Posted on 01/12/2021 9:14:26 AM PST by Theoria
Bitcoin 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.”
Bitcoin, which has been on an extraordinary and volatile eight-month run, has made a lot of its holders very rich in a short period of time, even as the coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the world economy.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Now I don’t feel bad about forgetting passwords.
I miss the good old days some 20 years ago when a five character password would unlock any site I was subscribed to. Now I think the only one that it works with is Free Republic.
I would think these people would have a little black book with all their passwords in it for their different locations. Isn’t that pretty much what people do?
I have trouble finding any sympathy for him for several reasons.I do wonder however, how much real currency (dollars,pounds,euros,swiss francs,yen,etc) that’s involved.
After he wrote it down, he should have put it in a safe deposit box.
Money (and value) is the most fascinating social concept there is. A bunch of digital bits are worth $35K each, because people believe it is.
Money, which represents the prose of life, and which is hardly spoken of in parlors without an apology, is, in its effects and laws, as beautiful as roses. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Dang, offer him the strategy for 10%.
They were told that basically, they are the security. No one is bailing them out if they forget their password, no one.
Either turn your house upside down looking for your password that you wrote down and forgot, or miraculously by some stroke of luck, remember what it was. Otherwise, your "money" is gone.
“Either turn your house upside down looking for your password that you wrote down and forgot, or miraculously by some stroke of luck, remember what it was. Otherwise, your “money” is gone.”
Perhaps one of his servants threw it in the trash...
But what happens when you can’t access that wealth.
The fisherman turns on the electric reel.
Some people get paid in pyramid schemes too. What’s the difference? It’s not real just because some people say it’s real. Somebody’s going to get left holding the bag.
Don’t lose the flashdrive it is on either.
The Big Bang Theory - The Bitcoin Entanglement S11E09
https://youtu.be/Cc-Hbklizzk?t=135
Don’t forget the number of people that use a laptop or desktop that has a “keyloger” on it, maybe even 10 years old. Somebody in China is checking his account 5 times a month for 20 accounts and then cashing in whenever they need money. If you get hacked there is no backup plan. It would be interesting to see whether forgetting passwords or hacking causes more lost Bitcoins. I’ve heard of many millionaires getting hacked and when they check their account, the money is gone.
Sounds like the NY Times told a so-called journalist to find something to write about Bitcoin. More interesting is what happening to the USD. It was up to 1.23489 against the EUR last week. Massive devaluation on the spot market. Compare that to when the EURUSD was trading around 1.05 to 1.06 prior to the all of the faux ChiCom flu shutdown of the economy.
I'm not sure the NY Times is smart enough, so it may be by accident, but stories about lost Bitcoins are a distraction from what is really going on the the currency market. Look over here. Not there.
Wait, I think I know what his password is.
IamAtotalM0roN#
I have passwords stored in a text file labeled something like (Not the real file name)”WinX_strat_pur.txt” It is located on my “C” drive in the Windows program folder. I just have to make sure I delete the cashe on the WP after accessing the document.
A forensic computer person could find it but I doubt seriously that a normal thief would.
If you really want to “encrypt” it download a hexidecimal converter and store a copy on a google drive or windows cloud.
I had a friend who concealed all his passwords as phone numbers He had them listed on his phone as “Mary at the Bank” to remember what password it was.
I personally hate the secret questions. Many times they are too easy for a thief to guess. “What was your mothers maiden name? Too easy to know if you a bit or research. The same is true of your first car, pet or your elementary school. I pick a random word, that has nothing to do with me, my job or my family for those.
Q: Your mother’s maiden name A: Refrigerator
Q: The name of your first pet? A: Refrigerator
Q: Your first car? A: Refrigerator.
Q: Your favorite sport? A: Refrigerator.
Q: You best friends first name? A: Refrigerator
This is very easy to remember but extremely hard to guess; or so it appears to me.
I keep a journal with one page per group requiring a password. Don’t keep any passwords on the computer... don’t try to remember them.
I made a spreadsheet with my user and password but it is not written in full I just have it all abbreviated.
Nice👍
“I have passwords stored in a text file labeled something like (Not the real file name)”WinX_strat_pur.txt””
—
You can change the extension name also, e.g. call it “unisys.dll, systemm1000.dat” and so on. Just open it with notepad/text reader program (or, longer way, - rename it back to txt, get the passes, then change the extension back to the fake one).
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