The story of Stefan Thomas, former CTO of Ripple, and his treasure trove of 7,002 BTC IronKey hard drive is becoming increasingly intriguing. After years of trying fruitlessly to access this cryptocurrency fortune, Unciphered, a company that specializes in recovering lost coins, has decided to take up the challenge and offer its services.
Mission of last resort
On October 25, Unciphered’s team sent an open letter to Thomas, offering to decode the mysterious IronKey disk with 7,002 BTC stashed on it. The task that has caused Thomas many headaches seems to have a chance of being accomplished.
The hard drive, which holds millions of dollars in Bitcoin, is programmed to destroy its contents after ten failed password attempts. Stefan Thomas, meanwhile, has already used eight of the ten available options, leaving himself with only two.
Unciphered claims that its experts have developed a unique method of bypassing hardware security to gain access to the valuable BTC keys hidden on the IronKey drive. Interestingly, they seem to be able to bypass the limit of ten attempts to access the disk, which some believe is impossible.
Unciphered with successes in recovering access to cryptocurrencies
“This is not just a theory,” assures Unciphered. “We can do it, and it won’t be our first time. We’re ready to prove it as many times as it takes to make sure everyone is confident.”
Eric Michaud, Unciphered’s CEO, however, did not reveal what he expects in return for his help in decoding the cipher to this Bitcoin vault. He merely stated that the company aims to create a “sustainable business” to help people recover lost cryptocurrencies.
Of course, there are many other stories similar to Stefan Thomas’, in which users have lost access to their cryptocurrencies. However, Unciphered hopes that with its unique method it can help reduce the amount of crypto assets that are assumed to have been irretrievably lost.
Investor losses reduce Bitcoin’s give
Statistics from 2022 suggest that as much as 20% of available Bitcoin could be permanently lost, equating to billions of dollars. This reminds us how important it is to properly secure and manage our digital treasures to avoid similar dramatic stories in the future. Regardless of Stefan Thomas’ decision, the story of his lost fortune will surely be remembered as one of the most fascinating tales from the cryptocurrency world. Meanwhile, keeping our fingers crossed for success, we eagerly await its finale.
