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By Bitcoin Talk’s running tally, there have been over 40 major and minor Bitcoin thefts going back to 2009, the year the cryptocurrency launched. They include everything from the relatively minor Bitscalper scam to the major Bitcoin Savings & Trust virtual hedge fund pyramid scheme created by pirateat40, the so-called “Bernie Madoff of Bitcoin”. That makes for an average of ten thefts per year, and that's probably a conservative estimate.At this point, the question shouldn’t so much be whether Bitcoin is secure against manipulation of the blockchain, but how secure it is at its critical transaction points: exchanges, wallets, markets, etc. Bitcoin was bound to go through such growing pains, and perhaps it’s necessary that this happens. Regardless, many people, clearnet and darknet users, must be questioning how secure these exchanges truly are. And that is not good for the currency or for business.In this brave new world of cryptocurrency, caveat emptor takes on a whole new meaning. Does it need to be this way? If a growing number of people feel that cryptocurrencies are vital in a world of currency manipulation, then shouldn’t the way these currencies are bought, sold, stored, and otherwise transmitted be just as secure? It’s somewhat baffling that in this high-tech age there are no undisputed innovators, no Googles or Apples, of the Bitcoin market—at least not yet.Maybe it will take several entities as robust as, say, PayPal for these vulnerabilities to diminish in frequency and scope. With all of the angel investor and hedge fund money being thrown at Bitcoin startups, perhaps we’re set to see an explosion in approaches to this problem that will rival the Internet’s monetization during the dot-com bubble. From there, digital Darwinianism should take over: the weakest will wither and die, while the most creative and robust will flourish.If that happens, then the recent rash of Bitcoin thefts and scams will become footnotes in cryptocurrency history. Assuming, of course, that Bitcoin itself survives through government regulation and free market competition. Indeed, maybe Bitcoin will turn out to be the AOL or Netscape of cryptocurrency—something new, hyped, and the best thing on the block at the moment, but most important as inspiration to legions of developers who will be able to do it better.“In this brave new world of cryptocurrency, caveat emptor takes on a whole new meaning.”