Man Has Just 2 Chances Left To Guess His Forgotten Rs 1,608 Crore Worth Bitcoin Wallet Password

Bitcoin's price has recorded historic growth increasing by 92% in a month and about 340% in a year. But one investor is unfortunately locked out of accessing his coin because... he forgot his password.

This Bitcoin owner has just two guesses left to figure out the password to his wealth, which is worth around $220 million (Approx Rs 1,608 crore).

Stefan Thomas, a San Francisco-based German-born programmer, needs a password to let him open a tiny hard drive called IronKey.

Twitter

This IronKey gives users 10 guesses before it seizes up and forever encrypts the content, causing quite the pickle if people can't remember their password. Thomas, apparently, lost his password years ago when he mislaid the piece of paper it was written on.

He has been trying to guess his password since then, but failed eight times.

That means he has only two chances left before his fortune is forever lost.

New York Times quotes him as saying, "I would just lay in bed and think about it. Then I would go to the computer with some new strategy, and it wouldn't work, and I would be desperate again."

He was attracted to Bitcoin, Thomas said, in part because the currency was beyond the influence of either a government or a corporation.

Also Read: At $35,000 Value, Family Guy Predicted The Rise Of Bitcoins Over 14 Years Ago

Reuters

Back in 2011, while he lived in Switzerland, he was given 7,002 Bitcoins, having been gifted by an early Bitcoin supporter after he made an informative animated video about the cryptocurrency.

But he managed to lose the digital keys to the wallet containing the Bitcoin that year, meaning he has since been unable to access it - merely having to watch as the value grew and fell over the years.

The Times reports that while some Bitcoin investors become wealthy, others have had difficulty accessing their investments because they have forgotten their passwords. The study said about 20% of current bitcoins ¡®appear to be in lost or otherwise stranded wallets¡¯.

Thomas has put the IronKey in a safe facility for now, just in case someone comes up with a way to crack the complicated password.

Reuters

Holding it tucked away safely keeps the question out of sight and out of mind in the meantime.

He said, "I got to a point where I said to myself, 'Let it be in the past, just for your own mental health'."

Well losing Rs 1,608 crore to memory cannot be a great realisation to live with.