A quick google search will throw up plenty of stories of lost keys to Bitcoin fortunes.

There was a Welsh guy who threw his PC hard drive away that contained the key to a wallet with 7000 Bitcoins in!

People who have any significant amount of BTC really should investigate keeping it in cold storage.

Stefan Thomas, a German-born programmer living in San Francisco, has two guesses left to figure out a password that is worth, as of this week, about $220 million.

The password will let him unlock a small hard drive, known as an IronKey, which contains the private keys to a digital wallet that holds 7,002 Bitcoin. While the price of Bitcoin dropped sharply on Monday, it is still up more than 50 percent from just a month ago, when it passed its previous all-time high of around $20,000.

The problem is that Mr. Thomas years ago lost the paper where he wrote down the password for his IronKey, which gives users 10 guesses before it seizes up and encrypts its contents forever. He has since tried eight of his most commonly used password formulations — to no avail.

“I would just lay in bed and think about it,” Mr. Thomas said. “Then I would go to the computer with some new strategy, and it wouldn’t work, and I would be desperate again.”

Bitcoin, which has been on an extraordinary and volatile eight-month run, has made a lot of its holders very rich in a short time, even as the coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the world economy.

But the cryptocurrency’s unusual nature has also meant that many people are locked out of their Bitcoin fortunes as a result of lost or forgotten keys. They have been forced to watch, helpless, as the price has risen and fallen sharply, unable to cash in on their digital wealth.

Of the existing 18.5 million Bitcoin, around 20 percent — currently worth around $140 billion — appear to be in lost or otherwise stranded wallets, according to the cryptocurrency data firm Chainalysis. Wallet Recovery Services, a business that helps find lost digital keys, said it had gotten 70 requests a day from people who wanted help recovering their riches, three times the number of a month ago.

Get Allam Millyard on the job he knows nothing about computers, but he solves all of his engineering problems in bed he never uses a diagram or chart but this guy can make a better motorbike than Triumph BMW and Harley Davivdson witha few files and a hachsaw

politicspunter • September 9, 2021 3:41 PM BST
The price Jockey bought his Kava shares at is irrelevant.

So when i held some banks shares years ago...the price i bought at ...lloyds 25p...was not relevant?

and no , it is totally relevant what price i bought at.....

Since i recommended it to myself i am well up...and i am earning 20+% on it...Dot hit an al time high yesterday btw...parachains out next week ...you missed the boat...i got in at 18.5$...also got in on altura @.10$ last friday...the gaming boom is underway.

last week i bought some altura at 0.10%
made 50% on doge....about 300% on shiba inu...100% + onXEC.
350% on altura...

i also bought DOT as you know...i bought at 18.5$ with the 12% staking on top...

you stick to your inflation losing , government scam , premium bonds....

I see Kava is now down to $5.95..

if you are not involved in the gaming boom..prepare your wallets for pancakeswap , phantom (solana) etc avoid ethereum based projects high fees.
it is happening now and if you arent in you are not going to make $$$$$$

i guess you can let tho government scam that is premium bonds eat away through inflation..

G1_Jockey_4 • September 6, 2021 5:59 PM BST
20% interest on staked Kava right now..pad twice a week plus those rewards go up or down with the price...as crypto is on the up...bingo
DOT is 12%.

Anyone not in crypto right now needs to take the time to research and understand it  because when it becomes mainstream you will have missed the opportunity of a lifetime.

Bartering was replaced by paper/coins...paper/coins is going to replaced by the digital blockchain....think about it.

When this was originally posted the Kava price was $8.03. Today it is $3.59

Next few months are gonna be really interesting. The USA is in denial about Evergrande imo. Stock market crash on its way. Some have reacted but no where near enough for if it does happen.
Crypto tends to react hard on what is happening so should be some really good entry points aound March April May...you aint gonna guess to low point so dont try and be clever. Have your strategy set and at what prices...when they pump in the late spring early summer sell for profit.
I sold out of the tiny 20% and 12% interest opportunities mid way through the latest crash...so got out well.
Some invested in interesting game projects...buying NFTs and staking them for 140% interest....got in early on an ido on one project yet to take off but its not ready yet...when it does selling and topping up other staking projects...PR 74% 130% 210% 120%....if they dive 50% i will still be getting way more than you would get in a bank lol

if you get in early on some projects you can for a few days earn 1000%+...

next year is gonna be massive for defi...

$3.28 today.

Sweet.  Still got 40.8% of the investment left.  Only need a 145% rise from now to break even

G1_Jockey_4 • September 6, 2021 5:59 PM BST
20% interest on staked Kava right now..pad twice a week plus those rewards go up or down with the price...as crypto is on the up...bingo
DOT is 12%.

Anyone not in crypto right now needs to take the time to research and understand it  because when it becomes mainstream you will have missed the opportunity of a lifetime.

Bartering was replaced by paper/coins...paper/coins is going to replaced by the digital blockchain....think about it.

When this was originally posted the Kava price was $8.03. Today it is $3.68

It was you who recommended buying at $8.03.

I don't think anyone followed his advice .  Seeing as you've cashed out that's a verifiable posting time loss of 55%.  That's all that counts on here.

Rich, keep it fun, i have been there and turned it round, only do football, i would never get involved untill around h/t, lay draw back draw or cash out, never lay anything over 4.0 eg correct score, or over 3.0 for laying the draw, only use 25% of bank, i know the temptation is there to go bigger, but if its a loss you still have a bank, remember most goals come second half, and price is low, once something has happened in a game, don't be tempted to have another go , go to next game, eg lay 0-0 at h/t and a goal is scored early second half, leave it and move on. How many times have you said they going to score again and they don't. and Everyone take care

team they are playing have only failed to score away, few times

Escapee • February 17, 2022 7:55 PM GMT
the crypto market is 99.9999% blockchain Tulips.

people still made fortunes in the tulip bubble though.

And the blockchain seems to produce tulips that can maintain a continuous bubble cycle much akin to stock markets.

Like stock markets a lot is about "potential" at the moment.
btc thinks it is the US dollar of crypto currency...probably right. It is all over the place.
Crypto is ready to take over mainstream but will meet resistance. Banks wont want to lose business so like subprime they will lobby like **** and use their political influence as much as they can.
Too late though.
I didn't expect the invasion to help kick start it , but it looks like it is.
Gaming will help make it easier for dummies to understand and use.
But this year is dodgy as....the US economy is in a right state due to covid..others too. This will hit markets and with evergrande plus the war...this year wont be great and probably next year as well.
I expect a recession. But some projects will shine through. USA and UK arms sales will rocket. Good crypto projects will also.