
You might also be able to add rewards cards from retailers or tickets for events. Most digital wallets will let you add debit cards, credits cards, or gift cards to your virtual wallet. This has, ultimately, even affected the total supply of the digital gold asset.Īccording to on-chain analytics firm Chainalysis, about 20% of the existing 18.5 million Bitcoin, valued at over $130 billion at current rates, appear to be lost in various digital wallets.A digital wallet is an online payment tool that allows you to record payment information on a smartphone or smartwatch. Thomas is one of the many individuals that hold big Bitcoin (or crypto) fortunes in wallets they can’t access or have lost. “The reason we have banks is that we don’t want to deal with all those things that banks do,” he added. “This whole idea of being your own bank - let me put it this way, ‘Do you make your own shoes?’” However, he’s now having second thoughts: The veteran was initially drawn to the cryptocurrency because of its ethos and the idea of it not being controlled by a country or a traditional bank. Ironically, he has cashed in his XRP stash as well, making “more riches than he knows what to do with.” The computer scientist also worked for Ripple, the payments firm in midst of a lawsuit due to the alleged malpractices concerning the distribution and sales of XRP, in 2021. ĭespite the unattainable fortune, Thomas has not exactly lost it all. Then I would go to the computer with some new strategy, and it wouldn’t work, and I would be desperate again,” Thomas told the NYT. “I would just lay in bed and think about it. IronKey allows users only ten attempts to crack the code before encrypting its contents forever. At the time, he wrote down the passcode on a piece of paper, but that got lost and Thomas can neither retrieve nor remember the passcode.īrute-forcing, or trying new passwords out repeatedly, won’t help in this case either. It’s where Thomas’ Bitcoin was locked for safety…years ago.


Stefan Thomas, the scientist, safeguarded his Bitcoin long ago using the IronKey flash device-a piece of hardware that boasts Cryptochip Encryption Key management and is encased in an epoxy-filled casing for physical security. What to do?Īn American computer scientist is sitting on a fortune of $220 million worth of Bitcoin, as per a report in the New York Times this week. You don’t want to be Stefan Thomas, the owner of 7,002 Bitcoin, right now.
