Part of the CustodyStress archive of observed Bitcoin custody incidents
Mobile or software wallet
Cases in this category involve mobile apps and desktop software wallets. Recovery depends entirely on whether a seed phrase backup was made and stored independently of the device.
Mobile and software wallets are the most frequently observed custody system in this archive, reflecting their widespread use. The structural risk is consistent: where a seed phrase backup was created and stored independently of the device, recovery was possible. Where no backup existed, loss of the device meant permanent loss of access.
572 observed cases
Blocked
405 (71%)
Constrained
44 (8%)
Survives
118 (21%)
Indeterminate
5 (1%)
The trader transferred approximately 8 BTC under physical threat.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin trader was the victim of a targeted attack in June 2018. Attackers who had identified the trader's holdings from public blockchain analysis attended t
Multisig quorum failure — software wallet (2018)
Mobile or software wallet
A February 2018 case describes a crypto fund's 2-of-3 treasury multisig that failed when a key holder was detained abroad. The remaining two key holders could s
Seed phrase unavailable — software wallet 2017
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had distributed their 24-word seed across three paper copies — kept at home, at work, and at a relative's house — found in December 2017 that the hom
The victim transferred 2 BTC under duress.
Mobile or software wallet
A UK-based Bitcoin holder was targeted in December 2017 by attackers who had obtained their identity from a compromised cryptocurrency forum database. The attac
The treasury was frozen for six weeks.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin charitable foundation that held its treasury in a 3-of-5 board multisig had two key holders resign in protest over governance issues in November 2017.
Documentation absent — software wallet 2017
Mobile or software wallet
An estate attorney documented a 2017 case where the deceased had left a letter stating: 'My Bitcoin is on the computer — the number is on the bottom of the rout
A Bitcoin investor's estate in August 2017 included multiple hardware wallets.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin investor's estate in August 2017 included multiple hardware wallets. The seeds for two of the devices were located. A third device had no seed documen
One key was on a hardware wallet that failed in August 2017.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin startup held its operating treasury in a 2-of-3 Electrum multisig. One key was on a hardware wallet that failed in August 2017. A second key holder wa
A Bitcoin trader died in June 2017 leaving active margin positions on two exchanges.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin trader died in June 2017 leaving active margin positions on two exchanges. The exchanges closed the positions automatically after a set period of inac
The ransom demand was payable in Bitcoin — ironically requiring Bitcoin access that
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin holder's home computer was encrypted by ransomware in June 2017 during the global NotPetya outbreak. The ransom demand was payable in Bitcoin — ironic
Owner incapacity — software wallet 2017
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin user with a progressive motor neurone disease found in May 2017 that their condition had advanced to the point where they could no longer reliably typ
Owner incapacity — software wallet 2017
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin trader with severe anxiety disorder was hospitalised in April 2017 during a market volatility episode. During hospitalisation their phone was held by
Two admins resigned simultaneously following a governance dispute, leaving only three
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin community project used a 3-of-5 multisig treasury managed by five volunteer administrators across five countries. In March 2017 two admins resigned si
The relative died in August 2017 and their belongings, including the sealed envelope
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin user had entrusted a copy of their seed phrase to a trusted relative for safekeeping. The relative died in August 2017 and their belongings, including
Device lost — software wallet (2017)
Mobile or software wallet
A programmer who had mined Bitcoin in 2010 located an old hard drive in July 2017 while cleaning storage. The drive was in poor condition from years of storage.
The new phone did not carry over the old PIN.
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had used a phone unlock PIN as part of their wallet passphrase upgraded their phone in March 2017. The new phone did not carry over the old PIN. They
Among items stolen was a laptop containing their only Bitcoin Core wallet.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin holder who had accumulated coins since 2013 had their apartment burglarised in January 2017. Among items stolen was a laptop containing their only Bit
Device discarded — software wallet (2017)
Mobile or software wallet
A January 2017 probate case involved a deceased whose estate included a paper wallet found in a filing cabinet. The wallet's private key was printed in QR code
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet 2017
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin holder who had set their wallet passphrase using a method they had devised and documented in a private notebook found the notebook had been discarded
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet 2017
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had set their wallet passphrase to the registration plate of a vehicle they owned in 2012 found in January 2017 that the vehicle had been scrapped fi
The cloud provider terminated the VM for non-payment after billing notices were sent to
Mobile or software wallet
A software developer stored their Bitcoin Core wallet on a virtual machine hosted on a cloud provider. In February 2017 the cloud provider terminated the VM for
An early Bitcoin miner died unexpectedly in February 2017.
Mobile or software wallet
An early Bitcoin miner died unexpectedly in February 2017. The estate located wallets on several old computers but the passphrases were not documented. The esta
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet 2017
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had set their wallet passphrase to the concatenation of two ticket stub numbers from a specific concert found in February 2017 that the stubs had bee
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet 2017
Mobile or software wallet
A forum post from March 2017 describes a user who created a wallet passphrase from the lyrics of an obscure song. By 2017 the song had been removed from all str
Without the GPS data the encoded words could not be reconstructed.
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had encoded their seed as GPS coordinates of significant personal locations found in March 2017 that two of the four locations had been built over. W
Translate