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Lost Passwords Lock Millionaires Out of Their Bitcoin Fortunes

January 12, 2021 3 Comments

Stefan Thomas, a German-born programmer living in San Francisco, has two guesses left to figure out a password that is worth, as of this week, about $220 million. The New York Times reports:

The password will let him unlock a small hard drive, known as an IronKey, which contains the private keys to a digital wallet that holds 7,002 Bitcoin. While the price of Bitcoin dropped sharply on Monday, it is still up more than 50 percent from just a month ago when it passed its previous all-time high around $20,000.

The problem is that Mr. Thomas years ago lost the paper where he wrote down the password for his IronKey, which gives users 10 guesses before it seizes up and encrypts its contents forever. He has since tried eight of his most commonly used password formulations — to no avail.

“I would just lay in bed and think about it,” Mr. Thomas said. “Then I would go to the computer with some new strategy, and it wouldn’t work, and I would be desperate again.”

Bitcoin, which has been on an extraordinary and volatile eight-month run, has made a lot of its holders very rich in a short period of time, even as the coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the world economy.

But the cryptocurrency’s unusual nature has also meant that there are many people who are locked out of their Bitcoin fortunes as a result of lost or forgotten keys. They have been forced to watch, helpless, as the price has risen and fallen dramatically, unable to cash in on their digital wealth.

Of the existing 18.5 million Bitcoin, around 20 percent — currently worth around $140 billion — appear to be in lost or otherwise stranded wallets, according to the cryptocurrency data firm Chainalysis. Wallet Recovery Services, a business that helps find lost digital keys, said it has gotten 70 requests a day from people who want help recovering their riches, three times the number of a month ago.

Bitcoin owners who are locked out of their wallets speak of endless days and nights of frustration as they have tried to access their fortunes. Many have owned the coins since Bitcoin’s early days a decade ago, when no one had confidence that the tokens would be worth anything.

Related

Comments

  1. Into the FIRE says

    January 13, 2021 at 4:51 pm

    I loved reading this article because Mr. Into the FIRE is obsessed with crytocurrency and Bitcoin. He recommends investing in BTCE, and actually one of my sisters got me involved in Coinbase. If you can get a referral code for Coinbase, why not do it? (is my thinking). Because it’s just watching a few short videos and answering a few questions and you can get some cryptocurrency for free. 馃檪 Thank you for sharing this article.

  2. Steve William says

    February 8, 2021 at 2:11 pm

    I lost my bitcoin to fake blockchain.com impostors on Facebook, they contacted me as blockchain official support and I fell stupidly for their mischievous act, this made them gain access into my blockchain wallet account, whereby 7.0938 BTC was stolen from my wallet in total. I was dumbfounded because this was all my savings I banked up on, waiting for bitcoin rate to improve. Then my cousin recommended me to an expert, I researched online and found the recovery expert , with the contact address- BLACKJOCKER10x AT PROTONMAIL DOT COM..
    I wrote directly to the specialist explaining my loss. Hence, they helped me recover my bitcoin within 8 days. They launched the recovery program, and the culprits were identified as well, all thanks to their expertise. I hope I have been able to help someone as well. Reach out to the recovery specialist to recover you lost funds from any form of online scam. Email 鈥揃LACKJOCKER10x (AT) PROTONMAIL(DOT) COM

  3. Cercil says

    February 9, 2021 at 9:57 am

    Nice article. I stumbled upon it awhile ago, I used the services of Sergei to recover
    my bitcoin lost to a trader I met on-line. I was only lucky to have gotten back
    my deposit and profit. It was a good thing I kept the wallet address I paid them with,
    I was told it’s one of the most important thing used to trace a stolen bitcoin .
    you can search @ engrsergei on telegram if you need help with a trusted recovery expert.
    I guarantee this you a successful outcome.

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