Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak recently revealed that he is the victim of a Bitcoin scam and lost seven bitcoins, according to the Economic Times.
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While addressing the audience at Economic Times of India's Global Business Summit this week, the tech millionaire and philanthropist expressed his trust in the digital coin: “Bitcoins to me was a currency that was not manipulated by the governments. It is mathematical, it is pure, it can’t be altered.”
However, he quickly pointed out the shortcoming of the Blockchain technology and revealed that he himself was scammed for his bitcoins.
“The blockchain identifies who has bitcoins… that doesn’t mean there can’t be fraud though,” said Mr. Wozniak.
“I had seven bitcoins stolen from me through fraud. Somebody bought them from me online through a credit card and they canceled the credit card payment. It was that easy! And it was from a stolen credit card number so you can never get it back,” he added.
Talking about his investment experience on Cryptocurrencies , Mr. Wozniak said that he did not buy bitcoins as an investment, but rather, he bought them as an experiment.
He explained: “I had them so that I could someday travel and not use credit cards, wallets or cash. I could do it all on Bitcoin. I studied which hotels and facilities accepted Bitcoin... it’s still very difficult to do so. I also tried to buy things online and trade Bitcoin online.”
Being asked the reason of sale of his Bitcoins, Mr. Wozniak said: “Because I didn’t want to watch the price everyday… I sold all except one. It was enough to experiment.”
According to a month-old report by CNBC, Mr. Wozniak bought Bitcoins when the value of a single coin was mere $700. At today's market rate, the value of his seven lost Bitcoins is over $75,000.
