Man loses $220 million by forgetting his Bitcoin wallet password

There is nothing worse than forgetting your password to an account you need to get access to, but imagine being locked out of an account that is holding your $220 million in Bitcoin.

33-year-old software developer Stephen Thomas is experiencing that very thing as he cannot remember the password to his “Iron Key”, which contains a stack of Bitcoin that he purchased back in 2011. So, what is an Iron Key? An Iron Key is developed by Kingston Technology and is a USB drive with AES-encrypted directories that only allows for ten attempts, and if ten attempts are incorrect, then the USB wipes all of its content.

The New York Times interviewed Stephen where he said, “I would just lay in bed and think about it: Then I would go to the computer with some new strategy, and it wouldn’t work, and I would be desperate again. It was actually a really big milestone in my life where I sort of realized how I was going to define my self-worth going forward. It wasn’t going to be about how much money I have in my bank account.“

Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for people to forget the passwords to their accounts, which is why it’s always recommended to keep physical copies of your passwords – especially with something as important as cryptocurrency wallets.