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CASE 043  |  "Synth"  |  June 13, 2018  |  China
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DATABASE RECORD
  id                  43
  date                June 13, 2018
  original_date       June 13, 2018
  year                2018
  month               6
  quarter             2018-Q2
  victim              "Synth"
  location            China
  country             China
  scenario            Kidnapping
  description         Home invasion of Skycoin architect resulted in theft of 18.88 BTC and 6,466 SKY
  kidnappings         0
  violence_torture    0
  drugs_alcohol       0
  weapons             0
  theft               0
  life_taken          0
  money_wanted        (null)
  coin_type           (null)
  reports             Bitcoinist
  notes               kidnapped at home
  has_processed_date  1
  created_at          2025-11-13 05:44:45
  (flag legend: 'kidnappings' is the DETENTION flag — 1 when the victim was held against
   their will at any point, tied, locked in, held at gunpoint or taken away; it is NOT the
   same as the 'Kidnapping' scenario, which means taken away and held. See README, Definitions.)

AI SUMMARY  [generated at bulk import, NOT verified against sources]
  **Victim:** "Synth"
  
  **Attackers:** Unknown number of perpetrators
  
  **Attack Method:** Kidnapping
  
  **Violence Used:** Threats/intimidation
  
  **Crypto Stolen:** Approximately 18.88 BTC
  
  **Status:** Investigation ongoing

LINKED SOURCES
  [url]  https://bitcoinist.com/skycoin-freezes-funds-staff-take-ceo-hostage/

NOTES ON THIS FILE
  * matched to sheet row 44: exact match on victim + year, unique on both sides

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ARTICLE 1
  Source   Bitcoinist
  URL      https://bitcoinist.com/skycoin-freezes-funds-staff-take-ceo-hostage/
  Origin   reported_K&R sheet, row 44, column "Articles"
  Length   2,156 chars
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Allegations of criminal activity continue at Skycoin as executives freeze funds to contain fallout from a theft by the coin’s own marketing team.

18 BTC, Skycoins Stolen In ‘Burglarization’
Skycoin, which describes itself as “the most advanced blockchain platform in the world,” saw massive sell-offs this month after it emerged insider trading had taken place around the time Binance announced it would list the coin in May.
In a blog post June 18, Skycoin confirmed details of what is described as a “burglarization” involving its CEO, who is known as Synth, and members of the China-based marketing team.
Nine individuals allegedly broke into Synth’s home, taking him and his wife hostage while attempting to steal funds and technical information.
“They proceeded to hold Synth and his wife against their will for 6 hours, over the course of which they threatened, beat and robbed them,” the post reads.
BitStarz Player Lands $2,459,124 Record Win! Could you be next big winner?
Thanks to wallet security measures, the group was only able to extract 18.88 Bitcoin and 6466 skycoins during the robbery. The gang also attempted and failed to steal the design framework for the skycoin ecosystem.
Exchanges Bend To Quarantine Requests
The revelations continue the problems at Skycoin, with cryptocurrency commentators likening the insider trading scandal to Coinbase’s alleged attempts to add Bitcoin Cash functionality to its exchange in 2017.
In order to prevent stolen funds being traded, Skycoin announced it had contacted exchanges to demand asset freezes. While it remains unclear to what extent those exchanges have cooperated with their request, the decision reportedly has had a positive influence on markets.
“According to feedback from exchanges, the accounts holding stolen skycoins have been frozen, so any further impact on the market should be limited. Though some panic selling seems to be continuing, as of this writing the market price has recovered by approximately 30%,” the post states.
Skycoin once traded over $32, with the combined effect of the scandal suppressing prices to below 25 percent of that figure at press time June 19.


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FETCHED ARTICLE 1  [AUTO-TRIMMED — UNREVIEWED]
  !! Furniture was cut by a script keyed on this case's record, not by a person.
  !! It may still carry passages about OTHER cases from a round-up article.
  !! The full page extract is kept in staging/ if a cut needs revisiting.
  Source     bitcoinist.com
  URL        https://bitcoinist.com/skycoin-freezes-funds-staff-take-ceo-hostage/
  Field      url
  Retrieved  2026-09-05T12:55:13+00:00 via raw HTTP retrieval, deterministic extraction (HTTP 200)
  Language   unknown
  Kept       paragraphs headline [0] + 9-19 of 39
  Length     2,139 chars
  Integrity  sha256 dd47de1d5c7e6b1c98717985ea2f041996f6d18f3cb297e12e58b0a1e6b532ec
  Trimmed    AUTO-TRIMMED, unreviewed: kept paragraphs 9-19 plus headline [0]; dropped 8 leading and 19 trailing paragraphs. Case-term hits on page: 19.
  Caveat     retrieved from a live page on the date above. Unlike text copied
             from the spreadsheet, there is no second copy to hash it against.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ORIGINAL (unknown, verbatim as retrieved)

Skycoin Freezes Funds After Staff 'Take CEO Hostage' And Steal 18 BTC | Bitcoinist.com

Allegations of criminal activity continue at Skycoin as executives freeze funds to contain fallout from a theft by the coin’s own marketing team.

18 BTC, Skycoins Stolen In ‘Burglarization’

Skycoin, which describes itself as “the most advanced blockchain platform in the world,” saw massive sell-offs this month after it emerged insider trading had taken place around the time Binance announced it would list the coin in May.

In a blog post June 18, Skycoin confirmed details of what is described as a “burglarization” involving its CEO, who is known as Synth, and members of the China-based marketing team.

Nine individuals allegedly broke into Synth’s home, taking him and his wife hostage while attempting to steal funds and technical information.

“They proceeded to hold Synth and his wife against their will for 6 hours, over the course of which they threatened, beat and robbed them,” the post reads.

Thanks to wallet security measures, the group was only able to extract 18.88 Bitcoin and 6466 skycoins during the robbery. The gang also attempted and failed to steal the design framework for the skycoin ecosystem.

The revelations continue the problems at Skycoin, with cryptocurrency commentators likening the insider trading scandal to Coinbase’s alleged attempts to add Bitcoin Cash functionality to its exchange in 2017.

In order to prevent stolen funds being traded, Skycoin announced it had contacted exchanges to demand asset freezes. While it remains unclear to what extent those exchanges have cooperated with their request, the decision reportedly has had a positive influence on markets.

“According to feedback from exchanges, the accounts holding stolen skycoins have been frozen, so any further impact on the market should be limited. Though some panic selling seems to be continuing, as of this writing the market price has recovered by approximately 30%,” the post states.

Skycoin once traded over $32, with the combined effect of the scandal suppressing prices to below 25 percent of that figure at press time June 19.

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generated from attacks-export-Gart-website.json + reported_K&R  |  case 043
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