Broken mp4, contains btc from 2009-2010

[barat94]

I bought Bitcoin back in 2009 and saved it directly onto an MP4 player right after the purchase. At the time, the site I bought it from had a guide explaining how to handle BTC – save it, keep it safe, etc. I'm only mentioning this because anyone who bought Bitcoin around 2009, maybe even from the same source, will know what I’m talking about.

I followed the instructions exactly as described: saved it, put it away, and completely forgot I had ever bought BTC.

Recently, while visiting my grandma's place, I found the MP4 player among some old computer stuff. It had been hidden behind a computer shelf, wrapped in a padded bag. Most likely it got there when a drawer slammed shut. The device is broken – the outer casing is damaged, but the motherboard appears intact.

Later I got a cable for it and plugged it into my laptop, but as soon as it received power, it started to smoke, so I unplugged it immediately. I haven’t touched it since.

Back then, I spent about 5000–10000 forints on Bitcoin – that was the minimum purchase amount at the time. My most conservative estimate is that there's at least 10 BTC on it, maybe more – possibly even over 1000 BTC depending on the exact purchase date and exchange rate back then. I don’t remember the exact date, but it was definitely in 2009, maybe early 2010 at the latest.

As the original owner, I never touched the file after saving it. For about half a year after the purchase, I lived with my family at my grandma’s, and the device stayed hidden in the same spot the whole time. If no one found it back then – which I seriously doubt – then it’s likely no one touched it since. My grandparents know nothing about this kind of stuff, and if anyone in my family had found it, I highly doubt they would have rewrapped it and returned it to the exact hiding spot without me noticing. So unless there was some kind of data loss, the Bitcoin is most likely still on it – and probably a decent amount.

I’m selling it because I can’t repair it and I don’t have the tools or know-how to retrieve data from it. I’m also reluctant to take it to a data recovery service, because if the value on it is what I suspect, I’m afraid someone might steal it.

I can’t guarantee that there’s been no data loss. However, since the motherboard is completely intact, I believe the data is likely retrievable with the right equipment and expertise. As far as I know, the device sat untouched in a padded bag behind a drawer for 15–16 years – essentially in a completely inaccessible location. If it truly remained untouched and the data is still there, then it may contain a serious amount of Bitcoin.

This device is only recommended for those who can afford to take the risk and are willing to gamble for the potential reward.
This could either be the deal of a lifetime, or you’re just buying a broken MP4 player.
But because of the potential upside, many people might find it worth the risk.

Starting price is $500,000 — this is the minimum. eBay doesn't allow me to set a higher starting bid. If the data can be recovered, I'm asking for a 10–20% share based on further agreement

This is the description on Ebay, they just took down my ad because it was over $2500.

[Mitchell]

What did you save onto an MP4 player? The wallet.dat? The seed phrase? And why did you do that on an MP4 player? How about providing any kind of proof. Pictures of the MP4 player, proof of purchase, bank statements, etc.

To be fair, I believe this to be a scam. Nobody would be dumb enough to pay you $500k for a potential chance of recovering the BTC from the flash memory.

[barat94]

What did you save onto an MP4 player? The wallet.dat? The seed phrase? And why did you do that on an MP4 player? How about providing any kind of proof. Pictures of the MP4 player, proof of purchase, bank statements, etc.

To be fair, I believe this to be a scam. Nobody would be dumb enough to pay you $500k for a potential chance of recovering the BTC from the flash memory.

This is not a scam. I can show pictures if needed – I’m new to this platform, and everything I wrote is the truth. I have no intention of deceiving anyone.

This goes back 15–16 years, so it’s hard for me to prove everything, but that doesn’t make it any less real.

Please try to put yourself in my shoes:
You have an old MP4 player where you saved some Bitcoin many years ago, back when you first bought it.
Now, years later, you’ve found it again, but you don’t have the tools or knowledge to access what’s on it.
That’s my situation.

What did you save onto an MP4 player? The wallet.dat? The seed phrase? And why did you do that on an MP4 player? How about providing any kind of proof. Pictures of the MP4 player, proof of purchase, bank statements, etc.

To be fair, I believe this to be a scam. Nobody would be dumb enough to pay you $500k for a potential chance of recovering the BTC from the flash memory.

This is not a scam. I can show pictures if needed – I’m new to this platform, and everything I wrote is the truth. I have no intention of deceiving anyone.

This goes back 15–16 years, so it’s hard for me to prove everything, but that doesn’t make it any less real.

Please try to put yourself in my shoes:
You have an old MP4 player where you saved some Bitcoin many years ago, back when you first bought it.
Now, years later, you’ve found it again, but you don’t have the tools or knowledge to access what’s on it.
That’s my situation.

I understand what you’re saying — it would be easy to scam people without proof.
But I wouldn’t be stupid to sell it for nothing, since I know there is Bitcoin on it.
I’ve already received several smaller offers, all of which I rejected.

[Kazkaz27]

My suggestion - Offer it to a person who can fix it and if recovers anything split it 50/50. - Good luck

[Kalaea]

If it sat behind a drawer in a padded bag untouched for 15 years, how did it get broken?
If I had a device that I believed had up to 1000 btc on it I'd be training myself up to try to recover it myself. Maybe go buy an old but working mp4 player on ebay and swap the motherboards. If that doesn't work it's probably fried. "Smoking" is generally a bad sign for electronics.

[MGAMGA]

Hello, Tech Expert here, i used to fix everything from TVs to Vapes to Phones, i had my own store a long time ago, i still have my tools and all, i would say this is probably a dead battery problem, if the battery hasn't been charged for a decade, chances are the transistors and capacitors are dead as well, theoretically it could be possible to remove the internal memory and put it on a working mp4 motherboard, i think i have about 32 of them left somewhere in my attic, i'm willing to give it a try and repair it/extract the data off of it for you, depending on the amount of BTC i'm willing to compromise, 10btc i'll take just 1.

If you're interested, Contact me on my number Via WhatsApp that is in my profile, have it shipped, and we'll work through it!

What did you save onto an MP4 player? The wallet.dat? The seed phrase? And why did you do that on an MP4 player? How about providing any kind of proof. Pictures of the MP4 player, proof of purchase, bank statements, etc.

To be fair, I believe this to be a scam. Nobody would be dumb enough to pay you $500k for a potential chance of recovering the BTC from the flash memory.

This is not a scam. I can show pictures if needed – I’m new to this platform, and everything I wrote is the truth. I have no intention of deceiving anyone.

This goes back 15–16 years, so it’s hard for me to prove everything, but that doesn’t make it any less real.

Please try to put yourself in my shoes:
You have an old MP4 player where you saved some Bitcoin many years ago, back when you first bought it.
Now, years later, you’ve found it again, but you don’t have the tools or knowledge to access what’s on it.
That’s my situation.

What did you save onto an MP4 player? The wallet.dat? The seed phrase? And why did you do that on an MP4 player? How about providing any kind of proof. Pictures of the MP4 player, proof of purchase, bank statements, etc.

To be fair, I believe this to be a scam. Nobody would be dumb enough to pay you $500k for a potential chance of recovering the BTC from the flash memory.

This is not a scam. I can show pictures if needed – I’m new to this platform, and everything I wrote is the truth. I have no intention of deceiving anyone.

This goes back 15–16 years, so it’s hard for me to prove everything, but that doesn’t make it any less real.

Please try to put yourself in my shoes:
You have an old MP4 player where you saved some Bitcoin many years ago, back when you first bought it.
Now, years later, you’ve found it again, but you don’t have the tools or knowledge to access what’s on it.
That’s my situation.

I understand what you’re saying — it would be easy to scam people without proof.
But I wouldn’t be stupid to sell it for nothing, since I know there is Bitcoin on it.
I’ve already received several smaller offers, all of which I rejected.

You can post photos here even if you don't have copper+ membership, basically by uploading the images to Ibb.co, and then sharing the URL, from what i can understand you're hungarian or you live in Hungary, you've spent 5k to 10k forints on Bitcoin in 2009-2010, that's around 30$ tops, if you check https://charts.bitbo.io/if-i-bought/ that would be about ~30K btc in 2009 Nov, anywhere between 2009 to 2010's end you would have at least above a 100 bitcoins, which is currently priced about 10M$, OP you may not be lying but the nature of the internet is Very Skeptical, nobody's going to buy an MP4 Player off of you for just the "chance" of it containing bitcoin, there are a multitude of things that can go wrong, even if the MP4 Player does have the Bitcoin Wallet/mnemonics, the Wallet could be drained, emptied, or even locked with a password that you might've forgotten, it's 15 years ago anyway.

Nobody would risk that sum of money, best case scenario is find someone who can fix/zombify the mp4, zombify basically means stripping the motherboard from the electronics that are bad and putting new ones, hoping for the best, or by reviving it at a low voltage just enough to extract data from, still your best bet is to have the memory removed from that motherboard and put on an identical one that works.

[aoluain]

Later I got a cable for it and plugged it into my laptop, but as soon as it received power, it started to smoke, so I unplugged it immediately. I haven’t touched it since.

Well done for providing this essential bit of information but nobody is going
to touch that...

Starting price is $500,000 — this is the minimum. eBay doesn't allow me to set a higher starting bid. If the data can be recovered, I'm asking for a 10–20% share based on further agreement

...especially not for $500,000 and not even for $500.00

What did you save onto an MP4 player? The wallet.dat? The seed phrase? And why did you do that on an MP4 player? How about providing any kind of proof. Pictures of the MP4 player, proof of purchase, bank statements, etc.

To be fair, I believe this to be a scam. Nobody would be dumb enough to pay you $500k for a potential chance of recovering the BTC from the flash memory.

This is not a scam. I can show pictures if needed – I’m new to this platform, and everything I wrote is the truth. I have no intention of deceiving anyone.

Pictures will definitely be needed to lift the potential change of selling this from Zero

My suggestion - Offer it to a person who can fix it and if recovers anything split it 50/50. - Good luck

This is probably the best route to take. There is a bit of risk for you, just the same
as you are asking a potential buyer to take on the risk of a.) it not being a scam and
b.) being able to fix and retrieve