[Online Again] AltQuick.com - Altcoin & Bitcoin Testnet Exchange

[tnlol]

Looks like a hack it might have been. Historically withdraws were instant but my (relatively small, 0.01) BTC withdraw is now just "pending" while my TN3 withdraw went through right away.

[pooya87]

Also, their website currently makes no mention of the closure, it might be beneficial for existing and potential customers if they updated the AltQuick website.

There is a box with orange colored text on top of each of the market pages (like this one) that says the exact text posted above about shutting down; so you'll only figure out they are closing if you try to trade there otherwise you will not find out.

P.S. halting trades sucks since the dust amount is easier to pull out if converted to something like Doge

[BayAreaCoins]

Looks like a hack it might have been. Historically withdraws were instant but my (relatively small, 0.01) BTC withdraw is now just "pending" while my TN3 withdraw went through right away.

The Bitcoin wallet is resyncing.  I instructed X to do a -rescan on it yesterday while I was trying to figure out what happened.

It should be online today in ~6 hours give or take. (edit: Terrible estimate, still syncing, status page shows the block #)

Double edit:  You are such a legend lol

What happened?? Were you guys hacked?

No, we were not hacked.

My partner (he is the developer, I don't code) thought he could take loans without me noticing directly from the wallet...  I've been traveling and doing summer things, I went to audit the books yesterday and discovered it.

I first noticed the Deposits minus the withdrawals looked "funky"... which isn't totally uncommon and usually is fixed with a -rescan.  THEN I noticed the transaction https://blockstream.info/tx/8f515284082bdc1ba3558c6cca320abbe195500f7f4184a78505ff19bd27285d which is not how our system is designed to do transactions... it was pretty obvious this came directly from the wallet and this caused it not to be mentioned in the AltQuick audits due to it being directly sent from the wallet.  If a hacker had access, why would we keep $20k and they only take $1,300?  So...

Looks to be around $20,000-$30,000 in Bitcoin.  The partner is going to get the missing funds and make sure everyone is whole... I'm fucking heartbroken & disgusted to say the least. Apparently, he's developed an addiction to a freemium cell phone game called "Last War," which is just so fucking beyond me that I can't even comment on it... I can't even fathom committing a felony to play a cell phone game.

I'm firmly against fractional exchanges, and I'm firmly against selling a bond or anything like that to recover someone's embezzlement.  I found it yesterday, confirmed it, thought about it for one hour, and started making the moves to protect everyone elses remaining funds + recovery.  The next day, the unauthorized loan, fraud, embezzlement, theft, or whatever you want to call it, was discovered.

This is a grossly embarrassing post, but I also hate companies that lie and keep their customers in the dark.  I never thought I would have to deal with this, but since we are... might as well do what I expect other companies to do.

I'm hoping the closer notice puts everything into brutal perspective, then we are able to handle that from there and move forward.  There is a good chance we survive this due to it being so small, but man...... you know?

It does seem strange that the announcement was made but a full explanation was not given. The account discrepancies allude to a hack but they did not categorically state it. Also, their website currently makes no mention of the closure, it might be beneficial for existing and potential customers if they updated the AltQuick website.

I pulled the plug as soon as the slightest real potential "wtf" was even a tiny bit achieved.  I didn't know and still don't know the exact what all contributed, but I know enough to know it needs to get fixed and not put anyone else at risk.

It took 4 hours or more to get the truth out yesterday afternoon.  We didn't work last night after all that, I was pretty upset.  Today & this weekend we will put more notices around, no worries. (More fucking hoping this fella does what is right, makes the books balance, and then goes from there.). We will also contact folks via email who chose to register with one.

I'm still not convinced that the account won't be as bad as it appeared yesterday, the partner can do what is right and make it right, and we can add some additional serious auditing tools that I thought were unnecessary 6 years ago... but sound pretty good today.

There are thousands of small businesses that contribute to the crypto ecosystem, whenever one is closing down (either temporarily or permanently) it is a moment of reflection.  

This is exactly it.  A big fucking moment of reflection for this dude and for me to take a stand to say "I will not be apart of something like that."  No one got their dick knocked in the dirt thus far more than me...  I have so more Testnet than Michael Saylor has Bitcoin, but all that is for nothing if I have no product. *sigh*

P.S. halting trades sucks since the dust amount is easier to pull out if converted to something like Doge

Trading may get turned back on.  Nothing is set in stone.  My main concern yesterday was "Omfg what if the system is creating phantom Bitcoin during each trade in some way I'm not catching on any of my audits".  We are still continuing to audit to make sure that isn't happening, but once we know exactly wtf is wtf, then it will give us more safe room to wiggle and get you into a coin that is a better withdrawal.

Hang in there with me and we will get it figured out one way or the other.

I also hate to be so blunt, but getting anything out of a bad crypto situation is infinately more than zero.   I firmly don't think that will be the case, but... most of us in Bitcoin have been around long enough to know how it works out sometimes.


100% of my goal right now is for customers to get their coins and for the partner to make it right.

Catching bullshit like this is way better at this stage than later.  Our growth was blowing up over the past few months... which I think led to the temptation of "I can take a little loan and pay it back before anyone notices and I'll be super cool with my mobile friend besties", but clearly that got away from him and now it's time to be rectified in one way or the other.

I'm praying this is settled Friday or early this week.  We will settle this one way or the other, praying to do it like gentlemen without having to use any court systems or three letter agents... sigh.  Regardless, whatever has to be done will be done and with my full cooperation.

Fuck *sigh*. Absolutely gut-wrenching, but seeing how people handle bad situations tells more than seeing how someone glows in the limelight.

[jokerlu]

You have an excellent product, and shutting down the exchange is not the solution. Don’t let this situation—one that does have a remedy—wipe out so many years of hard work.
I’ve seen how, over the past few months, your exchange has been steadily growing with more volume, organically, and with a unique market. You were among the first to create testnet markets; if you abandon it, someone else will step in, but if you keep going, you’ll remain among the leaders.

Don’t let temporary emotions drive you to make the wrong decisions. Take a step back, think it through carefully.
If you need support with marketing, I’m here to help. And if you still decide to close, I wish you the best of success in all your future projects.

[JollyGood]

It seems a very good step to stop operations rather than risk incurring serious losses. If you had explained more and added more context to the initial post you made about closing the service, it probably would have somewhat of a different reaction.

I understand your sentiments, anybody would be upset if it happened to them. I hope you manage to get back on track and re-open as soon as possible. Your customers need the service you are providing. Hopefully adding some audit tools will be of benefit and will give the confidence for the website to resume service.

I pulled the plug as soon as the slightest real potential "wtf" was even a tiny bit achieved.  I didn't know and still don't know the exact what all contributed, but I know enough to know it needs to get fixed and not put anyone else at risk.

It took 4 hours or more to get the truth out yesterday afternoon.  We didn't work last night after all that, I was pretty upset.  Today & this weekend we will put more notices around, no worries. (More fucking hoping this fella does what is right, makes the books balance, and then goes from there.). We will also contact folks via email who chose to register with one.

I'm still not convinced that the account won't be as bad as it appeared yesterday, the partner can do what is right and make it right, and we can add some additional serious auditing tools that I thought were unnecessary 6 years ago... but sound pretty good today.

[BayAreaCoins]

Thanks, fellas.

The whole thing is pretty gross.  Half of my mastermind is sick and forgiving.  The other half is sick, forgiving, but strongly against having a partner with the character to do such a shitty thing (esp for a mobile "free" game....)  This isn't just some partner off the side of the road, either; we've been in business together in some fashion for almost 12 years.  We've paid out a *lot* of Bitcoins over the years with no issues and no hacks.

I'm hoping to transmute this bad feeling into an auditing system that sets an industry standard if I go that route.

I honestly hate the thought of a public system, but it seems that is the way things probably need to go.  We are going to see what we can come up with that balances transparency with privacy.  (Open to ideas, I really like the way Dooglus did Just-Dice back in the day (https://just-dice.blogspot.com/2014/06/investment-amounts-22-june-2014.html), but I think we can make it automated and real-time.)

First things first is to make sure everyone gets their coins into a safe place while we keep evaluating data + apparently building more shit potentially.


I've been really thankful for the way the partner has been since all of this.  He's been helping me solve support tickets and get people their coins all day.

Hoping he has the missing funds restored by tomorrow or early next week. (thank god... fingers crossed.)

I've still not been provided with the data in a clean layout... I'm hoping he just overestimates... we can do the legwork of data on our own time rather than people waiting on me waiting on (?).


The Bitcoin wallet is on block #689551.  The process of syncing the wallet can be seen on this page:  https://altquick.com/exchange/status (click "SHOW" under the Blockchain tab)

[BayAreaCoins]

I took control of the vast majority of the Testnet4 coins that I accumulated to match Michael Saylors mainnet for a "hobby".  Withdraw was basically instant as tnlol said.  

This should be *more* than enough coins to cover anyone if I can find a way to move them.

https://mempool.space/testnet4/address/tb1p8zrx96sz4k26h28g0wdmresvfdcdytpju85slqyqgwlp3vpstfes9qnz76

Signed message:

mx8aQ1U9h9ETJMQndijrvUX1jz6wphHggv

Under BAC's control 10-4-2025

IL2Iq68tAJo2pVqney7tl6O3etFaK6/+8tSZMeepikwlLQYm5CtrJKMHRlTFnPFAb59DCrkmqxzQLaKwVqHNgXQ=

I do not anticipate this will be required, but the more options we have, the better.

No word on repayment yet.  The dude is going to talk to some people tonight and see how best to navigate this.  I don't want to list his t-shirts on eBay for $1 no-reserve auction, but... this is a pretty big deal to me.

We are continuing to work.  Please contact me with any questions.

Please withdraw your Bitcoin even if it goes to pending.  (Someone withdrew all their alts and left their BTC... if that is you, go withdraw now *please*.)

Bitcoin wallet at block # 842899


Gapcoin wallet is on pause cause it needs to be -resync'ed but is slowing Bitcoin down.  Bitcoin is obviously our main priority.

I'll just off myself if Gapcoin was laundered lol kidding of course, but ya... not worried, the wallet has been being a royal bitch for years for whatever fucking shitcoin reason.

[IMZ Noo Account]

CLAM Trading Report

Frei is 158-115. A little volume.  Coinmarketcap and others show large drop in price on nil volume. So -- ?? BAC notes that Dooglus is holding the fort technically on Just Dice, where there is a P2P bot that everyone has forgotten about (but which has not been trialled)

IndiaMikeZulu adds his two cents' worth:

Honesty and native-English-speaking support goes a very long way with me. Never that I recall has there been such an honest explanation of the cause of some glitch. My exposure is a coupla hundred bucks. And I'm happening to keep those pennies committed to 'Altquick' and CLAM. So, bring it on!

[IMZ Noo Account]

Frei is 179-116, and we're at Nos. 20 on the charts!

[BayAreaCoins]

No word on repayment yet.  

I heard back on this and it went good.

They are going to start moving fiat to Bitcoin and bring it on site.  There are some limits so it could take a few stupid limit hits (something we didn't do on altquick... another reason I loved my little site.). The weekend kind of fucks up banking potentially, but we are going to see what can get pushed through ASAP.

I will continue to keep updates posted.

Bitcoin syncing block # is at 884240... it's syncing at the speed of smell, but hoping tomorrow.

Sorry for the inconvenience to folks pending. 

[BayAreaCoins]

Money wire is in transit, allegedly.  I see no reason there would be a lie about this.  Weekends fuck banks up though, so it should submit Monday morning and be seen roughly an hour later depending on the exchange receiving it.

The Bitcoin should be good to move over to our wallets on Monday.

That will put everything super flush to the naked eye... we will then be good to evaluate data at our own pace, which is going to be swift as well.  

I'm considering making a 21 hour drive to breath the same air and see everything through together, plus have a talk.

I'll keep everyone in the loop.  Please keep pushing those withdrawals out.  My job is to get you your coins. Please make my job easy by doing your part.

Don't be this person:

Is the site going to go back online? I am planning to make a deposit before it goes "lights out".

Do not count on a reboot.  If you are worried about a withdraw fee, please know that if trading does start back up that you'll be comped with a few free deposits/withdrawals to make up for getting pushed off.  (or something)


Bitcoin on block # 908423

[BayAreaCoins]

Bitcoin is sync'ed.  Withdrawals are now processing, it's a bit backed up and configured one at a time (but instant normally, not so great backed up.)

Users can see some of the transactions flowing out here:  https://blockstream.info/address/bc1q7jhru4yt3eus9qv56tmfky02skxsrs05ecjx8j

It appears we survived the pending Bitcoin withdrawal run... all withdrawals should be automatic from here on out.

All pendings should be paid out.  Sorry for the wait and scare fellas.  


Please continue withdrawing your coins.  If you know a buddy who used us, please consider helping me out by shooting them a message.

Monday, additional funds and all that will be back to square one.  I only see one user who could run into a problem before then. 

(Bitcointalk admin, sorry for multi posts, got a shit show going on and I appriciate your understanding.)

[IMZ Noo Account]

CLAM Trading Report

179-148 on Frei. The order books are revealing: nicely balanced. (I was certainly wrong: no dump of CLAM!)

[NotATether]

I'm not sure how I can convert the BCH into BTC and then just withdraw it because I don't see any payout section. I'm a bit confused.

Help me out @BayAreaCoins

[tnlol]

Looks like a hack it might have been. Historically withdraws were instant but my (relatively small, 0.01) BTC withdraw is now just "pending" while my TN3 withdraw went through right away.

This withdraw did eventually complete.

[BayAreaCoins]

I'm not sure how I can convert the BCH into BTC and then just withdraw it because I don't see any payout section. I'm a bit confused.

Help me out @BayAreaCoins

Those affiliate earnings are directly in your exchange balance already.  (The system settles commission trades hourly and faucets affiliate pay near instantly.)

You should see them on the "Withdraw" tab (click the logo and select the right logo) or you should see your balances on this page (if logged in):  https://altquick.com/exchange/profile/balance

You are likely better off withdrawing in BCH due to the size of your account.  We charge a flat fee on BTC withdrawals ranging from 0.0001 and up.  BCH is like 0.001 and way cheaper in current price talk.

We are working to restore services and some updates so everyone will know how we handle things of this nature (Terms of Services, aka Terms of Steve.)

Changing wallet management methods as well, and audits, blah blah blah.

Regardless, I absolutely will get you taken care of... I'm deeply sorry for even disturbing your affiliate dust, but I pray that you know it is because I'm doing my best over here.

If you can, hang tight... if it is a total emergency, PM me and we will figure it out.  It's wayyyyy better to let the system handle it after we have confidence in the system, but I understand emergencies and I really don't want to hurt anyone, so let me know.  

[IMZ Noo Account]

Clam Trading Report

If you are so inclined, put some bids on Frei, as it must be our 'stand in' exchange while we wait to learn about Altquick.

The spread right now is 174-148, but the 148 is me. The next bid down is at 121. That makes a buy-sell spread of around 35%. We must both get some volume and close that gap.

If anyone wants to p2p me a chunk of CLAM, I'll put it all on Frei to shove things along.

[BayAreaCoins]

Clam Trading Report

If you are so inclined, put some bids on Frei, as it must be our 'stand in' exchange while we wait to learn about Altquick.

The spread right now is 174-148, but the 148 is me. The next bid down is at 121. That makes a buy-sell spread of around 35%. We must both get some volume and close that gap.

If anyone wants to p2p me a chunk of CLAM, I'll put it all on Frei to shove things along.

Lets hold it on CLAM reports while this shit is brewing.  I don't know how this is going to work out and I want to have a little diary of this fucking shit.  *sigh* (Document in the CLAM thread for the moment please & ty sir.).


42Coin payments that are pending are not due to wallet issues.  This is a great example of why it's best to be automated & not manual.  

There was ~6 people left to cash out, apparently the wallet wasn't working, so the partner manually processed a few transactions and muffed a Copy/Paste... for 0.017 42coin (which has 42 coins in the supply, is old as fuck, and naturally no exchanges besides us & DeFi  . )

I've reached out to the user attempting to see if they would please send back the mistake.

Small withdrawals are going to go through fine, but there is one stuck pending... if that is you, please contact me.  I'll be emailing soon anyway, but just seeing if we can fix this before we start paying off 42coiners in BTC or whatever.  *sigh*


I hope to have an update on the returned Bitcoin by tomorrow.  

Please continue to withdraw.  It will likely be automatic.

God.

[BayAreaCoins]

42Coin payments that are pending are not due to wallet issues.  This is a great example of why it's best to be automated & not manual.  

There was ~6 people left to cash out, apparently the wallet wasn't working, so the partner manually processed a few transactions and muffed a Copy/Paste... for 0.017 42coin (which has 42 coins in the supply, is old as fuck, and naturally no exchanges besides us & DeFi  . )

I've reached out to the user attempting to see if they would please send back the mistake.

Small withdrawals are going to go through fine, but there is one stuck pending... if that is you, please contact me.  I'll be emailing soon anyway, but just seeing if we can fix this before we start paying off 42coiners in BTC or whatever.  *sigh*

Fixed the 42coin thing and we are back above water.

Here is the transaction coming back into our wallet https://chainz.cryptoid.info/42/tx.dws?530638.htm

Just a *huge* endless thank you to the 42coin developer, LaserGun.

I could type for days about how thankful, grateful, and appreciative I am, but there is work to be done still.

42coin withdraws that were pending have been paid.  Only a few more of yall to withdraw, so please come get them! <3


We have $23,000 in Bitcoin now purchased and on hold for 3 days.

I didn't sleep at all last night. I'll detail our plan moving forward tomorrow and collect feedback... I'm pretty excited today because I never even though of it until it was proposed, it's clearly the way forward.

Holy shit what a ride.  I guess if it was easy everyone would do it.

[BayAreaCoins]

Changed the title to "TEMP CLOSED" rather than a closer date.

I think we are going to make it though this.  I really like our plan... I'll post more on it this week.

But PLEASE keep withdrawing your coins to a safe place for the time being.  DO NOT DELAY, DO IT NOW.