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Of the 3 million BTCs that are thought to be lost forever, 127 have found an owner. The student explains that he was able to find his private keys to access Bitcoin that he has had in his possession for 8 years. He made $4.2 million from their sale.
The value of Bitcoin is going well. That should make some people happy. Well, not necessarily. Especially when the private keys or passwords to access his BTC are no longer in our possession.
This is the misadventure reported in the NYT by former Ripple executive Stefan Thomas. For the latter, it was impossible for him to get his hands on the password that would give him access to 7002 Bitcoin.
More than 200 million dollars are therefore close, but at the same time inaccessible to him. Another BTC holder is luckier, as Cointelegraph reports. On the Reddit forum, a student testifies to his good fortune.
Eight to nine years ago, he was accumulating 127 Bitcoin through various tasks on the Internet, such as watching videos. Their value at the time was almost non-existent. Today, the BTC is flirting with the $40,000.
However, this user had misplaced the private keys of the 127 BTCs. He nevertheless managed to get them back on an old Dell computer that was still at his disposal. And on December 22, 2020, he sold his entire Bitcoin for $33,439 – minus 0.15% in fees.
The profit for this lucky crypto owner: 4.24 million dollars. Not bad? Yes, even if he could still have maximized his profits by still waiting. The day trader acknowledges this and confesses his regrets about Reddit.
“I would certainly do things differently if I was given a second chance,” the user acknowledges. “In my defense, I’ve been doing HODL for 8-9 years, which is more than the vast majority of crypto users,” he adds, however.
In particular, he could have drawn inspiration from the strategy of an experienced financier like deVere Group CEO Nigel Green. In December, he also sold his Bitcoin, but only 50%. And he intends to take advantage of the volatility to buy it back at a low price.
In this way, the investor will multiply the capital gains. Provided that he doesn’t lose his private keys or password, which is unlikely. This misadventure is not uncommon, however. Glassnode estimates the number of lost BTCs at about 3 million. This represents an unreachable treasure of more than 100 billion dollars.