28th August, 2022
By now, everybody has heard about Stefan Thomas, the guy who only gets two more guesses at his password to recover his wallet containing over $200 Million in bitcoin.
New York Times reported on this last year: ‘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.”
It’s excruciating just thinking about it.
Regret can be more painful than loss itself.
The total value of all Bitcoin stands around $1 Trillion as of today, down from its high of $ 3 Trillion at one time.
So, going by the 20% estimated amount mentioned in the Times article, lost forever due to forgotten passwords etc, an estimated $200 Billion in Bitcoin has been lost maybe not to be retrieved.
That’s a big number that could grow considerably when the value of the digital asset increases over time and as additional Bitcoin are mined.
Stefan Thomas says he long ago “made peace” with the reality that he may never gain access to his approx $200 million Bitcoin fortune.
At times, it is best to make peace, rather than lose sleep over it.
We all lose peace over, ‘Alas, what could have been, phenomenon’ and continuously torture ourselves.
Make peace with yourself and your reality this Sunday and stay blessed forever.