$ETH 2 years ago, Rain Lõhmus – founder of LHV Bank, one of Estonia’s top three banks – revealed he had lost access to a wallet containing 250,000 ETH purchased during the 2014 presale.

The initial investment was just $75,000, but with ETH surpassing $4,700, the tokens would now be worth around $1.18 billion. Lõhmus has not disclosed the exact reason for losing access, but noted that decentralization brings both advantages and unexpected risks when self-custodying private keys.

Many others have faced similar fates—some forgot their seed phrases or private keys, while others accidentally discarded storage devices. In most cases, recovering the lost crypto is nearly impossible, serving as a stark reminder to safeguard digital assets carefully.

What’s your take – Will this cautionary tale push more investors toward custodial solutions, or will it simply reinforce the importance of secure self-storage?