![]() Many locked out owners have been forced to watch on, unable to cash in on their digital wealth, as the value of Bitcoin rapidly increased during the pandemic. Mr Thomas' unlucky tale has thrown light on one of the pitfalls that come with dealing in cryptocurrencies, which, unlike traditional banks, do not have a function to retrieve lost or forgotten passwords.Īccording to the cryptocurrency data company Chainalysis, around 20 per cent of the existing 18.5 million Bitcoin appears to be stuck in lost or otherwise inaccessible digital wallets. “Then I would go to the computer with some new strategy, and it wouldn’t work, and I would be desperate again.” ![]() “I would just lay in bed and think about it,” Mr Thomas told the New York Times. ![]() Mr Thomas said he has already tried eight passwords he uses without success. The IronKey allows users 10 guesses before it encrypts its contents forever. The password is needed to unlock a small hard drive, known as an IronKey, which contains the private keys to a digital wallet that holds Mr Thomas' Bitcoin fortune. Unfortunately for Mr Thomas, he kept the password to accessing the digital wallet holding the Bitcoin on a piece of paper - which he lost years ago. With the price of Bitcoin rising rapidly during the coronavirus pandemic, those Bitcoins are now worth around $34,000 each, putting the value of the total fortune at more than $220 million. Stefan Thomas, a German-born computer programmer based in San Francisco, was given 7,002 Bitcoins more than ten years ago as a reward for recording a video explaining how the cryptocurrency works.Īt the time, the Bitcoins were worth between $2 to $6 each. A Bitcoin owner has revealed he only has two guesses left to unlock more than $220m in cryptocurrency after eight failed attempts to access his fortune.
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