The Agony of Lost Crypto: Millions in Bitcoin Vanished by Misplaced Passwords, Exchange Hacks, Landfills, and Mysterious Thefts
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James Howells threw away a hard drive with 7,500 Bitcoin on it in 2013, now worth over $258 million. He has made desperate attempts to retrieve it from a landfill.
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Stefan Thomas lost the password to a hard drive called IronKey containing 7,002 Bitcoin. He has limited password attempts before the drive locks permanently.
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850,000 Bitcoin were stolen from Mt. Gox exchange in 2014, with mysteries surrounding the hack. Victims are still waiting for compensation.
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Gerald Cotten, CEO of QuadrigaCX, died in 2018 taking sole access to crypto funds. Investors lost $215 million as Cotten had not set up a fail-safe mechanism.
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In 2013, 69,000 Bitcoin linked to Silk Road were dormant in a wallet. The funds mysteriously moved in 2018, later found to be hacked by an individual known to authorities.