One of the worst feelings ever- forgetting your code or password to something very important. The most unnecessary time to experience a mind block… tension rises as you have only got two out of ten attempts left to remember. Well, try putting your shoes in Stefan Thomas’ shoes who have experienced just that. The programmer has gone through hell and back as he has forgotten the code to unlock his hard drive, which contains up to $240 million (£175m) worth in Bitcoins.
In more complicated terms, the code needed to unlock the small hard drive is called an IronKey. It contains a combination of private keys, which allow access to a digital wallet, holding up to 7,002 Bitcoin. Irrespective of the Bitcoin stock price, dropping significantly this last Monday- it is still looking promising as it is more than 50 per cent up in profits in comparison to last month’s Bitcoin stock price forecast.
According to the New York Times, the German programmer now living in San Francisco, “years ago lost the paper where he wrote down the password for his IronKey”. Typically, IronKey gives all their users up to 10 attempts to guesses their password before all data is seized and encrypted forever. Until he had reached eight nerve-racking attempts, trying all commonly used passwords possible, Thomas had realised that all was at stake… literally!
However, all hope had not been lost as ex-Facebook security head Alex Stamos offered a helping hand to Mr Thomas, but there was a small catch involved– as he wanted a 10 per cent cut.
Stamos, now a professor at the Stanford Internet Observatory tweeted Thomas: “Um, for $220m in locked-up Bitcoin, you don’t make 10 password guesses but take it to professionals to buy 20 IronKeys and spend six months finding a side channel or uncapping”
“I’ll make it happen for 10%. Call me” – Alex Stamos (@alexstamos)
As reported by the BBC, it would not be the first time that a potential Bitcoin millionaire such as Mr Thomas to be locked out of their fortune. Furthermore, it has been estimated that up to $140 billion worth of Bitcoin has been lost or left in wallets that cannot be retrieved as stated by cryptocurrency-data company Chainanalysis.
It seems like there is something in the air as the German programmer is not the only crypto trader to have forgotten their important code. In more local news, James Howell- a computer engineer from Newport, South Wales has accidentally thrown away a computer hard drive in 2013 which contained up to tens of millions of pounds in virtual currencies.
In moments of despair and worry, he has offered his local council up to 25 per cent of the fortune, summing up to £200 million, if they can help him recover it out of the rubbish tip. Although he has offered the local council a hefty sum of money- they have refused the offer. Reported by The Guardian, the council has claimed that “an excavation would break licensing regulations and cause environmental damage”
At this moment in time, there Is currently no company or software whatsoever that can protect or store Bitcoin passwords. However, the creator of Bitcoin- who goes by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto has said that the whole concept of Bitcoin is that all consumers from all over the world can open up a digital wallet without having any government enforcements or regulations.
All has been made possible as the Bitcoin operates via a network of computers that all follow a software containing the rules for the cryptocurrency. The software in place is made up of a complex series of algorithms, allowing an address and associated private key to make which is personally designed only for the person who had created the wallet. However, the fault of the system is that it was not taken into consideration what action to take if people were to forget their securing passwords.
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