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[poppabk]

Idk if I even believe this story.

This is a dude who bought 7000 bitcoin, probably for a significant sum of money since he felt the need to store it offline on a fancy hacker-proof hard drive, and he 'lost the paper' where he had written the password? And he stored this information nowhere else?

He might have got in on mining pretty early and had maybe $100 - $1000 worth, and just kept it as a rainy day fund. It's not like an encrypted hard drive is super fancy tech even in 2010, I have my tax documents on an encrypted drive.

 

[cryptoadam]

Ya I figure this guy probably bought them or mined them for a couple of bucks.

BTC was worth less than 1 cent about a decade ago.

This must suck though. Imagine knowing you had 200 Million bucks but no way to get to it.

Should of sold it for a Pizza 8 years ago.

 

[Boston]

So say he remembered his PW and got the Bitcoin out. How would he cash out? Someone would actually give him 200 million?

Say that singer had 200k Bitcoin how would she get her billions? Wouldn’t the influx of BTC effect the market and drive the prices down?

 

[Slayer-33]

So say he remembered his PW and got the Bitcoin out. How would he cash out? Someone would actually give him 200 million?

Say that singer had 200k Bitcoin how would she get her billions? Wouldn’t the influx of BTC effect the market and drive the prices down?

They can transfer/move the btc's and sell them for cash on exchanges

 

[poppabk]

So say he remembered his PW and got the Bitcoin out. How would he cash out? Someone would actually give him 200 million?

Say that singer had 200k Bitcoin how would she get her billions? Wouldn’t the influx of BTC effect the market and drive the prices down?

The total value of bitcoin is $500 billion - so yes he could sell it for $200 million, it would barely be a blip.

 

[DeepEnigma]

Always store something like that in a safe or safety deposit box. Hope it works out for him, he must be sick to his stomach.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

Donno why people complicate things. Since 2002, any website that asks a "secret" question "What is your pets name" I alwasy put my best friends name so I would never forget it.

 

[infinitys_7th]

Donno why people complicate things. Since 2002, any website that asks a "secret" question "What is your pets name" I alwasy put my best friends name so I would never forget it.

Thanks for your life savings - tell "Benny" I'm grateful!

 

[Alter_Fridge]

Can any software/hardware brute force the password without actually getting a pass/fail result?

And if it does encrypt, can't Quantum Computing break the encryption?

 

[Tschumi]

I think someone on Twitter suggested he get professionals to do it... Seems like a no brainer to me~

 

[GymWolf]

I usually click on forgot your password? and get an email to decide a new one.

 

[Myths]

I’d probably etch half on the hardware itself and glue some type of label over it, the other half being something personal everyday.

 

[oagboghi2]

Personally, I hope it all crashes through the floor and miners lose everything...bunch of fucking worthless parasites, the lot of 'em.

Someone bought videogames instead of bitcoin

 

[EverydayBeast]

You can get Bitcoin support to help you, 200 million in any currency is still a lot.

 

[borborygmus]

I usually click on forgot your password? and get an email to decide a new one.

You can get Bitcoin support to help you, 200 million in any currency is still a lot.

There's no "Bitcoin" company that "runs Bitcoin." It's decentralized, autonomous and permissionless. If you lose your keys and recovery phrase you're finished.

 

[GymWolf]

There's no "Bitcoin" company that "runs Bitcoin." It's decentralized, autonomous and permissionless. If you lose your keys and recovery phrase you're finished.

I was joking dude.

 

[borborygmus]

I was joking dude.

 

[GeorgPrime]

So say he remembered his PW and got the Bitcoin out. How would he cash out? Someone would actually give him 200 million?

Say that singer had 200k Bitcoin how would she get her billions? Wouldn’t the influx of BTC effect the market and drive the prices down?

He just sells them to an bitcoin trader platform and gets all the money - the transaction fees

 

[oagboghi2]

I was joking dude.

I don't think EverydayBeast was....

 

[GymWolf]

I know, i have to sell my joke books with an inhaler, they are breathtaking (imagine a smiley face, emoticons work like shit on my phone with the new version of ng)

 

[GymWolf]

I don't think EverydayBeast was....

I'm so ignorant about cryptostuff that i can't even tell the difference between jokes and reality.

 

[VAL0R]

Could his ownership be proven through computer forensics of some kind?

 

[ryan13ts]

I can't even imagine. I'd probably want to jump off a cliff if I ended up losing that much money because I was an idiot that casually lost the password to 200+ million.

 

[EviLore]

Could his ownership be proven through computer forensics of some kind?

There is no central authority to prove ownership to.

 

[Tesseract]

I can't even imagine. I'd probably want to jump off a cliff if I ended up losing that much money because I was an idiot that casually lost the password to 200+ million.

lost or tucked away inside a portal

either way it's hilarious

 

[Tesseract]

sato(r) get itt

 

[godhandiscen]

I wish I could like, brain, sun, strength and fire this post all at once. Hack the planet

Hack the planet!!!

 

[Ownage]

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 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. 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.

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 had gotten 70 requests a day from people who wanted help recovering their riches, three times the number of a month ago.

Lost Passwords Lock Millionaires Out of Their Bitcoin Fortunes (Published 2021)

Bitcoin owners are getting rich because the cryptocurrency has soared. But what happens when you can’t tap that wealth because you forgot the password to your digital wallet?

www.nytimes.com

owned

 

[VAL0R]

There is no central authority to prove ownership to.

Weird. I have no idea how cryptocurrency works.

 

[Spukc]

That’s why I’ve used dickcheese666 as my password for everything since 1996

Sorry forgot to log out your account

 

[mxbison]

He might have got in on mining pretty early and had maybe $100 - $1000 worth, and just kept it as a rainy day fund. It's not like an encrypted hard drive is super fancy tech even in 2010, I have my tax documents on an encrypted drive.

But he didn't bother cashing out when his $100 investment was worth 50k, and then 200k, 1 million, 20 million, 50 million etc.?

I find most of these stories hard to believe.

 

[epicnemesis]

Is anything truly hack proof? I would imagine he could promise a white hat 10% and it’ll be open in a month.

(how long until white hat and black hat become cancelled terms?)

 

[German Hops]

 

[borborygmus]

Is anything truly hack proof? I would imagine he could promise a white hat 10% and it’ll be open in a month.

(how long until white hat and black hat become cancelled terms?)

I looked up the device earlier and it has hardware-based tamper protection. I'd ask someone in the company to do it, although I doubt it's possible and even if it were, there's very little stopping that person from taking it for himself.

 

[Irobot82]

What exactly did he forget? His seed phrase?

 

[kraspkibble]

i definitely lost access to some bitcoin. yeeeeears ago i mined some but i have no idea how many or much it was worth. my wallet is forever lost now. not saying it'd be worth 200m but i imagine it'd be significant. i remember thinking it was just a phase and would never amount to anything so got rid of what i had.

 

[kraspkibble]

What exactly did he forget? His seed phrase?

he forgot the password to access files (bitcoin wallet) on his ironkey drive. ironkey is an encrypted flash drive. after 10 attempts it will "self-destruct" which, according to the official site, means:

"Self-destruct means the flash memory is erased, the AES encryption keys are erased, and the IronKey is permanently unusable; there is no way to reset the device or use it again once the self-destruct has been performed."

and the only advice for not remembering the password is:

If you have no means to recover the lost password there are only two recommendations:

1. Hold onto the IronKey in the hopes the password will be remembered.
2. Let the self-destruct run and dispose of the IronKey.

 

[RJMacready73]

these fucking stories turn up every year ffs

 

[Irobot82]

he forgot the password to access files (bitcoin wallet) on his ironkey drive. ironkey is an encrypted flash drive. after 10 attempts it will "self-destruct" which, according to the official site, means:



and the only advice for not remembering the password is:

Understood. I assume then he didn't write down his see phrases anywhere? If he had those he could just generate a new wallet.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Why does this sound like the concept of some tv game show?

"You have three chances to guess your 10 year old crypto wallet password or you'll suffer the fate of living a regular life!"

Great idea for a comedy TV show or maybe dramátic xD

 

[Aesius]

But he didn't bother cashing out when his $100 investment was worth 50k, and then 200k, 1 million, 20 million, 50 million etc.?

I find most of these stories hard to believe.

They only seem real to me if the person legitimately forgot they had purchased bitcoin. Because the urge to cash out as soon as it hit any notable value would be too great, as I don't think anyone in their wildest dreams saw it reaching $10k+.

 

[kuncol02]

This guy is an idiot even if he just wrote it down on a piece of paper wouldn’t you at least store in some safe deposit box to know exactly where it is .
Anyway

When he created that password that BTC was probably worth like 20$. First payment made with bitcoin was pizza for 10k BTC in 2010.

 

[TheMan]

When he created that password that BTC was probably worth like 20$. First payment made with bitcoin was pizza for 10k BTC in 2010.

google says that's 361 million dollars today

 

[Evil Calvin]

That’s why I’ve used dickcheese666 as my password for everything since 1996

Good to know...thank you

 

[Woo-Fu]

What if he remembered it on his tenth try but accidentally made a typo ...

What if he remembered it on his first try and made a typo and didn't notice?

 

[Javthusiast]

It is hilarious, but I know if it were me I would go insane.

 

[johntown]

I think I would dedicating my time towards finding a way to obtain the password hash and crack it.

 

[Raven117]

I’d write it down and put it in a safe or bank deposit box.

Yup

 

[Tesseract]

Coalition for App Fairness - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[LisaMariaMartin]

I think I would dedicating my time towards finding a way to obtain the password hash and crack it.

Good luck. IronKey uses AES256.