PM, I noticed that bitcoin server was out of resources and I had to increase RAM. As a result of this operation, the virtual machine was deleted and all data lost, including bitcoin wallet and its backups.

I have established that data was lost because settings of the virtual machine were changed, although I didn’t change them myself. Amazon Web Services Company, which hosts our servers, says that the cleared machine has been set up to be irretrievably destroyed (including the data on the disks) at the shutdown.

I’m still trying to establish who has changed the settings and whether I will be able to recover the lost data. Unfortunately cooperation with Amazon Web Services is very difficult. As soon as I realized that my virtual machine was lost I have ordered AWS premium support, talked to the manager and asked for securing of the disk data. So far, without success.</blockquote>

== Total Amount Lost ==
All sources state the amount lost as 17,000 BTC<ref name="bitcoinmagazine-6" /><ref name="bitcointalklistold-19" /><ref name="kylegibson-86" />, however most sources state this as an estimate<ref name="bitcoinmagazine-6" /><ref name="bitcointalklistold-19" />. Due to the wallet file being lost, there is no transaction to review<ref name="bitcointalklistold-19" />.

According to BitcoinTalk, the value of this bitcoin is estimated at $236,000<ref name="bitcointalklistold-19" /> which is equivalent to 2290 bitcoin in June 2013<ref name="bitcointalklistold-19" />. Kyle Gibson estimates the amount lost as $220,000<ref name="kylegibson-86" />.

The total amount lost has been estimated at $220,000 USD.

== Immediate Reactions ==
How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?

<ref name=":0" /><blockquote>On 26 July 2011 at about 11:00 PM, I noticed that bitcoin server was out of resources and I had to increase RAM. As a result of this operation, the virtual machine was deleted and all data lost, including bitcoin wallet and its backups.

I have established that data was lost because settings of the virtual machine were changed, although I didn’t change them myself. Amazon Web Services Company, which hosts our servers, says that the cleared machine has been set up to be irretrievably destroyed (including the data on the disks) at the shutdown.

I’m still trying to establish who has changed the settings and whether I will be able to recover the lost data. Unfortunately cooperation with Amazon Web Services is very difficult. As soon as I realized that my virtual machine was lost I have ordered AWS premium support, talked to the manager and asked for securing of the disk data. So far, without success.</blockquote>

== Ultimate Outcome ==
Mt. Gox reportedly later bailed out Bitomat.pl<ref name="bitcoinmagazine-6" /><ref name="bitcointalklistold-19" /><ref name="kylegibson-86" />. It is claimed that neither the exchange’s customers nor the original owners suffered any loss from the incident<ref name="bitcoinmagazine-6" /><ref name="bitcointalklistold-19" />.

=== Inclusion In Lists ===
The incident was ultimately included in a list put together on the BitcoinTalk forums<ref name="bitcointalklistold-19" />, an infographic list put together by Bitcoin Magazine<ref name="bitcoinmagazine-6" />, and a table put together by Kyle Gibson<ref name="kylegibson-86" />.

== Total Amount Recovered ==
Mt. Gox reportedly later bailed out Bitomat.pl<ref name="bitcoinmagazine-6" /><ref name="bitcointalklistold-19" /><ref name="kylegibson-86" />. It is claimed that neither the exchange’s customers nor the original owners suffered any loss from the incident<ref name="bitcoinmagazine-6" /><ref name="bitcointalklistold-19" />.

== Ongoing Developments ==
What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?
== General Prevention Policies ==
The use of multi-signature technology provides redundancy, and all operators should have training in how to safely store and manage private keys.
== Individual Prevention Policies ==
In addition to protecting against unauthorized access, it’s important to build in redundancy. Using multi-sig with at least one additional spare signature means that any single loss of signature is unable to bring down the wallet.

{{Prevention:Individuals:Placeholder}}

{{Prevention:Individuals:End}}

== Platform Prevention Policies ==
In addition to protecting against unauthorized access, it’s important to build in redundancy. Using multi-sig with at least one additional spare signature means that any single loss of signature is unable to bring down the wallet.

{{Prevention:Platforms:Placeholder}}

{{Prevention:Platforms:End}}

== Regulatory Prevention Policies ==
{{Prevention:Regulators:Placeholder}}

{{Prevention:Regulators:End}}

== References ==
<references>
<ref name="bitcoinmagazine-6">[https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/infographic-overview-compromised-bitcoin-exchange-events Infographic: An Overview of Compromised Bitcoin Exchange Events] (Accessed Jan 30, 2020)</ref>
<ref name="bitcointalklistold-19">[https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=83794.msg923918#msg923918 <nowiki>List of Major Bitcoin Heists, Thefts, Hacks, Scams, and Losses [Old] - BitcoinTalk</nowiki>] (Accessed Jan 28, 2020)</ref>
<ref name="kylegibson-86">[https://medium.com/@kylegibson/100-crypto-thefts-a-timeline-of-hacks-glitches-exit-scams-and-other-lost-cryptocurrency-873c87fd5522 100 Crypto Thefts: A Timeline of Hacks, Glitches, Exit Scams, and other Lost Cryptocurrency Incidents - Kyle Gibson] (Accessed Jan 25, 2020)</ref>
<ref name="bitcointalklist-87">[https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=576337 List of Major Bitcoin Heists, Thefts, Hacks, Scams, and Losses - BitcoinTalk] (Accessed Feb 15, 2020)</ref>
<ref name="bitcoinexchangeguide-218">[https://bitcoinexchangeguide.com/bitcoin/scams-hacks/ Bitcoin Scams and Cryptocurrency Hacks List - BitcoinExchangeGuide.com] (Accessed Mar 5, 2020)</ref>
</references>