A Reddit user retrieved his lost private key for years and unlocked $4 million in Bitcoin

A student claimed that as early as 2011, he discovered a private key that was accidentally held, which would unlock more than $4 million worth of bitcoin.

According to a one-time account of Bitcoin holder ThankU, this Reddit user found the private key of 127 Bitcoins on December 22 and successfully cashed out about 4.2 million U.S. dollars. The price of Bitcoin at that time was 23,000 U.S. dollars. . They later sold these bitcoins during the bull market.

The Reddit user said: “I spent a week researching how to sell such a large amount of bitcoins safely and confidently. I went back and forth between different (over-the-counter trading platforms), and finally All 127 bitcoins were sold at a price of $33,439.02 minus a 0.15% commission. The net income was approximately $4.24 million."

They claimed to have obtained bitcoins through “investigation, watching videos and completing random tasks” in 2011 or 2012, and finally used these bitcoins to purchase game currency for the online game "DarkOrbit". According to reports, the private key has never really been lost, but has been forgotten on an old Dell computer, because Bitcoin holder thanku did not buy game currency in the end.

Unfortunately, if this Reddit user’s account is trusted, they lose $1 million in extra profits because they haven’t held it for a few more weeks. Since December, the price of Bitcoin has exceeded $41,000, setting a record high. Bitcoin holder ThankU admitted that if the same situation happens again, they "will not sell all 127 Bitcoins."

They said: "Give me a thumbs up. I have held these bitcoins for 8-9 years, which is longer than most cryptocurrency users. If you give me a second chance, I will never do this. "

Although they became rich overnight, the Reddit user said that they would not buy "expensive luxury goods" and intends to invest most of their funds in the S&P 500 Index. He added:

"I don't want to be like those who win the lottery and spend all their money in a few months/years... I will continue to live my normal life on December 21 and every day before."

Unfortunately, not all stories with lost private keys have such a happy ending. In 2013, an IT worker accidentally threw away his personal laptop with his private key. There may be more than $285 million in bitcoin lost somewhere in the British dump.