Stefan Thomas, a San Francisco-based programmer and a pioneer in crypto, lost 7002 Bitcoins after forgetting the password to his Bitcoin wallet. The programmer has been locked out since 2014 and has made several attempts to crack open the wallet, all of which have been unsuccessful.
The estimated net worth of all the Bitcoins in the blockchain address, based on the current ATH price ($126k), would be at least $880 million.
Blockchain Lab believes there are only two ways to crack the wallet: the first being trial and error via an automated bot, while the second is quantum computing.
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How did Stefan Thomas lock himself?
Stefan Thomas holds an encrypted hard drive containing a primitive self-created Bitcoin wallet with at least 7,002 Bitcoins.
Thomas is a veteran programmer who created a hard drive that is impervious to all kinds of attacks. Further, the hard drive is designed to permanently self-lock if more than 10 attempts are made to crack its key by guessing.
How do Bitcoin Wallet Passwords Work?
Bitcoin wallet passwords are just routine passwords linked to private keys, which are indeed the real alphanumeric strings that control access to the wallet. A password acts as a temporary authenticator, and the alphanumeric keys, called private keys, are used to recover the wallet and set a new password.
Each private key in Bitcoin is generated by hashing 12, 24 or more set of words called Seed Phrases, once hashed, these seed phrases generate the public keys which when hashed again generates private keys.
Why is a Bitcoin Wallet Password Impossible to Recover?
Bitcoin Wallets have been made impossible to recover by design because these wallets are anonymous, so no social or email recovery can be used.
Further, wallets were designed to be censorship-resistant, which means they were protected from authority-led seizures, which is why the encryption is one of the toughest.
Did Stefan Thomas Recover his Wallet Password?
No, as of April 2026, Thomas has not recovered his crypto wallet yet. However, should this change, we will update you as soon as possible. According to the latest available information, he has just 2 trials remaining before the wallet locks itself permanently.
About Stefan Thomas
Stefam Thomas is a crypto pioneer, former Chief Technical Office at Ripple, and CEO of Coil, a financial services company. His fame is owed to him losing the password to a wallet containing 7002 Bitcoins. Over the years, several news media companies have interviewed him for the same.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the Richest Bitcoin Owner?
Satoshi Nakamoto remains the richest Bitcoin owner with over 1.1 million BTC spread across different addresses.