again a Bitcoin millionaire who forgot his password

[Oceat]

German-born programmer Stefan Thomas told the Times he forgot the password to IronKey, an secure flash drive has access to 7,002 Bitcoin - $220 million worth. IronKey gives users 10 guesses for their passwords before seizing its contents.
"I would just lay in bed and think about it," Thomas told the New York Times Nathaniel Popper. "Then I would go to the computer with some new strategy, and it wouldn't work, and I would be desperate again."

quite surprised by this news because his Bitcoin trapped in his hardware wallet is very much.  Don't underestimate your private key and password, if you haven't prepared the best place (easy to remember and reach) to store your private key and password then do it right now..

https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/programmer-locked-out-220-million-in-bitcoin-forgotten-password-2021-1-1029961378

I felt indeed awful upon reading this. What a shame if the password won’t be retrieved right? It is a shame with that amount of Bitcoin.
I guess there are just people who aren’t as cautious as the others. And usually these are people who have much in their lives.
That is why saving and securing passwords and private keys are very crucial when it comes to storing cryptocurrencies.

I felt so sad about this news for the guy because having that much Bitcoin is considered to be one of the whales. My question is why he didn't write down his password/passphrase to a piece of paper and hide it somewhere safe? This should be a lesson and an example to remind us to always make a backup plan. I wonder why the guy forgot to make any or didn't make any backup for his password/passphrase when he's a computer programmer? I wonder if this news is real though?

[francois-cooper]

Could you still live with that ? each day of your life has to be painful when something like that happens to you.

[itovault]

At this point, I'm not sure if having a hardware wallet actually reduces the risk of THEFT more, or makes it more likely you'll forget your OWN KEY.

[Bitstar_coin]

I mean, how does he not write down the password of the human account. It is a pity, so what should I say? I guess I'd be crazy if it happened to me. I hope he finds his password, I have no other wishes.

Same question on my mind, how the hell can he have such amount of btc and he don't right the password down! He has himself to blame for such irresponsible act ...... that's how I see it,
Maybe as at when he had this btc he never thought it will be this valuable,  am just imagining being in his shoes.... I would be out of my mind  

[Abhi7974]

German-born programmer Stefan Thomas told the Times he forgot the password to IronKey, an secure flash drive has access to 7,002 Bitcoin - $220 million worth. IronKey gives users 10 guesses for their passwords before seizing its contents.
"I would just lay in bed and think about it," Thomas told the New York Times Nathaniel Popper. "Then I would go to the computer with some new strategy, and it wouldn't work, and I would be desperate again."

quite surprised by this news because his Bitcoin trapped in his hardware wallet is very much.  Don't underestimate your private key and password, if you haven't prepared the best place (easy to remember and reach) to store your private key and password then do it right now..

https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/programmer-locked-out-220-million-in-bitcoin-forgotten-password-2021-1-1029961378

your suggestion are Very useful  because BTC and all altcoin price is big growing and all time safety fist in your Hobby in all people this time many peoples  unserious in your safety but  seriousness is the best trick in your safety. I am also cautious after telling you. I also teach that everyone should hold their key

[Asuspawer09]

He should at least make a copy of that password and the private key for backup, if we're talking about millions security is a big issue, and just remembering your password could be an issue as well.

It's a big loss to him but at some point, losing this bitcoin has a good effect on the market since it could make the market price even higher because it limits the supply of bitcoin.

Probably he didn't know the value of it yet in the past years so just buying bitcoin by putting it in a wallet, and only in the bullish times where they see the value of it.

[sapnu]

I mean, how does he not write down the password of the human account. It is a pity, so what should I say? I guess I'd be crazy if it happened to me. I hope he finds his password, I have no other wishes.

Same question on my mind, how the hell can he have such amount of btc and he don't right the password down! He has himself to blame for such irresponsible act ...... that's how I see it,
Maybe as at when he had this btc he never thought it will be this valuable,  am just imagining being in his shoes.... I would be out of my mind  

Every person makes mistakes but this one is really unbelievable. The most important thing that you should not forget when you are trading or investing is the password of your wallet. Losing your own money for your own fault is really regretting. I think he is really irresponsible for that incident since it was his own wallet, he should've saved it on his own personal computer, creating a private folder that includes all your wallets and their password is not hard to do.

[JollyGood]

He received his Bitcoins around 10 years ago when Bitcoin had almost no value. Nobody could have realistically stated what it would be worth a decade later but the fact he used the Ironkey shows he was hoping big things would happen. Sad actually he cannot recall the password.

Maybe did back up the private keys somewhere but that information was not mentioned in the Guardian article:  https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/jan/12/in-bits-the-programmer-locked-out-of-his-130m-bitcoin-account

He should at least make a copy of that password and the private key for backup, if we're talking about millions security is a big issue, and just remembering your password could be an issue as well.

It's a big loss to him but at some point, losing this bitcoin has a good effect on the market since it could make the market price even higher because it limits the supply of bitcoin.

Probably he didn't know the value of it yet in the past years so just buying bitcoin by putting it in a wallet, and only in the bullish times where they see the value of it.

[Broly46]

Some people loss their bitcoin into scam ICOs, but this is by far the most ridiculous loss ever, it’s benefit nobody, and it’s lost forever, it doesn’t even got a chance to see the light again, imaging some of the bitcoin could get into some of the most promising crypto projects, it would benefit a lot of people, but now it’s all just a pipe dream. Btw I hope it’s not a make up story, because the wallet might not be accurately have as much bitcoin as claimed.

[MCobian]

Indeed, there are so many incidents that eventually some people cannot access a hardware wallet because they forget to save their private key.
I have also experienced something similar, since that incident I have been more careful in saving my private key. My advice is if you have a very
large amount of Bitcoin, like Stefan Thomas who has 7000 BTC, It's best not to keep everything in one hardware wallet. Save it in several hardware
wallets and keep your private key in a safety box at the bank. This way, it's much safer, I've been keeping my private key in a safety box for more
than a year and it's proven safe.

[milani]

German-born programmer Stefan Thomas told the Times he forgot the password to IronKey, an secure flash drive has access to 7,002 Bitcoin - $220 million worth. IronKey gives users 10 guesses for their passwords before seizing its contents.
"I would just lay in bed and think about it," Thomas told the New York Times Nathaniel Popper. "Then I would go to the computer with some new strategy, and it wouldn't work, and I would be desperate again."

quite surprised by this news because his Bitcoin trapped in his hardware wallet is very much.  Don't underestimate your private key and password, if you haven't prepared the best place (easy to remember and reach) to store your private key and password then do it right now..

https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/programmer-locked-out-220-million-in-bitcoin-forgotten-password-2021-1-1029961378

Serious situation. 10 attempts and from the billionaire a person becomes an ordinary guy) This story proves that memory may fail greatly, and it is better to keep some written or typed copy of keys in case someone forgot them. I would not like to face the situation of such kind. Losing such an amount ... Not everyone has strongest psyche.

[JJJansen]

Lost my private key way too many times.
Not going to make that mistake again.
Backup, backup, backup! 

[Action Gamble]

German-born programmer Stefan Thomas told the Times he forgot the password to IronKey, an secure flash drive has access to 7,002 Bitcoin - $220 million worth. IronKey gives users 10 guesses for their passwords before seizing its contents.
"I would just lay in bed and think about it," Thomas told the New York Times Nathaniel Popper. "Then I would go to the computer with some new strategy, and it wouldn't work, and I would be desperate again."

quite surprised by this news because his Bitcoin trapped in his hardware wallet is very much.  Don't underestimate your private key and password, if you haven't prepared the best place (easy to remember and reach) to store your private key and password then do it right now..

https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/programmer-locked-out-220-million-in-bitcoin-forgotten-password-2021-1-1029961378

that sounds really depressing, i couldn't find a JSON file of my wallet that i downloaded and stored in my little brother's pc, i used it because mine was broken at the time, my wallet had a token worth 1200$, and my brother deleted it thinking it was just a random file, that thing kept haunting me for months, imagine being in the shoes of that guy.

[philipma1957]

Just print the BTC private key somewhere and voila your bitcoins are stored for life! No need for any special device. Some people make things more complicated than they are.

Well, this is not so easy either. There could be a fire where you keep it. I have my keys in two different places but I have a very small amount. If I had 7,000 Bitcoins I would have several hardware wallets and the keys in several places, including bank safes.

Besides, having so much Bitcoin in my case would mean that I would also have millions in real state and in the stock market, to give just two examples, so if I lost the keys to a hardware wallet that had, say, 1,700 Bitcoins, I would still have another 5,200 plus a lot of money, more houses, stocks, etc.

thank you.

if the story is true I laugh at the man woman or child that does that.

[Ridwan Fauzi]

I can't imagine to face the situation, have two chance left to open the hardware wallet. If you success to open the wallet than you will be rich yeah 7.002 bitcoin it is a huge amount now, but if you fail to open the hardware wallet than you will be stressed.

This is why, I always write manually all the prikey when I create new wallet. Even, when I use google authenticator I alwasy write manually the code that can access later when I log in using the new smartphone. I will never underestimate that, it's a must that everyone should do.

[LittleBitFunny]

Very sad, It is a pity that we do not care enough about our passwords and key files. We should all make a few copies of our passwords and private keys and keep them in several safe places. For extra caution water and fire proof metal or foil can be used to store passwords and key files.

[pixie85]

Very unfortunate, but what can you do? Stupidity is a part of our nature is it not?

If it was one of my friends I'd tell them to get a brain surgery or something. It's one thing to forget a password and another not to have it written somewhere. He's an idiot for holding all his coins in one place and not even remembering a password. Like what more important things do you have to remember than a password to your 200 million dollar wallet?

[Rengga Jati]

-snip-

No key or password, no coins. I'm litle bit surprised if with that much of amount, he didn't write or save the password. This is too careless. Or did he really or did not know what to save the password.

snip

This quote may be suitable for certain amount at that time. But, 7,002 Bitcoin is not a smal Bitcoin. If I were him, I wil be depressed. Moreover this amount is so high. If you were him, will you think like that only?

[kawetsriyanto]

He's an idiot for holding all his coins in one place and not even remembering a password.

Yep. How can he put all Bitcoins in a single wallet? It is 7,002 Bitcoin, a large number of Bitcoin. Even if he bought the Bitcoin at cheap prices and at that time the value of 7K Bitcoin isn't really big, but he should be aware of the potential on the Bitcoin later. If he is a bit smart and careful, he should divide it into some wallets, at least two wallets. And about the password, it should be written on paper or anything which can be easy to remember the place.

[Viktoh20]

Lost coins   make everyone else's coins worth slightly more.  Think of it as a donation to everyone.

oh wowww donation that's a huge amount, there should be a way they can help him retrieve his BTC back