One business that helps find lost digital keys, Wallet Recovery Services, said that it has received 70 requests per day from individuals who want help recovering their funds. So far, a growing number of locked out owners have been forced to painfully watching on, unable to cash in on their digital wealth, as the value of bitcoin steeply increased during the pandemic. Based on the Chainalysis crypto data firm’s findings, almost 20% of the existing 18.5 million bitcoin seems to be stuck in the lost or maybe inaccessible digital wallets. Unlike traditional banks, cryptos have no function to retrieve lost or forgotten passwords.

Thomas’s unlucky ordeal has thrown some light on one of the shortcomings that come with dealing in cryptos. Then I would go to the computer with some new strategy, and it wouldn’t work, and I would be desperate again.” All Is Not Yet Lost “I would just lay in bed and think about it. Thomas told the New York Times that he has already tried eight password combinations that he uses without any success. The IronKey is designed to allow users up to ten guesses before it encrypts its contents forever. This drive contains the private keys to a digital wallet that now holds Thomas’ Bitcoin fortune. The password is mandatory for unlocking a small hard drive that is known as an IronKey. Thomas, he stored the password to access the digital wallet that holds the bitcoin on a piece of paper that he lost. With BTC exploding amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the bitcoins are now worth over $33,000 each which puts the value of the total fortune at over $220 million.īut, for Mr. The German-born computer programmer who lives in San Francisco was rewarded with 7,002 bitcoins over ten years ago for recording a video that explained how the crypto works.īack then, the bitcoins were worth between $2 and $6 each.

One bitcoin owner, Stefan Thomas, has revealed that he only has two guesses left to unlock over $220 million in crypto after eight failed trials to access his fortune.

Ironkey digital wallet