NOTE: Cryptonian refers to a crypto enthusiast, investor or anyone actively involved in the crypto space.
A redditor recently revealed their discovery of lost private keys they unintentionally HODLed since 2011. The keys hold (or held) Bitcoin in the excess of $4 million.
Posting from a throwaway account whose moniker reads “BitcoinHolderThankU”, the redditor was able to liquidate roughly $4.2 million in BTC after finding the keys to 127 BTC on Dec. 22. At that time, the digital gold was trading for $23,000 per coin. They ended up cashing out in the middle of the bull run.
The redditor said:
“I spent the next week figuring out how to safely and securely liquidate such a large amount of Bitcoin for the cheapest price possible…I went back and forth between different [over-the-counter principal desks] and ultimately ended up selling all 127 Bitcoins for a price of $33,439.02 per coin minus a 0.15% fee. The net was roughly $4.24 million.”
The redditor claims that they earned the Bitcoin in 2011/2012 through “surveys, watching videos and completing random tasks” with their main goal being to use the coins for in-game purchases for the online game DarkOrbit. The private keys were not exactly lost, but forgotten on an old Dell computer as they eventually purchasing the currency.
But, just like Nigel Greene, CEO DeVere Group who sold half his Bitcoin holdings during the christmas period, HODLing for just a little bit longer would have resulted in significant additional profit, considering that Bitcoin reached its highest point ever of $41,000 on Jan 8 2021. In retrospect, BitcoinHolderThankU admits they “would not have sold all 127 Bitcoin” if they could relive that situation again.
“To give myself credit, I did HODL for 8-9 years which is more than the vast majority of crypto users,” they said. “I definitely would’ve done things differently if I were given a second chance.”
But not withstanding what could be a dramatic, life changing event, the redditor said they wont splurge the cash recklessly, but put the lion share of it into the S&P 500 and will “continue living my life normally as I was on December 21st”.
The post has since been deleted.
This may be a happy ending, but many haven’t been so fortunate. From stories of lost keys to stolen keys, hacked accounts to dead relatives with Bitcoin holdings, there’s never been a shortage of Bitcoin stories to tell on moonlit nights.
Of the existing 18.5 million Bitcoin in circulation, around 20 percent — currently worth around $140 billion — appear to be in lost or otherwise stranded wallets, according to the cryptocurrency data firm Chainalysis.
