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 ...
Plausible. First, the whole of the exchange -- the entire Dutch Tulip -- will be collapsed by a "Mt. Gox" cubed; when China decides to issue its own virtual YuanYuan, they will first intentionally destroy the existing cryptocurrency market, like they've done with every. single. other. market. entry. since they crawled out of the mud.
I mean, it's tattooed on their foreheads.
Frankly all the PLA really has to do is outlaw BC in just China and affiliates...
Note to self: When millions are at stake, write down password!!
It’s like that dingus that threw away a hard drive with about a zillion in BTC stored on it. Oopsie, won’t do that again!
It’s based on the string you feed it.
“He can claim $200M as an IRS income loss, right?”
Well, he still has the vault, so probably not. But if they decide to implement a wealth tax, say 1%, then I guess he would owe them $2 million. The first year.
Well, he still has the vault, so probably not. But if they decide to implement a wealth tax, say 1%, then I guess he would owe them $2 million. The first year.
= = =
Hey didn’t that JK Rowling get a tax of over 100%?
“Hey didn’t that JK Rowling get a tax of over 100%?”
That would not surprise me.
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