Crypto YouTuber Loses $60K After Live Streaming Seed Phrases

Jimmy Aki
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A popular Brazilian crypto YouTuber faced a significant setback when he accidentally revealed his seed phrases during a live stream, resulting in the loss of approximately $60,000 worth of cryptocurrency and a collection of NFTs. While this incident left him devastated, there was a glimmer of hope as some of his stolen assets were eventually recovered.

Youtuber Mistake Leads to Big Losses

Bianco’s channel, ‘Fraternidade Crypto’, boasts a substantial following, with approximately 34,000 YouTube subscribers and over 2.2 million views across all its videos since its establishment in 2017.

The unfortunate incident occurred on August 30 during a live stream when he unintentionally revealed his seed phrases for his cryptocurrency wallets. Seed phrases, also called recovery phrases or mnemonic phrases, consist of a sequence of words used to recover a cryptocurrency wallet if it’s lost or compromised.

These phrases are the keys to gaining access to one’s digital assets. By publicly displaying his seed phrases during the stream, the YouTuber unwittingly exposed his entire crypto portfolio to the world.

This inadvertent disclosure enabled unidentified individuals to seize control of his wallets and purportedly pilfer his digital assets.

In an email conversation with Decrypt, Bianco confirmed that he suffered a total loss of approximately $60,000 in tokens and his NFTs collection.

Bianco Seeks for Help

This incident is a stark reminder of the potential risks associated with carelessness in the crypto space.

Recognizing the severity of the situation, Bianco promptly terminated the live stream and hastened to inspect his wallets. Regrettably, the damage had already been done when he took action.

In minutes, hackers took advantage of the opportunity to drain approximately $60,000 worth of cryptocurrencies from Bianco’s wallet, which contained various digital assets.

Visibly distraught by the incident, Bianco returned to another livestream to candidly explain the situation to his audience.

He mentioned that he attempted to create a new wallet upon realizing that he had revealed his seed phrases. However, the culprits had already absconded with the cryptocurrency from both wallets within minutes.

In response to the breach, Bianco promptly engaged law enforcement and filed a police report. Nonetheless, given the relative unfamiliarity of the authorities with the intricacies of the crypto ecosystem, he planned to take independent action with the assistance of the crypto community.

Furthermore, Bianco shared the address associated with the Polygon wallet of the unidentified individual who had illicitly withdrawn approximately 86,399 MATIC tokens. This was valued at roughly $50,800 at the time of the incident.

The YouTuber also disclosed that an additional 3.35 ETH, equivalent to $5,750, remained locked in another individual’s wallet on the Arbitrum network.

There were also claims that several users stole smaller amounts of cryptocurrency assets.

Bianco Recovers Some of the Stolen Asset’s Funds

While it initially appeared that Bianco’s ordeal might signal the end of the road for him, given the challenging process of recovering stolen crypto assets, an unexpected twist to the story surfaced.

Following the theft, Bianco revealed that upon his return from the police station, one of his followers reached out to him via Discord.

The YouTuber asserted that this individual admitted to stealing his cryptocurrency and expressed remorse. According to Bianco, the individual said, “I messed up big time; I’m fully aware of how wrong it was,” before abruptly ending the call.

Following this conversation, approximately $50,000 worth of cryptocurrency was returned to Bianco. Some of his fans reportedly doubted the authenticity of these events, but Bianco dismissed these claims.

Although the YouTuber seems to have identified the thief, he has not disclosed the person’s identity. “I won’t reveal his name because he returned the stolen funds, and there’s no need for me to harm him despite his wrongdoing,” explained Bianco.

Currently, the crypto streamer is taking measures to recover the remaining $10,000. While reviewing transactions made after the mistake, he noticed several individuals attempting to transfer his funds.

Moreover, his contacts, in collaboration with law enforcement, are investigating a specific address that pilfered over 1.2 ETH ($1,900).

About Jimmy Aki PRO INVESTOR

Based in the UK, Jimmy is an economic researcher with outstanding hands-on and heads-on experience in Macroeconomic finance analysis, forecasting and planning. He has honed his skills having worked cross-continental as a finance analyst, which gives him inter-cultural experience. He currently has a strong passion for regulation and macroeconomic trends as it allows him peek under the global bonnet to see how the world works.