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 car was stolen in January 2014.
Mobile or software wallet
An early Electrum user who had backed up their seed on a printed piece of paper kept it in their car's glove compartment. The car was stolen in January 2014. Th
Among the stolen items was a USB drive containing their Bitcoin wallet backup.
Mobile or software wallet
A forum case from February 2014 describes a user whose apartment was burgled during the Mt. Gox crisis. Among the stolen items was a USB drive containing their
Physical coercion — software wallet (2014)
Mobile or software wallet
A documented 2014 forum case describes a user who disclosed their Bitcoin holdings during a social event. Subsequently they were approached by individuals deman
They could identify the partial words but could not determine the exact BIP39 word from
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had laminated their seed phrase card for protection discovered that the lamination had caused ink bleed rendering three words partially illegible. Th
Blackmail coercion — software wallet (2014)
Mobile or software wallet
A 2014 case documents an early Bitcoin adopter who was blackmailed after an attacker accessed their email and discovered private communications about Bitcoin ho
The laptop was lost during a house move in March 2014.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin holder who lost their laptop in the chaos of the Mt. Gox crisis — rushing to move coins from a now-inaccessible exchange to self-custody — discovered
Device lost — software wallet 2014
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin miner who had accumulated coins since 2011 stored their wallet file on an external hard drive that was damaged in a fire at their workplace in March 2
Gox—coins they had retrieved just before withdrawals were suspended.
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had rushed to move BTC from Mt. Gox to a new local wallet in early 2014 set a new passphrase during the stressful emergency transfer process. They la
During the frantic setup they did not write down the BIP39 seed before synchronising.
Mobile or software wallet
Following the Mt. Gox closure, a user rushed to move BTC to self-custody using a newly created Mycelium wallet on a new phone. During the frantic setup they did
Device lost — software wallet 2014
Mobile or software wallet
A documented 2014 case involves a user who stored their wallet on a smartphone that was dropped into water. The device was not water resistant. The wallet had n
Estate access failure — software wallet (2014)
Mobile or software wallet
A 2014 probate case involved the estate of a Bitcoin investor who had accumulated significant holdings since 2012. The deceased had stored wallet access credent
Gox price drop in April 2014, they could not remember the passphrase.
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had encrypted their wallet in 2011 with a memorable phrase had not used it for two years. When they attempted to access it following the post-Mt. Gox
Seed phrase unavailable — software wallet 2014
Mobile or software wallet
A forum post documents a user who had split their 24-word Electrum seed into two 12-word halves stored in separate locations, following informal security advice
Their home suffered a fire significant enough to compromise the safe's contents.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin developer who used a dedicated old Android phone as a hardware wallet stored it in a fireproof safe at home. In May 2014 their home suffered a fire si
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet (2014)
Mobile or software wallet
An early Bitcoin adopter who had protected their wallet with a passphrase that included special Unicode characters discovered that their current keyboard could
A 2014 Electrum user had written their seed on a piece of paper stored in their wallet.
Mobile or software wallet
A 2014 Electrum user had written their seed on a piece of paper stored in their wallet. The wallet was lost—along with the seed card—when the user's bag was sto
Device lost — Bitcoin Core (2014)
Mobile or software wallet
A 2014 forum case documents a user whose desktop computer suffered a failed hard drive in June 2014. The user had stored their Bitcoin Core wallet exclusively o
Device discarded — software wallet (2014)
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin early adopter who died in 2014 left instructions for accessing their Bitcoin in a handwritten will addendum that referenced a USB drive 'in the study.
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet (2014)
Mobile or software wallet
A 2014 forum case documents a user who had set their Bitcoin wallet passphrase to the answer of a personal security question. Over the following two years they
The server's SSD failed due to heat damage in summer 2014.
Mobile or software wallet
A documented forum case from July 2014 describes a user who had been mining Bitcoin since 2012 and kept all their coins on their home server. The server's SSD f
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet 2014
Mobile or software wallet
A 2014 forum case describes a user who set their wallet passphrase to a combination of letters and numbers they associated with a former vehicle licence plate.
Seed phrase unavailable — software wallet 2014
Mobile or software wallet
A 2014 forum thread documents a user who had tattooed their 12-word seed phrase on their inner forearm as an unconventional backup method. Following a skin cond
The wallet.dat file stored on the NAS was the only copy.
Mobile or software wallet
A forum thread from August 2014 describes a user whose NAS (network attached storage) device failed following a power surge during a thunderstorm. The wallet.da
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet (2014)
Mobile or software wallet
A 2014 forum case describes a developer who protected their Bitcoin wallet with a passphrase generated by a custom script. The script was lost in a server migra
When they were unexpectedly terminated in September 2014 the employer's IT department
Mobile or software wallet
A 2014 documented case describes a user who kept their wallet exclusively on a workplace computer. When they were unexpectedly terminated in September 2014 the
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