Guy recovers $4.5M in BTC bought for $2k on a dead 2012 exchange

[DKeller]

Came across a story about a British investor who bought bitcoin back in 2011/2012 through Britcoin, which later became Intersango, a UK exchange that stopped trading in late 2012 and went fully offline by 2014. He put in around $2,000, watched it grow to $5,400, then lost access when the exchange died. He figured it was gone for good.

A law firm (CEL Solicitors) used crypto-tracing tools and found a wallet tied to former Intersango users holding over 5,500 BTC, worth around $421M total. His share came out to about $4.5M, since he'd bought under $4 per coin back then.

He needed old bank records going back almost 15 years just to prove the coins were his. Most people don't hang onto paperwork for a $2k buy they wrote off as a loss over a decade ago.

The firm says other former Intersango users might be able to claim funds too if they can establish ownership.

Makes me wonder how many old exchange wallets from that era are just sitting there untouched. Anyone here have funds stuck on a long-dead exchange from back then? Did you ever try tracing it, or just let it go?

[OgNasty]

I got tied up in the mtgox situation which had a similar story.  Getting money back 15 years later that you originally got much cheaper...  I had somewhere around 19 BTC on mtgox when it went bankrupt.  I ended up getting back around 2 BTC about 15 years later.  There was a lot of paperwork involved, but mostly the bankruptcy attorneys handled that.  In the end, I had around 2 grand of Bitcoin that ended up turning into a fully loaded Tesla Cybertruck 15 years later.  I can't complain too much, but obviously having all the Bitcoin back would have been nice.

[Z-tight]

Here is a link to the story, for those wondering what the op is talking about:
https://www.gate.com/news/detail/british-man-recovers-33m-in-bitcoin-after-12-year-loss-23913301

Makes me wonder how many old exchange wallets from that era are just sitting there untouched. Anyone here have funds stuck on a long-dead exchange from back then? Did you ever try tracing it, or just let it go?

I didn't even know anything about BTC in 2011, to be fair i was very young back then. I am sure only the users who are early adopters would know anything about this Intersango exchange, because i am just hearing about it for the first time. However, it is good news for Chris here, that he can finally benefit for adopting BTC from the early years, which was almost snatched away from him due to custodial storage.

[Yamane_Keto]

Came across a story about a British investor who bought bitcoin back in 2011/2012 through Britcoin, which later became Intersango, a UK exchange that stopped trading in late 2012 and went fully offline by 2014. He put in around $2,000, watched it grow to $5,400, then lost access when the exchange died. He figured it was gone for good.

Merely tracking bitcoin is insufficient to claim them if exchange has lost access to them—other than a situation that can occur in cases such as bankruptcy. exchanges may impose conditions appropriating the balance, if the user has failed to log in for the long time.

[BABY SHOES]

We never know how many dead exchange wallets there are coins without being touched for a long time, it's just that the man was lucky to get back coins from the dead Exchange and was able to prove ownership through the bank, maybe that was when he bought cheap BTC on the exchange.

Crypto exchange cases close a lot... not all get back his assets, let alone with a large amount, suppose a large number of people will call a lawyer to help resolve this issue even though it takes many years.

So I completely never get bogged down in any exchange, because the assets that are in possession are stored in wallets that have their own control.

[aoluain]

Here is another lnk to this remarkable article >
https://blockonomi.com/british-investor-recovers-4-5m-in-bitcoin-lost-since-2011-exchange-collapse/

That is an amazing story and I'm sure "Chris" is on a massive high ATM.

Chris successfully recovered his share of these holdings.

According to CEL Solicitors, additional former Intersango customers may qualify to reclaim their assets, assuming they can substantiate their ownership of bitcoin held on the platform.

How exactly I wonder does Chris and everyone else involved get his Bitcoin back after they
prove they used the site and had funds remaining when it went down?

Given that the Bitcoin were still in a wallet after the Britcoin website stopped trading the
people running the site:

Didnt reimburse the owners
Didnt take the funds and disappear

[o48o]

Came across a story about a British investor who bought bitcoin back in 2011/2012 through Britcoin, which later became Intersango, a UK exchange that stopped trading in late 2012 and went fully offline by 2014. He put in around $2,000, watched it grow to $5,400, then lost access when the exchange died. He figured it was gone for good.

A law firm (CEL Solicitors) used crypto-tracing tools and found a wallet tied to former Intersango users holding over 5,500 BTC, worth around $421M total. His share came out to about $4.5M, since he'd bought under $4 per coin back then.

He needed old bank records going back almost 15 years just to prove the coins were his. Most people don't hang onto paperwork for a $2k buy they wrote off as a loss over a decade ago.

The firm says other former Intersango users might be able to claim funds too if they can establish ownership.

Makes me wonder how many old exchange wallets from that era are just sitting there untouched. Anyone here have funds stuck on a long-dead exchange from back then? Did you ever try tracing it, or just let it go?

Amounts i have lost over exchange disappearing are so much lower compared to that, even though that btc is serious money these days. I would have spend that btc probably anyway to buy some crappy altcoins, so i don't think it as a huge loss.

And i am pretty sure that you don't need to hold on to some paperwork, when you can just pay for bank to dig your old bank records, which they are legally obligated to keep. Also, some 15 year old paper documents wouldn't be enough to prove anything without confirming their legitimacy trough that bank, which they have those records for in the first place.

[Z-tight]

Didnt take the funds and disappear

Apparently during the course of litigation, it was discovered that one of the founders of this defunct exchange has in their possession ~ 5,500 BTC, so it very possible that a part of that money could be owned by Intersango's creditors. I believe we would see a couple of creditors attempt to reclaim their funds through the court, after Chris' successful attempt, as long as they are able to prove ownership.

[DKeller]

I got tied up in the mtgox situation which had a similar story.  Getting money back 15 years later that you originally got much cheaper...  I had somewhere around 19 BTC on mtgox when it went bankrupt.  I ended up getting back around 2 BTC about 15 years later.  There was a lot of paperwork involved, but mostly the bankruptcy attorneys handled that.  In the end, I had around 2 grand of Bitcoin that ended up turning into a fully loaded Tesla Cybertruck 15 years later.  I can't complain too much, but obviously having all the Bitcoin back would have been nice.

That's a rough haircut, 19 down to 2 BTC. So how the bankruptcy payout math actually worked out for you, was that mostly BTC lost to the estate covering claims in fiat terms at the old exchange rate, or something else in the process that ate most of it?

Wild that both stories end the same way, whatever you managed to keep did all the heavy lifting anyway.

[ColdLava40]

Makes me wonder how many old exchange wallets from that era are just sitting there untouched. Anyone here have funds stuck on a long-dead exchange from back then? Did you ever try tracing it, or just let it go?

A very small percentage of users would be able to hold their bank records for over 15 years. Although I was thinking this should be with the bank it self only have to try date it back to when you made the transaction.

He did get lucky being able to recover the coins, some would have given up years ago but maybe being desperate enough would keep one on going.

It take just a leap of faith that others are not able to take.

[OgNasty]

I got tied up in the mtgox situation which had a similar story.  Getting money back 15 years later that you originally got much cheaper...  I had somewhere around 19 BTC on mtgox when it went bankrupt.  I ended up getting back around 2 BTC about 15 years later.  There was a lot of paperwork involved, but mostly the bankruptcy attorneys handled that.  In the end, I had around 2 grand of Bitcoin that ended up turning into a fully loaded Tesla Cybertruck 15 years later.  I can't complain too much, but obviously having all the Bitcoin back would have been nice.

That's a rough haircut, 19 down to 2 BTC. So how the bankruptcy payout math actually worked out for you, was that mostly BTC lost to the estate covering claims in fiat terms at the old exchange rate, or something else in the process that ate most of it?

Wild that both stories end the same way, whatever you managed to keep did all the heavy lifting anyway.

The mtgox funds were lost in a hack.  Half of what was left basically went to the legal nonsense.  It would have been better if mtgox just distributed everything they could right away so the lawyers didn't have anything to steal, but then I probably would have spent 5 BTC when it was worth significantly less than the 2 BTC was when I got it.  Everything happens for a reason.  Lessons get learned.  People get smarter.  Life goes on.