From 2011 to today, he can't crack the password We wouldn't believe it if someone said they've never forgotten the password to at least one of the accounts we have online. This man became famous for having only two guesses left to remember his forgotten password or else he would lose $240 million in bitcoins. His name is Stefan Thomas, a German-born programmer living in San Francisco. In 2011, Thomas took to YouTube to upload a short clip titled: "What is Bitcoin?"
The just over a minute long video was made for a bitcoin enthusiast based in Switzerland, who pays for Stefan's service in bitcoins. To be precise, the developer gets 7,002 bitcoins, which at the time were worth just $2 each. At that time, the price of the video was quite decent - $ 14,004. After that, however, crypto gained momentum and each Bitcoin reached a value of approximately $34,500, making the collection today worth a staggering $241,569,000. ( Currently around $200 000 000 )
Sounds like a dream come true - right?
Unfortunately for Thomas, he forgets the password to his IronKey encrypted hard drive where he keeps the bitcoins. And to make it worse? In fact, he also loses the sheet on which he wrote the password. It itself puts a protection of 10 attempts to know the password before the content is encrypted and becomes inaccessible to anyone. Thomas tries his luck eight times, but none of these attempts are successful.
Unfortunately for the programmer, this means he only has two guesses left before his state is lost forever. Thomas loses his sleep and falls into a severe depression. For now, he has locked his IronKey in a secure room that is a secret even from those closest to him - just in case
