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%)
Owner death — software wallet (2016)
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin enthusiast who died in June 2016 had created wallets using four different applications across multiple devices. The estate's digital forensics team lo
They had changed their Wi-Fi SSID following a router upgrade in 2015 and could not
Mobile or software wallet
A forum post from June 2016 describes a user who had set a wallet passphrase as their Wi-Fi network's SSID combined with a number. They had changed their Wi-Fi
A flood damaged their home and the sheet music was destroyed.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin user stored their wallet passphrase by encoding it as musical notes in a piece of sheet music. In June 2016 a flood damaged their home and the sheet m
Device lost — software wallet (2016)
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin user kept their wallet on a laptop that was left in a train compartment in July 2016. By the time they reported the loss to railway staff the laptop h
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet 2016
Mobile or software wallet
A forum user reported in July 2016 that they had set their Electrum passphrase to the serial number from a physical product they had since discarded. The produc
They could not recall whether the phone number used the old area code (before
Mobile or software wallet
A user set their Armory wallet passphrase to a combination of a former phone number and a now-forgotten PIN. In July 2016 they could not recall whether the phon
The drives were physically intact but the RAID controller had been part of the failed
Mobile or software wallet
A developer who stored their wallet on a home server experienced a catastrophic motherboard failure in August 2016. The drives were physically intact but the RA
They did not realise TOTP codes rotate every 30 seconds and cannot be reproduced
Mobile or software wallet
A forum case from August 2016 describes a user who set their passphrase to the output of a time-based one-time password (TOTP) code, believing it would be uniqu
Seed phrase unavailable — software wallet 2016
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had divided their 24-word BIP39 seed into three 8-word groups and stored each separately found in August 2016 that two of the three locations were ac
Owner incapacity — software wallet 2016
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin investor suffering from severe depression in August 2016 entered voluntary psychiatric care. During the admission process they were required to surren
The ransomware demanded 0.5 BTC for decryption—ironically more than the user could
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had held BTC since 2012 stored their wallet on a Windows XP machine. In September 2016, the machine was automatically wiped by a ransomware attack. T
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet 2016
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin holder who encrypted their wallet with a passphrase that used a foreign language word they had learned during a holiday found they could no longer rec
Data recovery attempts failed because the NAND flash had been damaged by water ingress.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin user stored their wallet exclusively on a tablet that suffered water damage during heavy flooding in October 2016. The device was submerged for severa
Device lost — software wallet (2016)
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had relied on a single encrypted USB drive for all wallet backups found in October 2016 that the encryption software used had been discontinued and t
Owner death — software wallet 2016
Mobile or software wallet
An estate attorney noted a 2016 case where the deceased had referenced 'the password is where we first met' in a letter addressed to their spouse. The couple ha
They knew the dates but had used multiple possible formatting conventions and could not
Mobile or software wallet
A user documented in October 2016 that they had set their wallet passphrase to a combination of their children's birthdates in a format they could no longer rec
Passphrase unavailable — Bitcoin-Qt (2016)
Mobile or software wallet
An early adopter who had set their 2012-era Bitcoin-Qt wallet passphrase to their old university student number found in late 2016 that their university no long
Their insurance records only preserved partial VIN data.
Mobile or software wallet
A user who set their wallet passphrase using the VIN number from their vehicle found in November 2016 that the vehicle had been written off in an accident, and
Device lost — software wallet 2016
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin enthusiast who had accumulated BTC through faucets and small purchases since 2011 found in December 2016 that their old hard drive, stored in a parent
The hint read 'the address from the summer of 2013.' The investor had lived at two
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin investor who had encrypted their wallet with a passphrase found in December 2016 that they had stored the hint—not the passphrase itself—in a notes ap
Forced relocation — software wallet (2016)
Mobile or software wallet
A migrant worker who used Bitcoin to remit earnings to their home country found in March 2016 that their host country had implemented new requirements for Bitco
Forced relocation — software wallet (2016)
Mobile or software wallet
Following the UK's Brexit vote in June 2016, several British nationals living in EU countries on EU-residency documents found their exchange accounts flagged fo
Seed unavailable — software wallet (2016)
Mobile or software wallet
A September 2016 forum post describes a user who had memorised their 12-word seed phrase but suffered a concussion in a sports accident. The concussion caused a
Hidden wallet discovered — software wallet (2016)
Mobile or software wallet
A 2016 estate case involved a deceased Bitcoin holder who had left a typed letter describing 'multiple cold storage locations' but without specifying the locati
Multisig quorum failure — software wallet 2016
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin foundation that used a 3-of-5 board-controlled multisig for its treasury faced a quorum failure in January 2016 when two board members resigned simult
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