The Lost Bitcoin Wallets Worth Billions

It’s estimated that over 20% of all Bitcoin in existence—worth hundreds of billions of dollars—is permanently lost due to forgotten passwords, misplaced private keys, and lost hard drives.

One of the most infamous cases is that of Stefan Thomas, a programmer who owns a wallet with 7,002 BTC (over $400 million today). The problem? He forgot his password and has only two attempts left before the wallet permanently locks him out. Thomas has refused to sell access to hackers or password recovery experts, hoping he will one day remember his passphrase.