WIRED’s Ethical Dilemma: What Happened to the $100,000 in Bitcoin?
Back in 2013, WIRED found itself in possession of 13 Bitcoins, worth approximately $100,000 at the time. The cryptocurrency was mined using a device sent by Butterfly Labs, a company that later faced legal troubles and ultimately shut down. Instead of keeping the funds for themselves, the staff at WIRED made a controversial decision that would ensure their ethical reporting on cryptocurrencies.
The Bitcoin Mining Experiment
Butterfly Labs provided WIRED with a 5-gigahash-per-second Bitcoin miner for review. At a cost of $274 for paying customers, the device was a game-changer in the early days of cryptocurrency mining. With relatively low competition and less sophisticated hardware requirements, WIRED was able to mine over 13 Bitcoins through a stroke of luck.
The Moral Dilemma
When it came time to decide what to do with the earnings, the staff at WIRED found themselves in a moral quandary. Should they keep the money, potentially influencing their reporting on cryptocurrencies, or find a way to ethically dispose of it? After much debate, it was decided that the funds should never be used to maintain journalistic integrity.
The Final Decision
To ensure that the 13 Bitcoins would never be spent, WIRED made the bold choice to destroy the private keys that unlocked the wallet. This irreversible action meant that the funds were essentially lost forever, unable to be recovered or used by anyone. The then-head of engineering at WIRED likened the situation to dropping the key between Earth and Alpha Centauri.
The Consequences of Lost Bitcoin
According to Cryptalker, once Bitcoin is lost or stolen, there is no way to recover it. This means that the 13 Bitcoins belonging to WIRED are now permanently out of circulation, adding to the estimated millions of lost coins worldwide. While it may have been a significant loss, WIRED‘s decision to safeguard their journalistic integrity serves as a reminder of the ethical considerations that come with handling cryptocurrency.
While the $100,000 in Bitcoin may be gone, the story of WIRED‘s ethical dilemma continues to serve as a cautionary tale in the ever-evolving world of digital currency.