MyCoin and the exaggeration that occurred regarding the funds the company allegedly lost has been a major topic of discussion. Initial reports claimed that the amount lost stood between $386 million and $390 million, but now that the Hong Kong Commercial Crime Bureau (CCB) is involved, reports are saying that the amount lost only stands at around $8 million. Furthermore, the amount of alleged victims has fallen from about 3,000 to 43, and while 43 is still quite a number, it’s certainly not 3,000.
The question on my mind (and the question that I’m sure is on many people’s minds) is, “How could things be so off?” In other words, how could such an exaggeration come to fruition?
The estimated loss of $387 million came from MyCoin itself, which may have later been wrongly interpreted and distributed by the media, thus giving birth to such an overboard scenario, and having discussed this in previous articles, I feel it only necessary to bring it up again… Sometimes bitcoin’s reputation suffers merely because of misinformation, and this is a prime example.
While funds do seem to be lost, it is large, exaggerated amounts such as what was originally contemplated that have caused several members of the general public to completely disregard bitcoin and lose faith in it. For a while, MyCoin was being looked at as the next Mt. Gox, but sometimes it is merely the media’s lack of coverage or incorrect coverage that falters the outcome of bitcoin and related currencies. We all saw several sites and publications displaying the same information, so we all jumped into believing it right away. It’s unfortunate, and blame can’t really be placed on the listeners. After all, if you saw multiple sources reporting on something as true, wouldn’t you be somewhat convinced?
But this kind of stance and misrepresentation in the media is harder to forgive. Such a stance feeds fear and dismembers knowledge… So let’s be a little more careful, shall we? Helping panic to grow only paves way for further ailments…