[imagesource: Nicholas Albrecht / New York Times]

That chap above, sat on a park bench contemplating life, is Stefan Thomas.

If you were in his shoes, you’d also do a lot of vacant staring into the distance, because Thomas is sitting on a monstrous stash of Bitcoin that makes the eyes water.

It’s estimated the stash is worth somewhere between $220 and $240 million, but there is just the one problem – he can’t remember the password he needs to unlock it all.

No, he can’t click that ‘Forgot your password?’ option and have it emailed to him, and he’s running out of options.

Here’s the New York Times:

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.

He only has two shots left.

Makes that panic when you’ve entered the wrong pin number on your phone or at the ATM seem trivial.

Thomas says he often lies awake at night thinking about it, and he’s not alone in his predicament:

…the cryptocurrency’s unusual nature has also meant that many people 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 sharply, 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…

Bitcoin owners who are locked out of their wallets speak of endless days and nights of frustration as they have tried to get access to their fortunes.

Alex Stamos, an internet security expert at Stanford Internet Observatory, did offer to help for a cut of the goods:

Um, for $220M in locked-up Bitcoin, you don’t make 10 password guesses but take it to professionals to buy 20 IronKeys and spend six months finding a side-channel or uncapping.

I’ll make it happen for 10%. Call me. https://t.co/dTumE8Cw65

— Alex Stamos (@alexstamos) January 12, 2021

However, later in that Twitter thread, he added “I am joking when I say I will unlock it. It is something that should be investigated but I’m not the right person. Please stop sending people to ask me to unlock their wallets.”

Cold, man.

Brad Yasar says he mined thousand of Bitcoins over the years, and is also losing sleep:

“Through the years I would say I have spent hundreds of hours trying to get back into these wallets,” said Yasar…

While those Bitcoin are now worth hundreds of millions of dollars, he lost his passwords many years ago and has put the hard drives containing them in vacuum-sealed bags, out of sight.

Imagine being one password away from untold wealth, and knowing you’re more than likely never going to crack it?

I’d probably end up under a bridge on a freeway, muttering to myself.

34-year-old Gabriel Abed also has a tale of woe to tell, losing 800 Bitcoin (now valued at around $26 million) when a colleague reformatted a laptop that contained the keys to a Bitcoin wallet back in 2011.

His story still says has a relatively happy ending, though, because he bought hundreds of other Bitcoins, and recently bought a $25 million property in Barbados from the proceeds of selling some.

Thomas also accumulated Bitcoin in wallets he can remember the password to and is living a life of relative luxury.

You can read that full New York Times article here.

[source:nytmes]