Stefan Thomas is a programmer from San Francisco, the United States. A decade ago, he was given 7002 bitcoin as a reward for his video explaining how digital currency works. At the time he received the reward, each bitcoin was estimated at about $2 - $6 (Rs146 to Rs439). He then kept this amount in his digital wallet and almost forgets it.
At present, each bitcoin is worth $34k (about Rs24.8 lakh) and the amount in his wallet has increased to $240 million (about Rs1755 crore). It worth noting that Thomas forgets the password to access his wallet.
The German programmer entered up to 08 wrong passwords and if he mistakenly guesses two next passwords, the hard drive containing his private key that is used to access the bitcoin wallet will be encrypted. In other words, he will never see his money.
Bitcoin’s price hit more than $40k (Rs29 lakh) last week, doubling in less than one month. There has been a little decrease in the price but it is found to increase by over 700% since the COVID-19 pandemic was first released in March 2020.
Thomas said he tried 8 of his most-used passwords to open his IronKey hard drive but they were all wrong. The device will automatically encrypt all the content after the 10th incorrect try.
In an interview with the New York Times, Thomas said that he just stayed on the bed and thought about it. And then, he would come to the computer with a new strategy but it, once again, didn’t work and he, once again, under the great depression.
Thomas also added that after this incident, he no longer wants to use bitcoin. He said the whole story just looked like the idea of creating a bank. The reason behind the presence of banks is due to the fact that we don’t want to tackle all things banks are handling.
Alex Stamos, a security expert, said that he could help Thomas get his money within 6 months if the programmer agreed to pay him 10% of his whole amount.
Meanwhile, the Blockchain Analysis Company Chainalysis figured out that about 20% of 1.85 crore bitcoin available in the market is seemingly gone or stuck in the e-wallet because owners can’t access it.
Back in 2013, James Howells, an IT worker from South Wales, accidentally threw away a hard drive containing a key to access 7500 bitcoin. At that time, the lost bitcoin was estimated at about $127 million (Rs929.4 crore) and now worth over $250 million (Rs1829.5 crore).
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