The Man Who Forgot His Password Could Lose Over $250 Million Bitcoins – Teach Me About Science

Over 10 years ago, Stefan Thomas, a computer programmer, made a video and posted it to YouTube as part of an advertising campaign for the then-nascent bitcoin. The video, which was very good for those times, lasted just over 90 seconds, and digital animation was used to encourage netizens to invest in the popular cryptocurrency.

For his services, he received 7,002 bitcoins, when the value of the cryptocurrency was about two dollars per unit. Now, for that amount of bitcoins, Thomas has been a millionaire since then, although the popular cryptocurrency has seen its worst streak in recent weeks, today it is valued at around $35,000 per unit, which is a total of over $250 million. .

Thomas kept his bitcoin on his IronKey encrypted hard drive. IronKey gives anyone trying to access it 10 “guess” before they “self-destruct”, making it inaccessible to anyone. Unfortunately, the broker he wrote his password on has lost, and 10 years later, he can’t remember what it could have been, reports The New York Times.

Over the past few years, Thomas has tried to access the drive, but every attempt has failed. Now, he had already spent 8 of his 10 attempts, leaving him only two, otherwise no one would be able to access the IronKey. “I lay in bed and thought about it. Then I went to the computer with a new strategy, and it didn’t work, and I was desperate again,” explain Thomas for The New York Times.

With only two more chances to regain access to his hard drive, Thomas will have to resort to computer support that may somehow bypass security and get access to his money, or else he won’t be able to enjoy the fruit he supports. In the last years.