cryptocurrency One more reason to use a password manager: A guy with $200 million worth of Bitcoins became inaccessible because he forgot his password

[captain_to_fire]

Summary

A German born photographer living in San Francisco feels like he’s going crazy because he can’t access his Bitcoin wallet worth $220 million because he has forgotten his password 

 

Quote

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. While the price of Bitcoin dropped sharply on Monday, it is still up more than 50 percent from just a month ago, when it passed its previous all-time high of around $20,000. 
 

The problem is that Mr. Thomas years ago lost the paper where he wrote

Through the years I would say I have spent hundreds of hours trying to get back into these wallets,” said Brad Yasar, an entrepreneur in Los Angeles who has a few desktop computers that contain thousands of Bitcoin he created, or mined, during the early days of the technology. 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.

 

“I don’t want to be reminded every day that what I have now is a fraction of what I could have that I lost,” he said.

 

The dilemma is a stark reminder of Bitcoin’s unusual technological underpinnings, which set it apart from normal money and give it some of its most vaunted — and riskiest — qualities. With traditional bank accounts and online wallets, banks like Wells Fargo and other financial companies like PayPal can provide people the passwords to their accounts or reset lost passwords.

 

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.

 

My thoughts

And then there’s me thinking how I wish to myself I was an early adopter of Bitcoin just like Mr. Stefan Thomas. Just like the rest of the Bitcoin millionaires in the news, he’s also an early adopter way back in 2011 when he was living in Switzerland but it was given to him as a reward. He kept it in an encrypted, password protected wallet which he can’t recover due to his lost password. Just imagine how much richer he could’ve been. Now he can’t stop thinking about it, as if he’s going crazy. 

 

Now the take away from the story is to use a password manager to remember those passwords for you, especially for those stored years ago. I do not recommend using pen and paper to write those down just like Mr. Thomas. But remember that when investing whether it’s stocks, bonds, or even crypto, do not put your eggs on a single basket or else nothing will be left. Unlike bonds, stocks and investment funds that is protected and regulated, cryptocurrency is decentralized hence you’re on your own. Also, unlike banks with depositor insurance mandated by the like of FDIC ($250,000), crypto has none. But the guy in the story doesn’t seem to have gone poor because has put all his money to BTC more of regret and disappointment because he cannot remember his password. Let’s also not forget that crypto is a favorite of cybercriminals as if it’s a low hanging fruit. Ransomware authors often demand monetary ransom in a form of crypto and hackers exploit vulnerabilities in public ledgers. So, banks are still the best place to store money and for safer investments, talk to a legit financial adviser about investment choices with varying aggressiveness in earnings.

 

Nonetheless, this is not the last person in the news about forgotten Bitcoin passwords as their values become even higher.

 

Sources

 New York Times

[Levent]

There is a word starting with R that fits perfect here. Because there is absolutely no reason for to keep passwords on a plain piece of paper or in a plain text file, especially when $200M is on the other end.

[givingtnt]

lol If I had 200 million$ worth of that I would
1. never trust anyone or anything with the password
2. SPLIT THE MONEY

Nevermind forgetting the password, how dumb do you have to be to keep it all in one place !?

[Helpful Tech Witch]

This is very similar to another technews post, I might suggest for mods

Just now, Levent said:

There is a word starting with R that fits perfect here. Because there is absolutely no reason for to keep passwords on a plain piece of paper or in a plain text file, especially when $200M is on the other end.

Pecie of paper, text file, password manager, and getting a tattoo of it probably isn't enough to to make sure you remember the password for 220m.

[captain_to_fire]

6 minutes ago, Levent said:

There is a word starting with R that fits perfect here. Because there is absolutely no reason for to keep passwords on a plain piece of paper or in a plain text file, especially when $200M is on the other end.

Well back in the day, Bitcoin was just $2. Who would’ve thought that the value would reach $30K? But yeah, don’t write your passwords in a paper. 
 

edit: forgot about the 7000 btc given to him, which that time would cost $14K

Edited January 18, 2021 by like_ooh_ahh

[kelvinhall05]

1 minute ago, like_ooh_ahh said:

Well back in the day, Bitcoin was just $2. Who would’ve thought that the value would reach $30K? But yeah, don’t write your passwords in a paper. 

That's still $14k. Not a small amount.

[Arrogath]

It’s called having a password journal, just lock it in your safe if you’re so inclined. Should be updating your passwords somewhat regularly too so keeping records in a safe and secure place is essential

Edit:

23 minutes ago, givingtnt said:

lol If I had 200 million$ worth of that I would
1. never trust anyone or anything with the password
2. SPLIT THE MONEY

Nevermind forgetting the password, how dumb do you have to be to keep it all in one place !?

I completely agree, just like with data backups you should have multiple options setup to improve security. With my example of password journal you could keep multiple journals, at least 2 (on site and off site), in the event of a house fire or something to that extent. Would also be prudent to have the quantity split across multiple wallets so that if one password gets cracked you don’t lose everything 

[captain_to_fire]

7 minutes ago, gabrielcarvfer said:

which claims your passwords are safe but let them be easily imported by other browser/tools? 

I wonder what password manager is that which allows a browser to import those. The last time I checked, most password managers import passwords stored in the browser to the encrypted vault. 

9 minutes ago, gabrielcarvfer said:

Question: are you really giving your password that unlocks 200M to a random password manager,

I’m pretty sure rich people do. So are executives and others. I don’t know where this cynicism comes from. Just because one is shitty doesn’t mean that everything else is. 
 

[Zodiark1593]

With $200,000,000 on the line, guy had better get to brute forcing. Perhaps by the time the password gets cracked, the value will have multiplied again, and his grandchildren (not a chance he’d crack the password in his lifetime) will have a nice inheritance.

 

I keep passwords in an encrypted container that is frequently accessed and backed up, so while it isn’t terribly convenient, I have the advantage of having written my lesser used passwords down, stored on my cloud drive, and encrypted to prevent even the cloud drive host from snooping. My iPhone is also protected via a passphrase instead of the standard pin, which protects even against exploits that allow for brute force.
 

The downside (or upside), should I die, no one knows any of my credentials to access anything of mine, including financials. It would probably be a bit of a headache for others to sort through post-morteum. 

[PlayStation 2]

[wamred]

Yeah, this sucks. I always tell people to have a “password phrase” that you can change little things about. 
 

Organizations your involved in, teachers, friends etc. 

[LogicalDrm]

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