Forgot password: American can't withdraw $200 million worth of bitcoins (video)

American programmer Stephan Thomas can't access his bitcoin wallet, which holds $200 million worth of cryptocurrency. He is also refusing the services of cybersecurity experts Unciphered, who said they could access his savings.

According to IFLScience, Thomas created an animated video about bitcoins in 2011, for which he received a reward of 7,002 VTS. At the time, the coins were only worth about $2 each, but they are now worth more than $34,000. Thus, Thomas' bitcoins are worth more than $238 million dollars.

Thomas stored the bitcoins on an encrypted IronKey hard drive that has a 10 attempt password. Thomas forgot the password and only had two attempts left.

Unciphered has announced that it has developed a method to crack IronKey hard drives that works with devices released before 2017. The firm demonstrated their method to a Wired journalist, asking him to set a password, which they sent to him the next day.

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Unciphered contacted Thomas, but he refused their help as he is working with two other teams who are also trying to break his wallet.

"I've already worked with other experts on the rebuild, so I'm no longer qualified to negotiate with anyone new," Thomas said.

"It's quite possible that the current team may decide to subcontract to Unciphered if they feel that's the best option. We'll have to wait and see," he added.

If Thomas can not access his wallet, he will lose more than 200 million dollars.

Recall, UAportal has researched the most common fakes that are fueled with intelligence regarding cryptocurrencies, and prepared accurate information on how to counter them.

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