pouët.net

Back in 2016, I got as a prize in an envelop 50 Cloakcoins.
I wasn't into cryptocurrency so I didn't really looked it much.
Maybe I downloaded the wallet app in my laptop then but couldn't figure out how to use the two codes (Cloak Address and Private key). But now I check again my laptop, maybe it wouldn't even sync (because of firewall?). From what I rememeber I never verified/received those 50 cloakcoins.

Anyway, coming forward, I found that envelope again and tried again on my desktop PC, installed the wallet app, it synced. First I need to understand if I am doing something wrong? There are no instructions where to use those addresses to enable the wallet with the 50 cloakcoins. I tried a "Verify Message" option where I put that cloak address but it also needed message and cloakcoin signature (which I am not sure what they are, I tried my Private key on the signature but maybe I am wrong here) and I get a message that it can't be verified.

But I have also discovered by searching on a site for cloakcoin blockchain explorer using the address I have, that there was +50 during the time of Revision (prepared for the prizes?) and -50 = balance 0 somewhere in January next year.

Does this mean:
1) Because I was too late to do the verify and receive these coins, so they got it back?
2) Is it possible that someone stole/received them first before?

A curious thing, there is a link at this transaction to a blockchain of other transactions and they all follow the same pattern. They are 10, 50 or 100 (different Revision prizes?) and they are all added at 25/03/2016 and then removed at the same day as mine.

I just want to know what's going on and if I can still get my wallet with those, or I can just forget it and not waste time with crypto or anything (which I wasn't gonna bother anyway, I just show the old envelope and decided to try again, but it frustrates me). If they are lost, it's good to know now and why, so that I close the case at least, it frustrates me..

OK, here's a very high level (and probably flawed) synopsis of Bitcoin (I assume those Cloak Coins work similarly):

Basically every 'wallet' is just an address (to which you can send coins). To send coins from a wallet, you need the private key (you use that to sign the transaction).

All of those transactions are checked by a network of computers and logged into the blockchain (the central, immutable ledger).

Coins are never destroyed (they don't expire). Once mined (by way of solving a crypto challenge) they exist and are attributed to a wallet/address. Inversely, the contents of your wallet are basically the cumulative transactions of you receiving coins and sending away coins. (Go through the entire ledger and check every transaction in and out of your address and then you know your balance.)

Relevant to your specific case:
- Coins do not expire. They lie dormant in an account until somebody transfers them away (using the private key to sign that transaction).
- Coins cannot be "refunded" or transferred back. (Transactions are one way. Once you signed away part of your coins, they are attributed to whatever destination address was set in that transaction.)
- Coins can be stolen if somebody gains access to your wallet (or the address/private key combination). This can happen if you don't secure them correctly, or if there's a flaw with the private key allowing it to be brute forced (weak algorithm to generate it, ...)

So from the looks of it, your coins were stolen by somebody who had the private key to match your address (either by brute forcing a collision, flaw in the algorithm, or retrieving it some other way).

That makes a bit more sense.

I was reading more about it today, and from what I understand the paper I got in the envelope is called "paper wallet" and it would be even fine if I keep it and don't spend (which I didn't) or do transactions with that one with my private key, or alternatively I could make a new cloak address on the wallet app software, to transfer/send those coins to that one (and what I am not sure, would that mean I'll have a different private key in that account, which would make things safer if the original one got compromised).

Anyway, but the weird think is that at the link I gave, my cloak address was only one of these. But they are all packed in a single transaction (not sure how that's possible), they are all 10, 50 and 100 coins issued at 25/3/2016 (day of Revision) so other people's prizes with their own unique private keys, etc. But if you click on any of them, the same thing happened as mine, someone at the exact same date and time (since it's this single transaction with many retrieves) has emptied all these cloak from their balance, going to who knows where. It's not them, else there would be individual retrievals in random different dates and different transactions. Something like a massive attack has happened, and they would need to know everyone's private key which is different, not just mine.

yep, maybe someone who generated those paper wallets (or the gifters of the crypto itself) decided to "take" the coins back.

fyi, your 50 cloacks by today's value would be around $650 ($750 few days ago). clicky clicky

anyway, if you click on your wallet address on that last link you've posted, and it says "balance: 0.0 cloak", that means that they're gone.

it would be good to hear the reply from the revision's organisers, or at least they can provide the contact of the prize providers, ask them themselves about this issue.

if they really decided to take the coins back from your paper wallets (that they gave away), that is really shitty move.

same for me actually.. I had an old envelope lying around with 10 cloakcoin in it - those were transferred out 2017-01-08 17:24:26

My heart sank while reading this thread. I was a member of the CLOAK team and was responsible for this prize donation, and I'm saddened and embarrassed to see what happened.

I agree with Steltek's assessment above that all unspent coins from prize slips were swept to ButHESe1NSsywPqvTSsKdH8HdioGduK1dJ in this transaction.

It's absolutely unexpected and shocking to me that anyone from the CLOAK team could have kept the private keys for those wallets. Please give me a couple of days to ascertain exactly what happened here. I've reached out to the CLOAK team, but I'm no longer involved with that project and haven't had any contact with them for quite some time.

However what I can say at this stage is that prize claims swept in the above transaction, approx 9400 EUR by today's price, WILL be honoured by me.

Anyone who has a paper CLOAK wallet from a Revision prize with an address that appears in this or similar transactions, should please mail me a scan of the wallet to coldcity@gmail.com.

Mine is also in that list.
The wonders of private untraceable transactions... ;)

sounds like one of the people who generated the private keys thought no one was using those wallets anyways so he might aswell get a little rich him/herself and no one would ever notice or care. sucks fell got dragged into this mess, hope you can figure out the culprit and responsibilize them for the theft.

Optimus, farfar, Psycho and any others -- please do mail me pics of your paper wallets.

Investigations are ongoing.

Update: With the assistance of the current CLOAK team, I've identified the owner of the wallet that the prizes were swept to.

I have also confirmed that this is the same individual who generated the paper wallets. Clearly this person kept the private keys and swept them.

This person left the CLOAK team in 2017 and is currently whereabouts unknown.

In the next couple of days, paper wallets in a different currency (LCC) will be issued to Optimus, Psycho, farfar and any other owners of the swept wallets that I can get hold of. I'll calculate exchange rates via BTC pairs on both coins. Please spread the word and put any holders you know in contact with me.

Fell: I sent you an email. Just a word (like I wrote you in the mail as well) - I hope you're not personally covering expenses because somebody else messed up? I don't think you should feel responsible or put your own money on the line, so.. I hope you're not! :)

motherfucking litecoin cash

Found my prize (50 coins) under old dusty commodore hardware.. What do ?

Smoke the paper :)

Virgil:

We've done so and have been told that the exchange rate is fluctuating too much to get a reimbursement. This was about a year ago.

i feel bad for the people who got scammed in this whole prize thing.

but worst of all i feel bad for Fell who seems to believe that the honorable thing for him to do is fronting the blame personally for what seems to be a theft case from one of the ex-members of the cloak team.

i was asking other friends of Fell about him during Revision this year, since he's a friend of mine who i haven't seen i a while, and the impression i got was that Fell hasn't been active in the demoscene because he feels ashamed and personally responsible for this issue while at the same time can't afford to restitute the money out of his own pocket.

don't know the best way out of this whole situation but it sure sucks to lose an active demoscener because someone else decided to steal some cryptocoins. isn't there a way to prosecute some sort of collective lawsuit on the guy for cyber-theft?

on the guy that actually did those transactions i mean.

Fell isn't the one to blame here. I put the paper back where I found it. ;)

If only there was some regulation or accountability in a system designed explicitly not to have any regulation or accountability!

That's a tough one and I don't think any of us are pro-exile, but I also see how a situation like this can look from the outside, and I definitely at least understand the moral quandary of it.

Thing is, while I don't think any of the people "wronged" are banging at the door waiting to tar-and-feather someone for the loss of some imaginary money that probably none of us would've bothered to use anyway, at the very least there's a number of morals to learn from the story, and I think one of them is that currently with no information at hand we're left to speculate what's happening or not happening, which I think is worse than having Fell himself say "shit happened, and you're not getting your prize" (which I wager, again, none of us would particularly begrudge).

I'm with ps on this - Fell has been a trustworthy and very supportive friend to me and I think he's been stitched up royally on this. I personally hope he can come back to the scene soon and put this unfortunate situation down to experience.

The demoscene is a better place for having him here.

there's a great Danish word for this sort of thing.. "pyt"

Just echoing what ps and rc55 have said already:-

Although I haven't personally known Fell that long within the scene he has always seemed like a trustworthy guy; it sounds like he's been shafted by others unconnected the scene and the spirit of the scene :(

I hope he can come back to the scene soon, as he deserves to and would be welcomed back with open arms, I'm sure.

Yeah that sucks! Fell is a good egg and having him leave for something dumb like this would be a damn shame!

Come back brody, life is too short for this kind of shit! We can't wait to hang out with you again at a party!