Stone man started this great topic on bitcointalk (August 10, 2010) - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=782.0;all
Here are the details.
- Bought 9,000 BTC on one of the exchanges over time.*
- Transferred them to my client running on a linux live CD distro of Debian.*
- Backed up the wallet file to a flash drive.*
- Sent 1 BTC to myself
- Closed client before any confirmations
- Shut down system (wiped system disk loaded into memory and therefore the ./bitcoin folder
- Loaded system back up
- Copied old wallet.dat file into ./bitcoin folder
- After some confirmations appeared the balance was 1 BTC and there was a transaction saying I spent 8,900 BTC to an address I did not recognize
- I read on the forum threads that people have had problems like this but it seemed only when they were trying to double-spend by sending coins to another address and reloading an old wallet file
Guess what, he never got them back because he lost his private keys... His backup did not contain the change addresses that were generated. At that time, there were no HD wallets that you could safely backup by writing down 12 seed words...
How much are those bitcoins worth today?
$31 Million!!! Check the address for yourself: https://blockchain.info/address/167ZWTT8n6s4ya8cGjqNNQjDwDGY31vmHg
Of the 9000 BTC he once had, he was only able to spend 1 BTC:
The lesson to be learned here: "Never Lose Your Private Keys!!!"
just imagine how much worth of wealth he would have.....
Well that was a bit stupid wasn't it?
Cryptogee
indeed, otherwise that guy could have become a millionaire.
People still make mistakes like this, recently a guy lost over 600 ANS (NEO) :
This post has received a 2.50 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @yogi.
Hi guys,
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=782.0
I am looking for this topic owner. I had the same problem, and I saved the lost bitcoins. I can help this friend. If anyone knows, he can contact me.