Losing your password is a pain but imagine if that loss password cost you more than $250 million dollars.
That’s what’s happened to a San Francisco man. Back in 2011, he worked on a video that explained all about the then-new cryptocurrency Bitcoin. For his work, he received 7,000 Bitcoin Back then that was worth less than $2500 USD.
A decade later, those bitcoins are worth in excess of $250,000,000. However, he’s got a problem. He can’t access his fortune because he forgot his password.
You can’t access cryptocurrency without your private key. His key is stored on an encrypted USB drive called an IronKey. He doesn’t remember the password.
You only get 10 chances with an IronKey to enter a password before the USB drive is locked forever. He’s used 8 of those chances already.
Since there’s no central organization governing Bitcoin, there’s no place to go to prove you had an account. If he isn’t able to remember the correct password, his fortune is gone forever.
So, the next time you forget a password, don’t feel so bad about it. It could be much worse.