Reality TV show throws crypto users out of their wallets

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A casting call for a series of cable networks can offer crypto users at their end of the line a way to access locked tokens or at least show viewers some of the options available to them.

In a LinkedIn post last month, casting director Jessica Jorgensen called out crypto users who have forgotten their passwords and presumably their start phrases or have lost their private wallet keys over time. The series offers expert consultations in cryptocurrency and cybersecurity to help users regain access to their funds.

However, it appears that participants should be prepared to lose access to their coins if the retrieval attempt fails. Jorgensen specifically asks users to mention how many passwords they have left before their accounts are locked out, and whether they are willing to use any remaining attempts with expert help.

There are many ways to lose your crypto holdings. An April 2020 study by digital research firm Cane Island suggested that there would never be more than 14 million Bitcoin (BTC) in circulation given the incidents of users losing keys, accidentally throwing away hardware. containing wallets, sending cryptos to the wrong address or in failure. make arrangements to hand over their property after their death.

Related: Crypto Exchange QuadrigaCX Misses $ 145 Million After Founder’s Death

One of the most famous and expensive examples of lost coins includes the case of San Francisco-based programmer Stefan Thomas, who lost the password to access his IronKey hard drive with 7,002 BTC, or 243 million. dollars at time of publication. Thomas would have two more attempts to guess the correct password before the contents of the hard drives were apparently irreversibly encrypted.

Some other cases of recovered crypto date back to the early days of Bitcoin history, that is, from 2010 to 2011, when the coin was worth a few cents and was sometimes given as a prize for online games and contests. In January, a Redditor claimed to have found private keys worth more than $ 4 million in BTC obtained before 2012 on an older model Dell computer.

However, as the prices of Bitcoin and many other tokens have increased significantly over the past few years, users are apparently more careful when storing their seed phrases, passwords, and keys. Paper wallets still exist, but many users rely on metal plaques to engrave their start phrases or private keys, as well as hardware wallets like Trezor and Ledger for cold storage. Additionally, storing tokens on exchanges when they may be vulnerable to hacks and local government intervention gives crypto users recourse to platform operators if they forget their passwords. .

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