Stefan Thomas went viral this week after a New York Times profile revealed his unsettling dilemma to the world: the password to unlock your Bitcoin fortune is locked on a hard drive that gives users 10 tries before clearing everything. Thomas has only two more attempts.
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In an interview with ABC7 News on Wednesday, Thomas said it has been nine years since he realized his account was locked, meaning he had enough time to process it.
“There were some weeks when I was desperate, I have no other word to describe it,” said Thomas, remembering how he felt when he learned he couldn’t find his password in 2012. “kind of questioning your own worth. What kind of person miss something so important? “
But “time heals all wounds,” he added, and over the years he said he “made up” with his loss.
“It was a really big milestone in my life where, like, I realized how I would define my self-esteem going forward,” he said. “It wouldn’t be about how much money I have in my bank account.”
This is all great and altruistic, but losing $ 220 million ?! This is sure to stress even the most genuine people.
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Thomas said that since the New York Times’ profile, hundreds of people around the world approached him with advice – some serious and some foolish.
“One person suggested, did you try the word ‘password’?” he joked. “Some people have recommended several mediums, mediums, prophets that I could talk to. Some people are suggesting drugs that increase nootropic memory.”
So far, he hasn’t accepted anyone.
Ian Sherr, Editor-in-Chief of CNET News, explained that Thomas’s situation is not so unusual. “The way Bitcoin works, and this technology works, it’s all designed to be anonymous,” said Sherr. “But a lot of that data is actually hidden behind a specific password that you need to enter into your account.”
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Sherr said that there were many people who bought Bitcoins years ago, when they were worth very little, wrote their passwords somewhere, “and just thought it would be nothing.”
“And now it’s worth millions,” he said, “and they’re sitting there cracking their heads to find out where that piece of paper is or what their password might be.”
So, what is the best advice for storing and remembering passwords?
“We received a recommendation from CNET to use a password manager,” said Sherr. “This is a single application that sits on your computer or phone and is hidden behind a password, and it’s a good one.”
(Sherr, for example, said he uses a line of poetry.)
Then the app creates other passwords for you that are random and really hard to crack. “It works very well, because you don’t have to remember anything anymore,” he said. “You only have one thing.”
Thomas said he decided to share his story in the hope of preventing others from making the same mistake as him. He said that if you get a digital wallet, make sure you have a plan to protect – and remember – your password.
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