@mole0815 pointed out that Stephan has a profile here on Bitcointalk: Stefan Tomas.
Going over his posts, he is a long standing Bitcointalk member, who was pretty involved in the early years (See for example referenced here https://bithope.org/campaign/support-the-bitcointalk-forum), and crossed posts with some of the most noticeable profiles here at the time.
In this article on the NY times, they mention how he was paid something like 7002 BTCs back in 2011 for creating a video on bitcoin:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/12/technology/bitcoin-passwords-wallets-fortunes.html
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um63OQz3bjo
I was doubtful as to whether the German programmer, and the profile here on Bitcointalk, were indeed the same person (and not just a name/surname coincidence), but it seems that they are indeed the same:
Bounty for Bitcoin Animated Movie [won] .
The video is the same one referenced in the NYTimes article, and the thread has relevant posts made by Stephan about the video (https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.833066 for example).
It looks like what the world sees as "a German programmer", is also part of the Bitcointalk’s history …
Topic: Two attempts for $220 million (Read 516 times)
In the initial stages many lost their passwords and private keys and many of the coins are lost and this is not the first time i am hearing these sob stories, first heard about these sob stories when the price of bitcoin rallied in 2013 and there were many who even knew their wallet address but they can only stair at their coins as they is no way they could recover their passwords.
<...>
The product, Ironkey, allows for it’s customers to backup the password online, but this may be a more recent feature which may not have been available at the time. Even so, crypto related people tend to avoid online password backups, so it’s just as likely that he didn’t even take the option into consideration.The clear type backup was a paper he used to write the password on, and eventually lost. No available backup + joggy memory -> not your keys.
2 attempts left for $220 million? that would really be a sweating kind of situation where you do know that you will burn up those millions in 2 tries left.
This is really a lesson learned for him for his entire life as if on missing out that opportunity in your lifetime.
Saving up keys no matter what should really be on your priority.
How forgotten passwords prevent crypto millionaires from getting their money. An article appeared in
The New York Times about a programmer who lost his password to an encrypted storage with 7,002 BTC
The New York Times about a programmer who lost his password to an encrypted storage with 7,002 BTC
Well, if you want to help Stefan, you can drop him a line, he
https://bitcointalksearch.org/user/stefan-thomas-2211
(found by Mole0815)
<...>
The product, Ironkey, allows for it’s customers to backup the password online, but this may be a more recent feature which may not have been available at the time. Even so, crypto related people tend to avoid online password backups, so it’s just as likely that he didn’t even take the option into consideration.The clear type backup was a paper he used to write the password on, and eventually lost. No available backup + joggy memory -> not your keys.
2 attempts left for $220 million? that would really be a sweating kind of situation where you do know that you will burn up those millions in 2 tries left.
This is really a lesson learned for him for his entire life as if on missing out that opportunity in your lifetime.
Saving up keys no matter what should really be on your priority.
<...>
The product, Ironkey, allows for it’s customers to backup the password online, but this may be a more recent feature which may not have been available at the time. Even so, crypto related people tend to avoid online password backups, so it’s just as likely that he didn’t even take the option into consideration.The clear type backup was a paper he used to write the password on, and eventually lost. No available backup + joggy memory -> not your keys.
That sucks it, so like having all the nicest building in the world and then WW3 happened.
Funds protected by a memorized password can only be robbed by way of violence, but only if the person who holds the password and the funds is identified. But the probability of getting betrayed by your very own memory is very high. Such is the risk which is not worth taking.
We already have dozens of examples for the first part. Every now and then, I am hearing reports about cryptocurrency holders getting kidnapped by criminal gangs and then tortured to reveal their passwords. Even here in India, there was a well known incident last year:
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/man-killed-after-being-tortured-for-days-over-bitcoins/story-A18ipLTQCrlFphgBPYHxoI.html
This is worrisome. This is one of the reasons why I am a little apprehensive of the slogan Be your own bank. It is good to be your own bank. It is good to have yourself emancipated from the greedy banking system with the help of Bitcoin. But it may come with a very heavy price. It entails a very heavy responsibility.
Bank armored cars are robbed even if they are bulletproof, with GPS, and with armed security personnel inside. Bank branches themselves are robbed even if they have alarm systems, securities, and within reach by law enforcers. What happens if banks are the ordinary individuals themselves who are roaming on the streets with almost zero protection?
Hollywood can make a movie with this guy.
thriller "attempts for beautiful life"
thriller "attempts for beautiful life"
How about thriller " how one man went insane from depression" Lol.
good idea for a second part)
Sounds like another headline for a news site, no matter if it's true or not, as long as there is another piece of news. I doubt that a person who owns such a large amount of bitcoins could in any way lose or forget their wallet password. In any case, such a number of coins will hardly affect Bitcoin in any way, because the loss is 7000, and there are 21 million of them in total.
Anyone can lose large or small amounts of bitcoin. It all also depends on how to secure the private key or password for a wallet with thousands of bitcoin assets. 7000 bitcoins will not affect bitcoin entirely, but not only 7000 bitcoins that cannot be accessed, but the possibility will also increase when people who have a lot of bitcoins suddenly forget and lose their private reserves. Whether it is true or not, this news can be a lesson for us that every password or private key for digital assets is very important to always remember and back up in other places. Even though I don't have thousands of bitcoins, but my privacy remains well kept and makes backups elsewhere separate and away from online devices.That's really a pain in the ass, many people are stuck with the same problem, in the early development of bitcoin people don't care about bitcoin and underestimate the value which was minuscule. The negligence to store the private keys or the password to access the wallet leads to the current problem after the value of bitcoin skyrocket.
We can imagine how frustrating people that have BTC7000 in hand but can't access it, that's worth $269 million, you can retire with such amount of bitcoin.
I also read the article this tells us how important is your passwords and keys. 7002 Btc is a very very huge amount and this amount can change anyone's whole life. Now Stefan has left with only 2 attempts and its not easy to crack the password so he is regretting now. Its a huge blow for Stefan. We must understand the mental situation of Stefan he knows he has huge money but not able to access it and its not easy to face such mental tension. Let's hope he will recover his password with 2 left attempts. In the end, I would say we should always keep 2 copies of the password & key phrases with us so that if one lost we can access the account with another copy.
Many didn't see much difference in Bitcoin then, nor thought there will be a future for it and today, they are trying everything possible to recover their wallets.
I think the lesson to learn from all these is that, once you get associated with anything, technology etc requiring some sort of security to protect your account, make sure to store the password, private keys etc in a secure place, because you never can tell what will happen in the future, these people can pay anything now to access their wallets but unfortunately, the only way is either remembering the password to the drive or the private keys; I wouldn't go to blame them because I don't know what happened then, but however have gotten the lesson from them and I wish others will learn as well. I think with time, many of these news will be coming up because Bitcoin is very valuable now and with a bright future ahead will make these people to go extra miles to remember their security details.
I think the lesson to learn from all these is that, once you get associated with anything, technology etc requiring some sort of security to protect your account, make sure to store the password, private keys etc in a secure place, because you never can tell what will happen in the future, these people can pay anything now to access their wallets but unfortunately, the only way is either remembering the password to the drive or the private keys; I wouldn't go to blame them because I don't know what happened then, but however have gotten the lesson from them and I wish others will learn as well. I think with time, many of these news will be coming up because Bitcoin is very valuable now and with a bright future ahead will make these people to go extra miles to remember their security details.
People often admire this independence and specialness of Bitcoin and yet no one really thinks about how it is secured and what risks it has. Of course for those traders who started to be interested in Bitcoin several years ago already know about it and I think they carefully keep their passwords and do everything carefully. But for those people who encountered it before and have owned Bitcoins for a long period of time without realizing their future value, it can really be a real tragedy. And it seems to me that now is the time to work on some system that would allow people to get back at least some of the money, or better yet, all of it.
Of course many people do think about the risk involves, the reason why that subject of being security conscious and protect your private key or password can not be over emphasize, it is so serious that most wallet of recent times you installed don't fail to display the message before the installation process, to me i see it as a careless act of someone who did not expect to see btc at this level,
This is an assets bought long time ago, some of the btc early investors probably suffers the same faith - btc was less valuable then so it was easy to ignore or neglect to secure password, a lesson for the younger investors i would say, don't underestimate things.
People often admire this independence and specialness of Bitcoin and yet no one really thinks about how it is secured and what risks it has. Of course for those traders who started to be interested in Bitcoin several years ago already know about it and I think they carefully keep their passwords and do everything carefully. But for those people who encountered it before and have owned Bitcoins for a long period of time without realizing their future value, it can really be a real tragedy. And it seems to me that now is the time to work on some system that would allow people to get back at least some of the money, or better yet, all of it.
can't it be replaced? For example, like when we restored my password for email, or maybe a website? because in my opinion it's a very large number, and is there no way out of the wallet developer, for example contact support?
Of course this is unexpected, we are used to the fact that almost always there is a possibility to change or restore the password, because a person can forget something or face other adequate reasons for this... And as a rule our personal accounts, card data and other things are connected to a phone number or an e-mail address or you can turn to a support service of some company or service and solve almost any problem. And here you don't have any way out of the situation and I can't even imagine the frustration people feel when they realize how much they've lost and that they can't get anything back, prove it, etc. And it's certainly a complicated and ambiguous situation...
Back in that year, I think people who have bitcoin at that date underestimate this coin and what this coin can do in the future, so they do not think much about securing their wallet, and even they do not write their password in a safe place.
But as time goes, people realize that they need to make a backup for the password, especially for the wallet password, so if something worst happens to that wallet devices, they can recover their wallet and access their wallet.
If many people have bitcoin and lost the password, they do not protect their wallet because they do not think that bitcoin will be popular.
It is a lesson to us, and while we can still have bitcoin, no matter how much bitcoin we have, we must have a backup for the wallet.
But as time goes, people realize that they need to make a backup for the password, especially for the wallet password, so if something worst happens to that wallet devices, they can recover their wallet and access their wallet.
If many people have bitcoin and lost the password, they do not protect their wallet because they do not think that bitcoin will be popular.
It is a lesson to us, and while we can still have bitcoin, no matter how much bitcoin we have, we must have a backup for the wallet.
This is the logical explanation for the fact that bitcoin value rises higher and higher every year.
After all, such irrecoverable losses definitely lead to a deficit and this despite the fact that traders and investors all over the world are interested in this asset and are ready to invest their money in it.
Who could have thought then, when bitcoin was worth three hundred dollars, that in time it would be worth a hundred times more?
I don't think even the most experienced experts thought that from the beginning.
And I think a lot of people invested in it for luck, simply because it was more affordable than investing in gold at the time or other leading assets.
Yeah, it's certainly an interesting story, I wonder if the same thing will happen with the cryptocurrencies that are emerging now, or this success can't be repeated.
After all, such irrecoverable losses definitely lead to a deficit and this despite the fact that traders and investors all over the world are interested in this asset and are ready to invest their money in it.
Who could have thought then, when bitcoin was worth three hundred dollars, that in time it would be worth a hundred times more?
I don't think even the most experienced experts thought that from the beginning.
And I think a lot of people invested in it for luck, simply because it was more affordable than investing in gold at the time or other leading assets.
Yeah, it's certainly an interesting story, I wonder if the same thing will happen with the cryptocurrencies that are emerging now, or this success can't be repeated.
Funds protected by a memorized password can only be robbed by way of violence, but only if the person who holds the password and the funds is identified. But the probability of getting betrayed by your very own memory is very high. Such is the risk which is not worth taking.
We already have dozens of examples for the first part. Every now and then, I am hearing reports about cryptocurrency holders getting kidnapped by criminal gangs and then tortured to reveal their passwords. Even here in India, there was a well known incident last year:
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/man-killed-after-being-tortured-for-days-over-bitcoins/story-A18ipLTQCrlFphgBPYHxoI.html
And with the exchange rates increasing at such a rapid pace, I am worried that we may witness many such incidents in the near future. Only way to protect yourself is not to reveal about the coin holdings to anyone else.
I still don't get why would anyone hold their coins in a wallet that allows a finite attempts to log in.
Just keep your secret phrases and the fact you are playing around in the crypto field a secret.
Just keep your secret phrases and the fact you are playing around in the crypto field a secret.
Same. If someone somehow got a hold of his wallet and tried to attempt to access it, the owner would have no idea that he have already lost his data, along the Bitcoin in it. Though I've heard that, correct me if I'm wrong but I've read somewhere (I don't really remember where) that these kind of lost Bitcoin will eventually return to being unmined, basically people will be able to mine them again, if they are somehow not touched in 50 years or 100 years.
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