Losing Billions Because You Can’t Remember Your Bitcoin Password
Bitcoin. Cryptocurrency.
I'm not going to even pretend like I understand what it is or go down the rabbit hole. I do know that folks who are into it are fanatical about it.
I am aware you can make a fortune but you have to know how to play the watch and wait game. It's like stocks but...
People can make millions off of it and are now asking to be paid in Bitcoin.
After reading a couple of stories what I also know is this.
One, whatever hard drive you have your Bitcoin on...guard it with your life.
Second, you really should write your passwords down.
Let's start with this guy and the hard drive he THREW AWAY that he NOW wants to try to dig up in a landfill.
James Howells from Newport in south Wales claims he mistakenly threw away the hard disk with 7,500 bitcoins on it, according to a report on the BBC. With Bitcoins currently worth around $38,000 each, that missing hard disk could be worth the best part of $300m. (Forbes)
He's asking the city to help him dig it up and when he finds it, he'll give them $70 million out of the $300 million for their trouble.
Good luck with that boss.
And this guy who has his hard drive, knows there's roughly $220 million worth of Bitcoin on it, BUT HE CAN'T REMEMBER THE PASSWORD. And the way the Bitcoin hard drives are set up, you get 10 shots at it. He's already used up 8. And if he blows the final two, the money is gone FOREVER.
The San Francisco man who can't remember the password to unlock his $220 million Bitcoin fortune says he long ago "made peace" with the reality he may never gain access. (ABC7Chicago)
Try as hard as I can, I can't make peace with losing $220 million because I forgot my password.
But 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. 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. (New York Times)
$140 billion dollars out there lost and up for grabs in cyberspace because people forgot their password and there is virtually no way to recover it.
And you thought you tore your house up looking for lost keys.
Try being the guy who can't find a piece of paper with a password to $200 million on it.
"Now where did I put that thing?"