Many crypto fans appreciate crypto currencies such as Bitcoin mainly because of the decentralization and freedom of all regulations. A current example of a German programmer in the USA shows that the latter can also be a disadvantage for users.
Actually, Stefan Thomas had done everything right when he received several thousand Bitcoins from a Hodler in 2011 and has not sold them to this day
According to reports from the New York Times , he has 7,002 Bitcoin worth approximately $ 242,380,000 as of 1/13/2021. He saved the password of his wallet on a hard drive called IronKey and wrote it down on a piece of paper for security. But he can no longer find this piece of paper.
Without access to the wallet, the bitcoins are worthless to him. IronKey users have a total of ten attempts to enter the correct password until the hard drive is locked and the bitcoins are lost forever. Thomas has already tried his luck eight times – but without success.
I just lie in bed and think about it. Then I go to the computer with a new strategy, it doesn’t work and I’m desperate again.
The manufacturer of the hard disk could not help the programmer with his password search either. Finally, Thomas decided to get the computers with the lost bitcoins out of his field of vision, as seeing them constantly reminded him of his faux pas.
Thomas loss is not an isolated incident
Traditional banking customers do not automatically lose their assets by forgetting their password. The situation is different for users of a crypto wallet. Jan Bindig, CEO of the data recovery specialist Datarecovery, warned against this problem back in 2018:
If you lose or forget your password, you have automatically lost all of your Bitcoins.
Despite these warnings, users seem to make the same mistake over and over again. So did a Los Angeles-based entrepreneur. He also forgot his password and lost thousands of bitcoins in this way. He told Brad Yasar newspaper that over the years he would have spent hundreds of hours getting back into his wallet.
According to Chainalysis , a fifth of the existing 18.5 million Bitcoins have already been lost in this way. 3.7 million Bitcoin would have simply vanished into thin air.