Stefan Thomas, an American programmer, was once one of the largest Bitcoin holders at the onset of its emergence. In 2011, he received 7,002 BTC as a reward for creating an educational video about cryptocurrency.
Unfortunately, Stefan stored his Bitcoin wallet key on an IronKey USB—a super secure encrypted drive. The problem? He forgot the password... and worse, he also lost the notes where he wrote down the password!
IronKey only allows 10 attempts to enter the password before permanently locking the contents of the drive. Stefan has tried 8 times. That means: only 2 attempts left—if wrong, his Bitcoin will be locked forever!
Now, that 7,002 BTC is worth more than Rp11 trillion! But Stefan chooses to let it go.
> “I have tried everything. I couldn't sleep all night... But in the end, I had to choose: to continue being haunted or to accept reality and move on. I choose the latter,” he said.
Important lesson:
Don't underestimate the security and backup of your crypto wallet! One mistake could cost billions of rupiah.
