The Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has been scammed and had seven bitcoins stolen. The current bitcoin price puts the value of the hack at over $75,000, a non-trivial amount even for the wealthy Mr Wozniak who is thought o be worth $100 million.

Steve Wozniak said at the Times Global Business Summit:

“Somebody bought them from me online through a credit card and they cancelled the credit card payment. It was that easy. And it was from a stolen credit card number so you can never get it back.”

Steve Wozniak

Which suggests the fault lies with the bank as opposed to poor security measures from Steve himself. This is less surprising for someone with a history in information systems and cyber security.

Despite the theft Steve has a positive view on bitcoin and is reported to have bought the coins at $700 apiece as an experiment rather than an investment. Although he was known to have sold in December as he feared the market was a bubble. Perfect timing for an investor that “I didn’t want to watch the price everyday… I sold all except one. It was enough to experiment.”

The Times reported that Steve also had this to say on bitcoin:

“Bitcoins to me was a currency that was not manipulated by the governments. It is mathematical, it is pure, it can't be altered”

Steve Wozniak