It is estimated that around 6 million bitcoins (approximately 30% of the total supply) have been irretrievably lost. 😱 This happens due to forgotten private keys or lost hardware wallets. These bitcoins remain on the blockchain, but without access to the private keys, they become inaccessible and cannot be spent.

Let's take a look at some of the biggest stories of people losing access to their Bitcoin and how it affected their lives.

1. James Howells and his 7,500 Bitcoins

One of the most famous stories is about a British man named James Howells. In 2013, he accidentally threw away a hard drive containing the private keys to 7,500 bitcoins. Today, those bitcoins are worth over $258 million! Howells tried to find the hard drive in a landfill in Newport, Wales, but to no avail.

2. Stefan Thomas and his 7,002 Bitcoins

Stefan Thomas, a San Francisco-based programmer, lost access to his wallet containing 7,002 bitcoins. He forgot the password to his IronKey, which allows only 10 attempts before the data is permanently encrypted. Thomas has only two attempts left and still has not been able to regain access to his bitcoins.

3. Gerald Cotten and $215 million

Gerald Cotten, the founder of Canadian cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX, died in 2018, taking with him passwords to wallets containing $215 million worth of bitcoin. This led to huge losses for the exchange's customers and raised many questions about the security and governance of cryptocurrencies.

4. Gabriel Abed and his 800 Bitcoins

Gabriel Abed, the founder of a blockchain technology company, lost access to 800 bitcoins after his laptop crashed. He had stored his private keys on the device and had not backed them up. The mistake cost him millions of dollars.

5. David Arakhamia and his 400 bitcoins

David Arakhamia, a Ukrainian politician and entrepreneur, lost access to 400 bitcoins after accidentally deleting a file with private keys. He tried to recover the data with the help of specialists, but all efforts were in vain.

These stories serve as a reminder of the importance of security and data backup in the world of cryptocurrency. Losing private keys can lead to the loss of huge amounts of money, and such cases are not uncommon. So always remember: “Not your keys, not your bitcoins!” 🔑