There was a time, what seems a long ago (3 years), crypto assets were stolen from blockchain wallets in a bright daylight by an evil entity. We all know the story. The story of heroic actions of Robin Hood of Hive on May 20th, 2020. While ambitions were to stealing massive amounts of funds and get away with it, the thief wasn't smart enough to understand the basics of blockchain and private keys.
When the theft occurred and crypto assets from 60+ wallets were transferred to a temporary holding account - comunity321, it took the hero of Hive only couple minutes to correct this crime. Robin Hood of Hive was able to gain access to this account and transfer all the stolen funds to Bittrex with a simple message - "These are funds stolen by the Steem witnesses using HF23 May 20th 2020 - please return them to their original owners prior to the fork :)"
Those were the days when multiple crypto exchanges tainted their reputation by colluding in action to undermine decentralized systems. The same people and entities who advertise themselves as leaders and pioneers in decentralization and web3, have shown their true selves as those who engage in deception to gain wealth. This was also the time for Bittrex to shine. Bittrex, as one of the leading crypto exchanges and leaders in crypto space had a great opportunity to demonstrate courage and values in support of decentralization and blockchain integrity.
Many in crypto space were paying close attention to the events unfolding, and many hoped Bittrex would be true to what it claims to be, an advocate for crypto innovation, decentralization, web3, and property rights. Even from business perspective this could have been a good PR move for Bittrex, if they only followed the simple instructions given in a form of wallet memo. However, Bittrex acted confused with the situation, and decided not to return the funds to the original owners.
If Bittrex did the right thing and returned the funds to original owners, and prevented this theft from happening, it could have become one of the most (if not the most) respected crypto exchanges today. Instead, they chose to let thieves to get away with a crime. They chose centralized entities again decentralized community. They chose to defend undermining blockchain integrity. As a result the case was brought into courtroom to be decided by the legal system.
It is so awesome to find out today, that Bittrex has distributed funds consisting of 8,752,313.006 Steem and 294.207 SBD to some of the original owners.
It took 3 years, but finally justice prevailed. While not all funds were returned to all original owners, it is still great to see that some of the owners were able to get their funds back. Congratulations! Today is a day that Web3 wins. Today is a day decentralization remains strong.
Today is the day, we finally can say Robin Hood of Hive story concludes with happy ending. Thank you Community123! Hive will remember your heroic actions forever, and this story will be retold many time, and maybe even be integrated into the books and movies.
