28.03.2024

Cryptocurrency owner lost 100 thousand dollars in Bitcoin due to accidentally lost password

In the world of cryptocurrencies, fortunes can be acquired or lost very quickly. Unfortunately, the story of a user under the pseudonym Onnar from the Reddit platform refers exactly to the second case.

In his post on the social platform, he shared a story about how he lost access to his 2.6 BTC, that is, about 100 thousand dollars at the current cryptocurrency rate. Onnar made a publication to edify other bitcoin owners who should be much more careful about coins.

Recall that each user is responsible for the security of cryptocurrencies independently – especially if he does not keep coins on centralized exchanges. For high-quality storage of bitcoins, ethers and other cryptocurrencies, people need to carefully hide the seed phrase, that is, in fact, the universal right of access to the address in the blockchain, do not follow suspicious links and do not send coins to strangers under any pretext.

If you make a mistake and lose your seed phrase, your money will be lost forever. Moreover, it will not work to ask for help from higher authorities, because they simply do not exist. Due to the peculiarities of decentralization, all users of the cryptocurrency network are equal to each other.

How not to store cryptocurrencies

It all started with the purchase of a new computer, after which Onnar started copying their crypto wallets. Here is his line, in which he shares the details of the loss. The quote is from Cointelegraph.

I bought myself a new computer for Christmas and wanted to use the old one for work. The first step was to make sure I had a backup of my private keys. Well no problem, I already have encrypted backups of my keys on two USB sticks stored in different locations.

The cryptocurrency hobbyist wanted to format the hard drive on an old computer with a wallet, as it was supposed to be used in the workplace. He successfully completed the procedure, reinstalled the operating system and started restoring the wallet on a new computer. His private keys were encrypted on USB drives, and the decryption password was stored in a password manager that Onnar «was 100 percent sure of.» The user continues.

The terminal asked for a password. No problem, I have all my secret combinations in my password manager, which I 100 percent trust. However, THERE IS NO PASSWORD. I spend the next 30 minutes rechecking everything, but to no avail.

That is, in fact, it all boiled down to the fact that the user did not check for the presence of keys, although he was sure that he had them. This was the fatal mistake that cost the bitcoin lover about $ 100,000.

It is important to note that the equivalent of $ 100 thousand is relevant today. Obviously, Bitcoin is unlikely to end its growth by 40 thousand dollars after such a steep run, which means that in the future this hundred may well turn into, for example, 200 thousand dollars. This means that there will be even more regrets about what you have done.

Many commentators were sympathetic to Onnar’s plight, responding with stories of their own mistakes. For example, a user with the nickname notmattdamon1 said that he “lost much less money in this way,” but then became angry with himself for weeks. Others advised to learn from their sad experiences and avoid mistakes in the future. Here’s one tip.

The current standard is to use a hardware wallet and write the seed phrase on paper or on a metal plate. You shouldn’t encrypt private keys in a computer file for very good reasons.

That is, other blockchain fans advise using a bundle of a hardware wallet and a seed phrase fixed elsewhere. Thus, the user will be safe. If the machine operator is stolen, thieves will not be able to access it due to ignorance of the password. But if the seed phrase disappears, then you will need to quickly transfer the cryptocurrency to another address at your disposal.

We have previously written about such oversights, which cost the fans of cryptocurrencies a lot of money. There are also many stories of human carelessness in cryptocurrency trading, which led to the same sad results.

We believe that the situation has turned out to be extremely sad. Obviously, the user was familiar with the basics of storing cryptocurrencies, since he kept private keys in various secure places. However, in the end, his own carelessness and haste cost him a serious sum. I would like to hope that this cryptocurrency was not the last among the user’s reserves, and in the future he will still be able to return this money.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *