5 Most 'Heartbreaking' Bitcoin Loss Cases in History

In addition to the attacks caused by hackers, there are many cases where owners lose all their cryptocurrency due to 'Laughable Reasons'. Accidentally Throwing Bitcoin Into... The Trash James Howells, a British tech engineer, once owned about 7,500 Bitcoins through diligent mining from 2009 - 2013 on a laptop. He then sold the laptop, keeping only the hard drive in the hope that Bitcoin would someday be valuable. However, by the end of 2013, while cleaning his house, Howells accidentally threw away the hard drive containing the Bitcoins in a landfill in Newport, Wales (UK). From then until now, James Howells has been diligently excavating the landfill and asking the Newport City Council for permission to conduct a wide-scale search. His efforts have not yet been accepted by the council due to concerns about environmental risks. Every year, 50,000 tons of waste are added to the landfill, making James Howells' "needle in a haystack" endeavor even more challenging. But he remains undeterred. In 2021, Howells announced that he is using an X-ray scanning system combined with artificial intelligence (AI) to sift through the landfill, searching for the hard drive containing 7,500 Bitcoin. He believes that the money can still be recovered, as long as the hard drive remains intact. Howells also asked an investment fund to sponsor the equipment to find the hard drive. The fund will receive 1/4 of the assets if Howells succeeds. Forgot Bitcoin Wallet Password German programmer Stefan Thomas is famous for the "cryp-tic" story of owning thousands of Bitcoins but... not being able to access them. Thomas' wallet reportedly contains 7,002 Bitcoins worth hundreds of millions of USD. In 2012, due to not remembering the private key, he had no way to access his funds. Thomas entered the incorrect password 8 times, with only 2 attempts left. If he continues to make mistakes, there is a risk of losing all the Bitcoins in the wallet. Thomas said there were times when he stayed up all night, trying to remember the password, attempting to recover the lost Bitcoin, or just staring at the ceiling in regret. He said, "I was truly desperate". After many years, the pain of losing a huge amount of money gradually faded away. Sharing his painful experience with the New York Times, the "failed millionaire" advised those who own cryptocurrency to remember the password for their digital wallet to avoid making the same mistake as him. Money Lost Because the Owner... Hid It Too Well Matthew Mellon is an American investor, famous for his investments in the Ripple (XRP) cryptocurrency. He chose Ripple because it is one of the few cryptocurrencies operating within the banking system. Mellon is a direct descendant of Thomas Mellon - the founder of Mellon Bank, and Anthony Joseph Drexel - a prominent banker who played a significant role in American finance after the Civil War. He said, "I support America, I support businesses and banks. That's why I chose Ripple". Mellon's cryptocurrency assets are worth about 1 billion USD. A 54-year-old American investor unexpectedly passed away in 2018. He concealed his assets in cold wallets spread across multiple banks in the United States. However, he never disclosed the locations of the banks and the passwords to unlock the cold wallets to anyone. As of 2019, there is still no information about Matthew Mellon's lost assets. Lost Bitcoin Because Mom... Threw Laptop This is the story of a Reddit user, but it may also reflect the 'tragedy' of many 'failed millionaires'. According to news.com.au, a Reddit user said that he once owned 10,000 Bitcoins in 2010 and kept the wallet open on his laptop. In 2014, when cryptocurrencies started to boom, he suddenly remembered his college student assets and went back home to find his old laptop, only to discover that his laptop was lying on a pile of scrap metal, thrown away by his mother. According to The Sun, this person shared: "I want to faint, I am angry, confused, deeply shocked, in denial, sad, outraged and experiencing many other emotions". Every time he sees the price of Bitcoin rise, he feels even more dejected. "I am still poor, still living with my parents, I go to work but don't like the job I do, and I still hang out with friends but don't talk to them much. My life is not like before," he said. Money "Evaporates" Due to Technician's Mistakes According to The Guardian, over 300 million USD worth of Ether cryptocurrency "vanished" due to a bug in the Parity electronic wallet service in 2017. The Parity wallet required users to enter a private key before transferring funds. But while the technical team is patching a vulnerability that allowed hackers to steal 32 million USD from three electronic wallets, they inadvertently left a second vulnerability in the system. This vulnerability allows a user to become the sole owner of all Parity electronic wallets. A user named "devops199" has inadvertently become the owner of all wallets in the Parity system. This person also accidentally locked all the funds in the electronic wallets, making it inaccessible to anyone. Parity representatives said they cannot confirm the amount of money lost and assert that the money is not 'lost' but only 'frozen'. However, technical errors have prevented any user from being able to transact or withdraw money. DYOR! #Write2Win #Write&Earn $BTC {spot}(BTCUSDT)