Lost Passwords Lock Millionaires Out of Their Bitcoin Fortunes
The New York Times | 12 Jan 2021 | Nathaniel PopperBitcoin owners are getting rich because the cryptocurrency has soared. But what happens when you can’t access that wealth because you forgot the password to your digital wallet?
Stefan Thomas, a German-born programmer living in San Francisco, has two guesses left to figure out a password that is worth, as of this week, about $220 million.
The password will let him unlock a small hard drive, known as an IronKey, which contains the private keys to a digital wallet that holds 7,002 Bitcoin.
While the price of Bitcoin dropped sharply on Monday, it is still up more than 50 percent from just a month ago when it passed its previous all-time high around $20,000.
The problem is that Mr. Thomas years ago lost the paper where he wrote down the password for his IronKey, which gives users 10 guesses before it seizes up and encrypts its contents forever. He has since tried eight of his most commonly used password formulations — to no avail.
“I would just lay in bed and think about it,” Mr. Thomas said. “Then I would go to the computer with some new strategy, and it wouldn’t work, and I would be desperate again.”
He’s currently at Yosemite Sam level of frustration. If he blows his next two guesses, he’ll go full Tasmanian Devil.
Wonder if his original password had a typo in it.
If a man can unquestioningly identify as a woman, why can’t he identify as a dog. I don’t see a problem there.
I mean, it’s not like the guy is identifying as a cat – that would just be weird.
If and when he does get it right, he will discover that the AI™ has already guessed his password and has stolen all the bits and coins. mwahaha
They tell you not to write down passwords. They tell you it makes them unsecured. They tell you all this without remembering that human beings forget things. “They” sure do make mistakes, don’t “they”?
They told me to visit L.A. for Christmas. “You’ll have fun,” they said.
Has he tried “Password” yet?