Member-only story
Virgin Coins: What Is True About Them?
No, it is not a new cryptocurrency by the Virgin Group
I recently read some news about authorities finding the culprit behind The DAO hack in 2016. Apparently, it was one of the most talked-about crypto thefts in the blockchain community, but I don’t really remember it since I wasn’t into crypto so much back then (I really should have been). 3.64 million Ether were stolen from The DAO (a Decentralized Autonomous Organization) in this hack which amounts to more than $11 billion today. That’s one of the largest crypto hacks ever! While reading, one thought that crossed my mind was “what happens to all the cryptos that get recovered from similar thefts?”. That’s when I got to know about virgin coins.
So what really are virgin coins?
Virgin coins refer to cryptocurrencies that have not been used in any transactions. This concept can apply to any cryptocurrency, be it Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Dogecoin. All coins start off as virgin coins as soon as they are mined. Then they get transacted and the transaction history gets updated in the blockchain. Unlike in fiat currencies, it is much easier to find out how cryptocurrencies have traded hands in the past. Once a virgin coin is used in a transaction, it becomes a regular coin.
