Two researchers have helped an anonymous individual recover 43.6 BTC valued at nearly $3 million at the current price of Bitcoin.
The cryptocurrency wallet was set up around 2013, with the anonymous owner, dubbed Michael, using RoboForm to generate a unique password. He later transferred the password from RoboForm to an encrypted file out of security concerns.
However, the encrypted file later became corrupted. As such, Micheal could not access the 43.6 BTC he held in his crypto wallet. Michael can now access the lost coins over a decade after setting up the wallet.
RoboForm Bug Aids Access to Lost Bitcoin
One of the researchers who aided in recovering the lost BTC is Joe Grand. Grand is a hardware hacker who has previously worked on recovering lost BTC in a Trezor wallet.
Michael reached out to Grand to access the lost coins in 2022. Grand worked alongside another researcher, Bruno, to gain access to the RoboForm software to aid in recovering the 20-character password that was essential for accessing the lost coins.
The two researchers detected a flaw in the RoboForm software. The flaw was in the software’s random number generator that associated a password with a specific date and time on a user’s device when the password was created.
RoboForm later patched the bug in 2015. However, it did not fix the error on the passwords created before 2015, which helped Grand and Bruno access the lost password used to access Michael’s Bitcoin.
Michael needed a precise time for which he created the password to store Bitcoin. However, according to the researchers, the BTC was transferred on April 13, 2013. They later used several parameters to test multiple passwords until they found the correct one. It appeared that Michael created the password on May 15, 2013.
Michael To Sell BTC At $100,000
Part of the recovered Bitcoin went towards Grand and Bruno. Michael has also sold off a small part of the Bitcoin, but he is bullish that his remaining stash will only be sold when Bitcoin rallies to $100,000.
Michael currently owns 30 BTC, worth around $2 million at the ongoing price of Bitcoin. While speaking at an interview, Michael noted that he was pleased to have lost access to his Bitcoin wallet as holding them for long allowed his holdings to appreciate over time.
Michael’s case adds to the growing list of people seeking to recover lost coins. The most iconic case is that of a UK man, James Howell. Howell accidentally tossed a hard drive with 7,500 in a garbage can. The coins are now in a landfill, and he has unsuccessfully tried to get authorization to access them.
Bitcoin’s price has appreciated over the years, and any coins lost years ago have gained value, including Bitcoin from the 2013 Mt.Gox hack. Bitcoin was trading at around $68,500 on May 29 at 02:20 a.m. EST.
