Stefan Thomas, a man who forgot the password needed to unlock his $220 million Bitcoin, said that he has 'made peace' with the unfortunate situation.
He said that 'time heals all wounds', adding that in initial couple of weeks, he was 'desperate', and questioned his 'self-worth' after the loss.
"It was actually a really big milestone in my life where, like, I sort of realized how I was going to define my self-worth going forward. It wasn't going to be about how much money I have in my bank account," he said.
Despite Thomas's Bitcoin wealth, he forgot his password and he has already made eight unsuccessful attempts to unlock the encryption device.
To the uninitiated, Thomas was an early investor in Bitcoin when its value was merely in single or at most in double digits. He owns 7,002 bitcoins till date, which are today valued at a massive USD 245 million (equivalent to Rs 1800 crores). Thomas had stored all his Bitcoin keys in an encryption device called IronKey to keep them safe.
IronKey allows only 10 attempts to unlock it through the right password. If the owner of the device fails to put in the right password in these attempts, the device encrypts itself forever, with no chance to access it ever again.
First reported by the New York Times, the case of Stefan Thomas remarks on one of the major issues with cryptocurrency. It is based on a cryptographic key, which is a unique identifier of a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin and is only available to its owner. It does not have a central body with power or a master key to access it. In case someone forgets the password to their crypto wallet, no company or helpline can help them gain access to it again.
Stefan said that several people reached out to him in his time of distress to offer advice, some even suggested to try the word password'.
"Some people have recommended various mediums, psychics, prophets that I could talk to. Some people are suggesting nootropic memory-enhancing drugs," he stated.
Thomas can't recall his password since 2012.
