As Bitcoin Prices Swing, Millionaires Lose Sleep Over Lost Keys

As Bitcoin Prices Swing, Millionaires Lose Sleep Over Lost Keys

Stefan Thomas, a programmer in San Francisco, owns 7,002 Bitcoin that he cannot access because he lost the password to his digital wallet.Credit...Nicholas Albrecht for The New York TimesSkip to contentSkip to site indexLost Passwords Lock Millionaires Out of Their Bitcoin FortunesBitcoin owners are getting rich because the cryptocurrency has soared. But what happens when you can't access that wealth because you forgot the password to your digital wallet?Stefan Thomas, a programmer in San Francisco, owns 7,002 Bitcoin that he cannot access because he lost the password to his digital wallet.Credit...Nicholas Albrecht for The New York TimesBy Nathaniel PopperJan. 12, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ETStefan Thomas, a German-born programmer living in San Francisco, has two guesses left to figure out a password that is worth, as of this week, about $220 million.The password will let him unlock a small hard drive, known as an IronKey, which contains the private keys to a digital wallet that holds 7,002 Bitcoin. While the price of Bitcoin dropped sharply on Monday, it is still up more than 50 percent from just a month ago when it passed its previous all-time high around $20,000. The problem is that Mr. Thomas years ago lost the paper where