A former blackhat hacker who calls himself Gummo on the Internet claims to have amassed about $7 billion worth of bitcoin (BTC).
Despite the avalanche of positive comments and posts related to his interviews on the Soft White Underbelly YouTube channel — which has 3.18 million subscribers — information about Gummo is scant elsewhere. This could be by design or it could suggest that his outlandish claims do not generate complete trust.
He has said that he has been working in this field for more than 30 years. Although he started hacking for illicit reasons and was caught by the authorities, he has been dedicated to doing a good job ever since. —thanks to his wife’s support and advice— such as threat hunting, cybersecurity, and consulting for developers.
The latest comments came as part of a follow-up interview published on Saturday, after the initial discussion took place in late 2020. During the first video, Gummo stated that he built four supercomputers to mine bitcoin when its price was around $200-300 around 2013, generating over 80,000 BTC in a year and a half..
According to his claims, he has now accumulated some 179,000 BTC. If his holdings are calculated at current prices, that would put him at around the 369th richest person in the world, according to the 2021 Forbes Billionaires List:
“I’m pretty rich. Yes, I don’t have to work if I choose to. I have over seven billion dollars worth of bitcoin.”
nothing will impede the simplicity & decentralized future #bitcoin
.
🙂— Gummo (@GummoXXX) March 8, 2022
Nothing will stop the simplicity and decentralized future #bitcoin
Gummo claimed that your current job in hacking is not motivated by a desire for a job or moneybut to help the underprivileged, since highlighted the importance of choosing to do the right thing and protecting people from evil online.
“Knowing that I’m keeping someone’s grandmother from falling victim to some kind of cyber extortion scheme, that’s what gets me up every day and it’s the things that motivate me right now.“, said.
Speaking of the dark side of technological advancement, Gummo warned that hacking has evolved rapidlygoing from “having tons of javascript popups” that send spam to computers in a humorous way, to the use of data and software as weapons against people:
“The landscape is getting darker and more sinister as more people want to go after their wealth. Whether it’s cryptocurrency theft or traditional theft from banking systems.”
“The fact that governments are now willing to start a war at the mere thought of software being deployed is pretty scary. and, unfortunately, that will be the new reality of society,” he added.
Looking at the response to both interviews, it seems that Gummo is quickly becoming a beloved figure due to the story behind him.including a difficult upbringing, the loss of loved ones, and a significant departure from the dark side of hacking to help people online.
The last video has so far 14,000 likes and there is an almost endless amount of positive feedback for the character, while the first video has 144,000 likes and the same sentiment in the comments.
“This man has inspired me to pursue cybersecurity with good intentions. I’m a broke teacher, I LOVE teaching because it helps students, so I never focused on salary. Now I am too old to teach. I considered cybersecurity as a new career to pay the bills, but Gummo has given more meaning to this career, now I will pursue the career to make the world a better place too. Thanks Gummo,” YouTube user Zim Petrichor wrote.
User quicklern818 said: “I don’t think we’ll ever see this man again, and in a way, I think it’s appropriate: is like a guardian angel, who works behind the scenes and always watches. Sending love to him and his family, and thanks for all of his hard work.”
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