"It’s simple," Static wrote. "Download the zip, run the exe, and you can 'flash' up to 5 BTC to any address. It looks real on the blockchain for six hours. Use it to build 'trust' or just flex on your friends."

His real balance was now zero. He refreshed the page. The "Flash Faucet" application on his computer vanished, the .exe file deleting itself instantly. A new text file appeared on his desktop named READ_ME.txt .

He opened the application. A crude command-line interface appeared, asking for his own wallet’s private key to "sync the flash nodes."