0.5 BTC Reward – Recovering a Lost Electrum / LUKS PasswordIn 2013, someone created an Electrum wallet and set a password on their computer:
Bitcoin addressThey used the password daily for approximately two months before moving on to other activities and abandoning the project.
Six months later, they tried to access the system again but could no longer remember the exact password.
What makes this case unusual is that the password had been used repeatedly for two months.During the first month, they copied it from a piece of paper. After discarding the paper, they continued using the password from memory for another month.
What they remember about the passwordThey believe they still remember several key characteristics:
- It contained three uppercase X characters.
- There were two words placed between the Xs.
- The prefix was either !x or !z.
- The suffix was either !@#$% or (12345, depending on whether Shift was being held.
- The two words they remember are ngn and ycm.
- They strongly believe that both words had the same length.
Example candidate:
Testing password candidatesFor anyone who wants to test password candidates manually, an offline page is available here:
http://mrbianchi.github.io/16btc-luks1/For those who prefer brute-force or dictionary attacks using Hashcat, the wallet hash is available here:
http://mrbianchi.github.io/16btc-luks1/#/hashcatMy backgroundI have been recovering cryptocurrency wallets for nearly 10 years within one of the most popular and pioneering Spanish-language Bitcoin communities.
The first public recovery call, in 2018, involved a Litecoin wallet:
Facebook group post – 2018 Litecoin recoveryThis was posted on Facebook, not Telegram.The second public call was made earlier this year:
Reddit – 0.5 BTC reward for recovering the walletFeel free to explore the Facebook group to verify my track record or ask other members about me.
Discussion / additional informationI also created a Telegram group to answer questions and exchange ideas, research, and password candidates:
Telegram discussion groupMore information provided by the original owner is available there, including:
- Images
- PDFs
- Previously tested password candidates
- Additional memories and details
The original owner is also participating in the group and can answer questions directly.
Important disclaimerUnlike previous cases, I do not possess the encrypted drive, and the Bitcoin address is hypothetical—the result of an analysis.
In the event of a successful recovery, the exchange must take place in person.
The recovered password must not be published, posted, or shared anywhere.
