Why am I still answering this
I somehow always keep coming back for more, seems to be a masochistic personality trait of mine.
Is it not at all possible this person wishes to retain the account [...] and give the impression they have lost or no longer have masses of btc ?
Yes, it's possible.
Is it likely?
I don't think so.
it does kind of scream I was once rich... like the bitcoin pizza guy. Who is now not rich apparently.
Have you seen Laszlo's house when he did his first ever Lightning pizza purchase? It's bigger than mine
there are many accounts of super rich and competent people losing 1000's of btc. I saw BCX mention he lost more in a hard drive incident and again with gox. He was very very tech savvy as we know.
Yes, many of us lost quite a few BTC, me included (I had a handful on MtGox).
But I know of no single user who's lost all of his
keys.
Again, yes, it's possible.
Is it likely?
I don't think so.
Regarding salty's point.
"Unfortunately, not being a native speaker of the English language, I'm unable to estimate the likelihood of a coincidence like that"
[...]
find out that that kind of capitalisation is not at all common and indeed very unusual.
I'm just honestly saying that this is not something I could evaluate with any confidence.
"Let me assure you, though, that (a few super-rich aside), most of us knew very well that 50 BTC was more than just petty cash."
well bitcoin pizza guy is a tech guy and presumably not rich nor stupid but he did not assume 10,000 btc was all that important.
You're comparing apples and pears.
10,000 BTC at the time of Laszlo's purchase
was petty cash (on the order of 40 USD, give or take).
50 BTC at the time of BTC_Bears donation to the forum wasn't (on the order of 500 USD, give or take).
Also, at the time of Laszlo's purchase, Bitcoin was in it's infancy, and did not have any "real" value, it was still something to play around with.
At the time of BTC_Bears donation, otoh, BTC had been through an ATH of ~30 USD, i.e. you knew pretty well that 50 BTC could easily be worth a couple thousand bucks again.
let me explain why I do not feel your offer is genuine. this is not proof either way but just demonstrates you are not being genuine in your offer.
a/ you state you believe he is a smart guy and will have backed up his btc in multiple places.
b/ your offer suggests now that you believe he is stupid and will not have dreamed up the scenario where he could just fix a broken usb stick and regain his millions of dollars in btc he is meant to have before you suggested it just now.
Now I understand, thanks for the clarification.
No, I'm not assuming that he "was" smart and is "dumb" now.
I assume that it's no longer the same person.
If JFY is really BTC_Bear, he won't have lost all his keys to a hard drive failure.
a) because he had backups
b) because he would have recovered data from a hard drive
Do you mean you will be willing to continue our prior conversation regarding the liars and their place on DT here?
No, because I'm not interested in that conversation.
I reserve the right to not participate in a discussion if I so please
"For you, everything seems to be related to DT and red trust."
Merit is more broken to me, we can fix that we can fix it all. Although criteria in DT will be preferential too.
That's where we disagree, I think neither is broken, maybe some of it might need some tweaking, but I'm willing to give it some time before I ask for radical changes.
Also this does not even touch on...
1. has original email
2. does not feel the need to sig spam like 90% + of meta fans and legends.
3. no other vip complaining of loss.
1. is unfortunately no proof of identity, but more likely to be the initial attack vector that got the account into the wrong hands in the first place.
2. is actually interesting and the reason why he's gone unnoticed for so long.
I'm willing to concede that he might just be some guy who bought a VIP account as a novelty toy without any malice in mind.
3. says precisely nothing. The original BTC_Bear has obviously moved on.
But hey, I'm giving you another bite to chew on:
Let's assume he's really BTC_Bear.
Let's assume he really lost all of his keys.
Let's assume there's no way for him to prove his identity.
What does that tell us about him?
He was rich.
He now isn't.
He's got a tool at his disposal that might very well be able to make him some money (a VIP account).
Is it too far-fetched to fear the danger of him abusing this account at some time in the future to rip off some guys?
Dear Sir/Madam
This letter is not intended to to cause any embarrassment but just to contact your esteem self-following the knowledge of your high repute and trustworthiness.
I am XXX, the son of BTC_Bear who died on XXX. If you are conversant with Bitcoin,you would understand better, while I got your contacts through my personal research. Please,I need your assistance to make this happen and please; do not undermine it because it will also be a source of upliftment to you also. You have absolutely nothing to loose in assisting us instead, you have so much to gain.
BTC_Bear had the amount of 22 million Bitcoin under his control, and we need someone to transfer the coins.
You will be receiving a share of 10% for your assistance...
You get the idea?
I would feel uncomfortable letting anyone who lost basically all their Bitcoin run around with a VIP account.
But again, I don't believe this is the case.
JFY is most likely not BTC_Bear.