There are not many good ways to lose $ 220 million, but it New York Times article highlights a particularly serious one – losing millions of dollars in bitcoin because you forgot the password for your digital wallet.
According to Stefan Thomas’ 7,002 bitcoin (worth about $ 220 million) it is locked on an IronKey hard drive NEWsee Nathaniel Popper. The problem is that he can not remember the password, and he is just two failed password attempts that are close to losing it forever due to the strict security protocols of IronKey. There is the possibility of paying someone to crack the ride, but Thomas will have to have the time and money to make it happen.
It’s a dark comic scenario, and Popper’s story hits all the classic cryptocurrency to help explain it. Mention is made of the volatile nature of bitcoin’s value and the mysterious creator of the currency, but what makes the article astonishingly clear is how common the loss of bitcoin actually is.
Two other people are singled out in Thomas’ story of woe, but this is a surprisingly general story. Of the 18.5 million bitcoin currently in existence, about 20 percent (about $ 140 billion) is lost in inaccessible wallets, Popper writes.
Other high-end wallets have been excluded in the past, with content ranging from $ 30,000 to $ 300,000, but Thomas’ story is a reminder of how persistent this problem is among bitcoin users and how expensive it has become. The secure and decentralized nature of bitcoin is huge – until it clashes with simple human forgetfulness.
You can read the whole story here and appreciate how much hurt bitcoin still generates.