Part of the CustodyStress archive of observed Bitcoin custody incidents
Exchange custody
Cases in this category involve Bitcoin held on exchanges or custodial platforms. The user does not control private keys — access depends on the platform remaining operational and the account remaining accessible.
Exchange custody cases cluster around platform insolvency, account access loss, and regulatory action. Unlike self-custody failures, exchange cases often involve a recoverable path — but one that runs through legal or institutional processes that can take months or years.
512 observed cases
Blocked
135 (26%)
Constrained
181 (35%)
Survives
128 (25%)
Indeterminate
68 (13%)
Owner death — exchange custody (2014)
Exchange custody
Autumn Radtke, 28-year-old CEO of First Meta, a Singapore-based virtual currency exchange, died on 26 February 2014 in circumstances the Singapore coroner later
Only a handful of exchanges provided any form of cryptographic reserve verification.
Exchange custody
In the weeks after the Mt. Gox collapse, users of multiple other exchanges demanded proof of reserves. Only a handful of exchanges (Kraken, Bitstamp, Coinbase)
Forced relocation — exchange custody (2014)
Exchange custody
A stateless refugee who had been using Bitcoin as a portable store of value held their primary balance on a European exchange that required a domestic bank acco
Owner death — exchange 2014
Exchange custody
Following the Mt. Gox collapse, a forum case documents the death of a Mt. Gox creditor before the bankruptcy claim deadline. Their estate attorney was unaware o
Documentation absent — exchange 2014
Exchange custody
The post-Mt. Gox environment revealed that several long-running Bitcoin forum-based OTC traders who held 'escrow' for third-party trades had no documented terms
Documentation absent — exchange custody (2014)
Exchange custody
A Bitcoin social trading network that allowed users to copy-trade expert accounts collapsed in May 2014 when the network's BTC reserve was found to be substanti
Physical coercion — exchange 2014
Exchange custody
A documented 2014 case describes a user who was detained by local authorities in a country with limited rule of law and pressured to reveal their exchange login
Documentation absent — exchange custody (2014)
Exchange custody
Several Bitcoin mutual funds that had raised BTC from investors in 2013 declined to provide NAV statements or audited portfolio reports in mid-2014 when Bitcoin
Documentation absent — exchange custody (2014)
Exchange custody
A Bitcoin savings club that had operated informally among a group of friends collapsed in July 2014 when the member designated to hold group funds disappeared.
Passphrase unavailable — exchange custody (2014)
Exchange custody
An exchange customer whose account used 2FA via Google Authenticator lost access when their phone was wiped. They had not backed up the 2FA seed. The exchange's
Documentation absent — exchange custody (2014)
Exchange custody
Multiple Bitcoin-based investment programs that had operated in 2013–14 became dormant in Q3 2014 as Bitcoin's price fell. They had accepted BTC with no written
Owner death — exchange custody (2014)
Exchange custody
A documented 2014 case involved a user who died in an accident leaving BTC on three different exchanges. Their family knew about the BTC generally but did not k
Platform bankruptcy — exchange custody (2014)
Exchange custody
When Moolah declared bankruptcy and MintPal went offline in October 2014, no customer account statements, no reserve disclosures, and no formal claims process w
This action was coordinated with Europol across 17 countries.
Exchange custody
The FBI's seizure of Silk Road 2.0 included a companion seizure of Bitcoin addresses belonging to the marketplace's administrator. This action was coordinated w
A Bitcoin lending platform collapsed after its founder went silent.
Exchange custody
In November 2014 a Bitcoin lending platform collapsed after its founder went silent. The platform had promised daily interest payments on deposited BTC but publ
Charlie Shrem was sentenced to two years in prison in December 2014.
Exchange custody
Charlie Shrem was sentenced to two years in prison in December 2014. Following the sentencing, prosecutors also sought forfeiture of $950,000 in BTC held in Shr
Forced relocation — exchange custody (2014)
Exchange custody
Following the political crisis in Ukraine in early 2014, several Ukrainian Bitcoin users who had fled the country found they could not complete identity verific
Documentation absent — exchange custody (2014)
Exchange custody
Flexcoin's cold wallet customers were told their BTC was safe and would be returned after identity verification. However Flexcoin published no formal claims pro
Forced relocation — exchange custody (2014)
Exchange custody
Following the Russian Finance Ministry's February 2014 statement that Bitcoin use could be prosecuted under anti-money-laundering laws, several Russian Bitcoin
Institutional lockout — exchange custody (2014)
Exchange custody
German financial regulator BaFin issued clarification in March 2014 that Bitcoin exchanges serving German users required a financial services license. Several e
Forced relocation — exchange custody (2014)
Exchange custody
Russian government statements in February and April 2014 made clear that Bitcoin transactions could be prosecuted. Several Russian citizens who held BTC on inte
Documentation absent — exchange custody (2014)
Exchange custody
Multiple Bitcoin mining bond issuers who had raised BTC on GLBSE and BTCT.co in 2012–13 stopped paying dividends in mid-2014. They cited hardware depreciation,
Physical coercion — exchange custody (2014)
Exchange custody
A documented 2014 case involved a Bitcoin investor whose business partner threatened to expose alleged illegal activity unless the investor transferred their ex
Silk Road 2.0's escrow was entirely centralised with no on-chain multisig.
Exchange custody
Silk Road 2.0's escrow was entirely centralised with no on-chain multisig. The February 2014 hack exploited this architecture. Users had no way to independently
Gox and, being unable to communicate, could not direct family members to attempt
Exchange custody
A Bitcoin enthusiast was hospitalised in February 2014 just as the Mt. Gox crisis unfolded. They held a significant balance on Mt. Gox and, being unable to comm