South African Man Loses $900,000 Worth Of BTC After Accidentally Deleting Keys

[9thsky]

https://www.newsbtc.com/news/bitcoin/man-loses-900000-worth-of-bitcoin/

I think if he offers an NSA grade data recovery outfit a couple of btc, that they'd recover it for him.
But then how can you trust that they won't say they couldn't do it went they actually did.

[Rainbow-queen]

He can find a "crypto hunter"  to try his luck.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-fifth-of-all-bitcoin-is-missing-these-crypto-hunters-can-help-1530798731

[goldade]

https://www.newsbtc.com/news/bitcoin/man-loses-900000-worth-of-bitcoin/

I think if he offers an NSA grade data recovery outfit a couple of btc, that they'd recover it for him.
But then how can you trust that they won't say they couldn't do it went they actually did.

Well, this is one of the major risks associated with using bitcoin. With a simple mistake, one can lose all in a twinkle of an eye. One of the most effective precautive measures in keep your bitcoin safe is to keep your wallet keys as safe as possible. One method I employed is to make copies of each of my wallet keys and keep them safe. That way, I can always recover it even if one got lost or missing.
I sincerely do hope he is able to recover the coins because that's a whole lot of money to lose .

[btcinmylife]

It is better to store BTC in an online wallet, such as COINBASE .

[Kong Hey Pakboy]

If he is paranoid that they're going to not fix the keys then just forget about it, that's the only way that you can't get duped by these recovery expert that you thought was going to help, either they go to the experts that really don't care or just let it go. Also, it's worth noting that if it's the government agency that's going to help you, there's a guarantee that you will get your money back that is if they're able to recover it.

[cheezcarls]

https://www.newsbtc.com/news/bitcoin/man-loses-900000-worth-of-bitcoin/

I think if he offers an NSA grade data recovery outfit a couple of btc, that they'd recover it for him.
But then how can you trust that they won't say they couldn't do it went they actually did.

Oh man I feel sorry for that guy. It’s really important to be super extra careful of the things that we store and delete like the private keys. This is why I am very sensitive to some stuff especially when storing these keys offline (and some on my Protonmail account where I’ve also secured my password).

Storing them offline is still the best option.

[dothebeats]

That's a bummer. It's almost impossible to recover those if he would not seek help from data recovery experts in the field. Not just your random tech who recovers files on traditional hard drives, but someone with professional-grade equipment and skills that are specialized on data recovery. $900k is a huge sum, though data recovery is a tedious and delicate process that there is always a chance that the files may never be recovered, but you still have to pay for the work and time of those you hired.

Or if the man is anxious enough or doubtful that these guys will return what they recovered, then perhaps just accept that he did this mistake on himself and that there's no one else to blame but him.

It is better to store BTC in an online wallet, such as COINBASE .

No.

[UserU]

It is better to store BTC in an online wallet, such as COINBASE .

No, they can do whatever they want with your funds.

Remember, not your keys, not your Bitcoin.

[Lucius]

It doesn't seem to be a coincidence that the biggest losers are various computer experts or engineers who should have a much bigger advantage in life because of their education - and instead they throw hard drives in the trash or format them without first checking their contents. These are definitely not the qualities of educated people, and I am sure that these are not the only big mistakes in their lives.

In addition, the title says "accidentally", but you can't format the hard disk by accident, there must be some reason and decision to do something like that. One more thing, given that we don’t have the real name of the person who is allegedly the protagonist of this event, we may need to ask ourselves if the story may have been fabricated.

[o_e_l_e_o]

What a hugely unfortunate boating formatting accident. I can confirm though, I was there at the time and this person also deleted all of my keys too.

Well, this is one of the major risks associated with using bitcoin. With a simple mistake, one can lose all in a twinkle of an eye.

This is not a flaw with bitcoin - this is a flaw with the user. If you can lose all your coins following one simple mistake, then your security set up sucks and you should take immediate steps to fix it. If your entire holdings are stored on one hard drive with no offsite back ups, no written down seed phrases, no redundancy at all, then you really have no one to blame but yourself when you lose everything because that hard drive becomes lost, damaged, stolen, fails, gets water spilled on it, or anything else.

[Kittygalore]

It is better to store BTC in an online wallet, such as COINBASE .

This is the dumbest way to store your bitcoins, remember that if it's not your keys then it's not your coins. Haven't you heard of hacks done against online wallets and other online wallets that disappeared together with the cryptocurrencies that were stored in their website?

[agg2702]

The most important lesson is that what we do now can make something very valuable in the future. So don't take things for granted that you make the mistake of not thinking about the future.
and loss like this is a risk that must be accepted because if I remember this is not the first time that this has happened and tens or even hundreds or thousands of people have experienced something like this, it's just that the media didn't expose it.
and here it is important for us not to underestimate anything because if something like this happens, the step that is definitely taken is to let it go

[Rengga Jati]

I really can't imagine how he feels if I were him, stressed, moreover with that big amount.
However, he is still trying to be peaceful with his loss condition. So salute to him.
As we know that losing keys means that we lose our assets. We cannot recover it without the keys or phrase.
And Although he may get help from others, can it really be trusted?

It is better to store BTC in an online wallet, such as COINBASE .

Are you kidding me?

[Cafex]

This is really an unfortunate incident. But people really have nothing to do when they are in such situations. There is no turning back from it when you lose the necessary information to get access to your wallet. It is not like a system that you can just click "forgot my password" and bingo! And I know this is for security purposes. But still, it is very risky.

[Issa56]

I believe this is one of the main reasons why some people don't really like bitcoin problem of security if you can lost your private key to your wallet then all the coins in the wallet are gone which is very bad I believe there should find solution to this and look for a way to recover your private key even if anything happens to it.

[Yatsan]

That was a really awful situation to happen having your seeds to be deleted which is the only way to access your funds and the reason behind was your own mistake seems to make it more frustrating to the part of the owner. If he would be an ordinary person that do not have the knowledge on recovering the seed phrase to access it and doubting that asking other people for expertise on recovering it, then it would be hopeless to expect that he can have his hand on those hands anymore on whatever his wallet contains because he no longer have his keys.

[bct-user]

It is better to store BTC in an online wallet, such as COINBASE .

No, man. You make a wrong suggestion. Hardware wallets should be the first option to keep Bitcoin for a long time. Trezor Model T, Trezor One, Ledger Nano S, or Billfold Steel are good options for hardware wallets. Trust me, keeping your Bitcoin on hardware wallets must be more secure than storing your Bitcoin on an exchange.

[livingfree]

How these people are not too careful keeping safely their hundred thousands of assets to nearly a million by doing an accident?

It is better to store BTC in an online wallet, such as COINBASE .

No dude.

No guarantee that they'll give you private keys for your coins. Always remember that if you don't have the private keys, it's not your coins. Please do remember that.

[hatshepsut93]

It is better to store BTC in an online wallet, such as COINBASE .

Maybe some very tech unfriendly people will have lower chances of losing their coins with a good custodial storage, but such people better not engage with Bitcoin at all, because there are so many difficulties for people who are bad with software, so chances of loss are quite high. Being your own bank is a huge responsibility and some people are taking it too lightly.

[SimpleMan]

https://www.newsbtc.com/news/bitcoin/man-loses-900000-worth-of-bitcoin/

I think if he offers an NSA grade data recovery outfit a couple of btc, that they'd recover it for him.
But then how can you trust that they won't say they couldn't do it went they actually did.

Well, this is one of the major risks associated with using bitcoin. With a simple mistake, one can lose all in a twinkle of an eye. One of the most effective precautive measures in keep your bitcoin safe is to keep your wallet keys as safe as possible. One method I employed is to make copies of each of my wallet keys and keep them safe. That way, I can always recover it even if one got lost or missing.
I sincerely do hope he is able to recover the coins because that's a whole lot of money to lose .

But the issue mentioned with how do you know that they don't just get the private key and then tell you that they couldn't resolve your problem?

That is indeed a problem which would keep me concerned, but then you have no chance. This guy in Britain who lost his hard drive, or Scotland, I don't remember. Anyway, he threw it away and then asked the junkyard provider whether he could search it because it was like 70 million or so. The junkyard denied and the guy didn't get the chance to search for it. How do we know the junkyard provider didn't go for it himself?