California man has more than $250M in Bitcoin but can't remember his password (2024)
Stefan Thomas said he saved the password on an old hard drive, but that drive only allows 10 wrong password attempts before it locks forever.
Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
SAN FRANCISCO — Imagine winning the lottery and then losing the ticket before you could cash it in. That's pretty similar to what happened to one San Francisco man.
Stefan Thomas, a programmer, lost the password to access his 7,000 Bitcoins in 2012.
Back then, each Bitcoin was worth $10 or $11; however, one Bitcoin is worth about $37,000, which means Thomas has more than $250 million he is unable to access.
Thomas said he saved the password on an old hard drive, but that drive only allows 10 wrong password attempts before it locks forever.
"A lot of people are offering various solutions. Everything from the silly... one person suggested, 'have you tried the word password?' So that was one," Thomas said..
Since Bitcoin is an anonymous cryptocurrency, the only way to access it is with a password you set yourself — and forgetting that password isn't uncommon.
As an enthusiast with a comprehensive understanding of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, it's evident that Stefan Thomas's situation is a stark reminder of the unique challenges and responsibilities associated with managing digital assets. My expertise in this field stems from an in-depth knowledge of the underlying principles of cryptocurrencies, cryptographic techniques, and the intricate workings of blockchain networks.
Stefan Thomas, a programmer, finds himself in a perplexing predicament having lost access to 7,000 Bitcoins due to a forgotten password. The significance of this situation is accentuated by the tremendous increase in the value of Bitcoin over the years, making his inaccessible Bitcoins worth an estimated $250 million.
The article highlights that Thomas saved the password on an old hard drive, but the drive imposes a strict limit of 10 wrong password attempts before locking forever. This exemplifies the security measures implemented to safeguard digital assets, as losing access to the password could result in irreversible loss.
Furthermore, the piece underscores the nature of Bitcoin as an anonymous cryptocurrency, emphasizing that the only way to access it is through a self-set password. This distinctive feature contributes to the security and privacy aspects of Bitcoin transactions but also introduces the risk of individuals forgetting their passwords.
Thomas mentions that he has only two attempts left to unlock the hard drive and has received various suggestions from people trying to help. This aspect reflects the community-driven nature of the cryptocurrency space, where enthusiasts often come together to provide support and solutions to challenges faced by individuals.
The broader context, mentioned in The New York Times, reveals that approximately $140 billion worth of Bitcoin is seemingly stranded in digital wallets due to forgotten passwords. This statistic sheds light on the prevalence of such incidents and the need for robust solutions to address password recovery and access issues in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
In conclusion, Stefan Thomas's unfortunate situation serves as a poignant example of the importance of securely managing cryptographic keys and passwords in the realm of digital assets. It also underscores the evolving landscape of cryptocurrency, where individuals grapple with the responsibility of safeguarding substantial wealth in a highly secure yet occasionally unforgiving environment.
“That I lost the password was financially a good thing,” he told Wired. Grand and his team received a portion of the Bitcoin as a reward, and Michael sold some of it at $62,000 per coin. He now owns 30 Bitcoin worth $2 million and wants to sell the rest when it reaches $100,000 per coin.
If you have lost or forgotten your spending password, you will need to delete the sub-wallet from your device and then restore your wallet using your automated cloud backup master password or the 12-word backup phrase for your wallet. Please find instructions to restore your Bitcoin.com wallet here.
Quadriga Fintech Solutions was the owner and operator of QuadrigaCX, which was believed to be Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange at the time of its collapse in 2019, with the exchange ceasing operations and the company filing for bankruptcy with C$215.7 million in liabilities and about C$28 million in assets.
They Cracked the Code to a Locked USB Drive Worth $235 Million in Bitcoin. Then It Got Weird. Stefan Thomas lost the password to an encrypted USB drive holding 7,002 bitcoins. One team of hackers believes they can unlock it—if they can get Thomas to let them.
A jury convicted Bankman-Fried, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, on seven counts of fraud, embezzlement and criminal conspiracy after over four hours of deliberations.
James Henry Cotton (July 1, 1935 – March 16, 2017) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who performed and recorded with many fellow blues artists and with his own band.
So, who are the top holders of BTC? According to the Bitcoin research and analysis firm River Intelligence, Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator behind Bitcoin, is listed as the top BTC holder as of 2024. The company notes that Satoshi Nakamoto holds about 1.1m BTC tokens in about 22,000 different addresses.
Former users of QuadrigaCX will receive 13 per cent of the funds they had stored with the cryptocurrency exchange when it collapsed into bankruptcy after the death of its founder more than four years ago.
Stefan Thomas, a German programmer based in San Francisco, has lost his Bitcoin password. As per a report in New York Times, Thomas was given 7,002 Bitcoins back in 2011 which is now worth $245 million, or almost Rs 1,800 crore.
📌📢In a remarkable turn of events, an early UK cryptocurrency investor, James Howells, has taken legal action in the British High Court in a bid to retrieve a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoins, now valued at an astonishing $538 million.
The mystery behind bitcoin millionaire Gerald Cotton, who died under suspicious circ*mstances after hundreds of millions of dollars suddenly vanished from his Bitcoin exchange in 2019.
Bitcoin was created by an anonymous person or group using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Nakamoto published a whitepaper titled "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System," outlining the concept of a decentralized digital currency.
Crypto can be a good investment for someone who enjoys speculating and can financially tolerate losing everything invested. However, it is not a wise investment for someone seeking to grow their retirement portfolio or for placing savings into it for growth.
Nakamoto owns between 750,000 and 1,100,000 Bitcoin. In November 2021, when Bitcoin reached a value of over $68,000, his net worth would have been up to $73 billion, making him the 15th-richest person in the world at the time.
After inadvertently tossing his hard drive in a trash, James Howells lost access to his 8,000 BTC, valued at $550 million. Howells and his backers intend to recover the hard disk from Newport waste with a $10 million hunt involving artificial intelligence and robot dogs.
Thomas tried his luck at guessing his password eight times, but none of these attempts were successful. Unluckily for the programmer, that means he had just two guesses left before his fortune was lost forever. Speaking to the New York Times back in 2021, he said: "I would just lay in bed and think about it.
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