Investor Forgets Password to Digital Wallet Containing $220 Million USD in Bitcoin
With only two more guesses before its completely wiped.
If you ever thought you had a bad experience with a forgotten password, San Francisco-based programmer, Stefan Thomas, is now two guesses away from losing $220 million USD in Bitcoin. According to The New York Times, Thomas is just one of many early Bitcoin investors that have forgotten the security keys to their digital wallets as the cryptocurrency breaks the $33,000 USD mark.
During the infancy of Bitcoin, Thomas was given around 7,000 coins by an early investor for making a video explaining the currency. As the cryptocurrency reached a new staggering high, Thomas looked to access his digital wallet but after eight incorrect guesses, he came to the realization that he had forgotten his password. It is also important to note that the specific wallet Thomas used to hold his Bitcoin features a system that wipes the wallet after 10 incorrect guesses. With just two more attempts, Thomas has put his hard drive away while he seeks out another way to access his Bitcoins.
Thanks to the decentralized and anonymous nature of Bitcoin, there is no real way to retrieve a forgotten password. Some reports note that nearly one out of five Bitcoins are permanently lost with the total value of the lost Bitcoins believed to be nearly $140 billion USD.
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