Forgotten Passwords: $140 Billion Bitcoin Write-Off?

Nearly $140 billion worth of Bitcoins is at risk of being permanently lost, according to online platform Chainalysis, due to forgotten passwords for decryption.

3.7 million Bitcoins worth almost $140 billion could permanently vanish from the market, as of January 18 this year.

Based on June 2020 figures, this represents around one-fifth of the total 18.6 million Bitcoins created in the market. Bitcoin’s infrastructure is designed to cap supply at 21 million.

German-born San Francisco-based programmer Stefan Thomas first shined a light on the issue after he revealed that he failed to gain access to his crypto wallet to access over more than $200 million worth of Bitcoin.

Thomas had already made eight successful attempts and he has two more remaining to save his sizeable Bitcoin holdings.

I would just lay in bed and think about it. Then I would go to the computer with some new strategy, and it wouldn’t work, and I would be desperate again, he recalls. I got to a point where I said to myself, ‘Let it be in the past, just for your own mental health.