According to Ethereum’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin, while theft is often discussed in crypto security, many people also lose significant amounts of crypto due to negligence and accidents, and wallet solutions must address these risks as well.

In his recent post on X, Vitalik Buterin brought the crypto community’s attention to the fact that many people lose their crypto through actual loss (due to forgotten passwords, software bugs, or lost devices) rather than theft. While conversations about crypto fraud have been rife, particularly in the wake of the $1.5 billion theft from Bybit (although the exchange fully covered the loss through loans, whale deposits, and Ether purchases), Buterin emphasized that actual crypto loss is overlooked in discussions of crypto security. He added that robust wallet security solutions should account for all forms of loss, not just hacking.

One of the most notable and tragic examples of crypto loss is the case of James Howells, whose hard drive containing 8000 Bitcoin (BTC), now worth hundreds of millions of pounds, was accidentally discarded by his ex-partner in 2013. The hard drive presumably ended up at a landfill site owned by Newport City Council. Despite taking legal action, Howells failed to recover the device. Now, with the landfill site closing in the next two years, Howells is weighing his options: he may either pursue a case at the Court of Appeal or attempt to buy the site with the help of investors. For Howells, retrieving his digital wallet has become his life’s mission. “This battle is my 9 to 5 – I won’t stop until I have my £620m of Bitcoin back,” said Howell.

Howells’ situation is an extreme case but it underscores a larger issue. Losing crypto because of negligence or accidents is far from uncommon. According to the 2020 report by Chainalysis, approximately 20% of Bitcoin mined at the time was considered “lost” because it had been trapped in wallets that had seen no movement in years (more recent statistics are not readily available).

That being said, there’re rare instances of recovery. One such example involves Stefan Thomas, who spent 11 years unable to access his IronKey hard drive, which contained 7002 BTC, after forgetting the password. However, he was able to recover it with the help of hacker Joe Grand and security researcher Bruno Requião da Cunha, who developed a novel approach to crack the password by analyzing the software used to generate it.

Despite occasional success stories, the reality is that crypto recovery is difficult. As Vitalik pointed out, the industry must not only focus on preventing hacks but also ensure that users can recover their crypto in the event of loss due to accidents or human error.

French authorities have reportedly rescued the co-founder of hardware wallet firm Ledger and his wife after they were kidnapped and held for ransom.

According to a new article by The New York Times, Dave Balland and his wife were abducted from their home in France earlier this week by bad actors who then contacted another founder of the company and demanded a large amount of crypto for their release.

The report says that Balland was found and released by police on Wednesday about 30 miles away from his home while his wife was found 80 miles away tied up in a car a day later.

His wife was unharmed but Balland had to be hospitalized due to his hand being mutilated by the kidnappers – a photo of which was used to pressure Ledger into paying the ransom.

In the report, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said that during the negotiations, some of the ransom was paid but that the assets were tracked, frozen and seized.

As stated by Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier on the social media platform X,

“We are deeply relieved that David and his wife have been released, and are now safe. I have reached out to David, and our thoughts continue to be with him, his family, and the members of our team that worked with David while he was at Ledger. We’re grateful to law enforcement for their swift action. Our top priority was always to allow law enforcement to do their jobs and protect the integrity of the investigation.”

Nine men and one woman, aged between 20 and 40, were arrested and questioned about the kidnapping, though no other details about the suspects were released. In the report, Beccaua says that the crimes of kidnapping, torture and armed extortion carry potential life sentences.

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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

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An ancient Bitcoin wallet suddenly sprung to life this week and moved more than $257 million worth of BTC after 11 years of slumber.

The crypto tracker Lookonchain first spotted the unknown address, which moved 2,700 BTC to another wallet on Tuesday.

The long-dormant wallet received the trove of BTC in December 2013, when the top crypto asset only cost $625.84. BTC was priced at $95,361 at the time of Tuesday’s transfer, meaning the USD value of the wallet’s holdings skyrocketed by a staggering 15,137.4% in 11 years.

Data from BitInfoCharts indicates the long-dormant wallet did receive trace amounts of Bitcoin a handful of times over the last 11 years, though those transactions appear to be the result of dusting attacks.

Dusting attacks involve hackers and scammers sending minuscule amounts of cryptocurrency (dust) to numerous personal wallets in an attempt to break the wallet holders’ privacy.

The scammers then try to trace the transactional activity of targeted wallets in order to identify the people or companies behind them.

Bitcoin is trading at $98,687 at time of writing. The top-ranked crypto asset by market cap is up more than 3% in the past 24 hours and is less than 1% down from its all-time high of $99,645, which it set on November 22nd.

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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

Generated Image: Midjourney