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 RAID rebuild corrupted the volume and the wallet file was among the corrupted data.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin investor's NAS device suffered a RAID failure in June 2021. The RAID rebuild corrupted the volume and the wallet file was among the corrupted data. Fo
A long-term Bitcoin holder died in June 2021.
Mobile or software wallet
A long-term Bitcoin holder died in June 2021. The estate found four old computers and two hardware wallets. Blockchain forensics confirmed significant on-chain
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet 2021
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin holder who had used a stock ticker symbol and date combination as their passphrase found in July 2021 that the stock had undergone multiple ticker cha
The attacker claimed to have installed surveillance on the holder's home and demanded 1
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin holder received a series of threatening encrypted messages in August 2021. The attacker claimed to have installed surveillance on the holder's home an
A Bitcoin holder's home was flooded during extreme weather events in August 2021.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin holder's home was flooded during extreme weather events in August 2021. Their hardware wallet and seed phrase were both stored near the floor in a dra
They suffered a concussion that impaired their memory.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin holder had memorised their seed phrase using a mnemonic system. In August 2021 they suffered a concussion that impaired their memory. They could recal
Seed phrase unavailable — software wallet 2020
Mobile or software wallet
An estate case from November 2020 involves a living but incapacitated person whose power of attorney holder discovered the person's seed phrase was stored in a
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet 2020
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin investor found in October 2020 that a passphrase stored in their deceased parent's handwriting was partially illegible due to deterioration of the pap
The family discovered they held Bitcoin on multiple platforms and in multiple wallets.
Mobile or software wallet
An October 2020 case describes an elderly Bitcoin holder who was diagnosed with advanced dementia and placed in full-time care. The family discovered they held
A Bitcoin investor's house was destroyed by a wildfire in October 2020.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin investor's house was destroyed by a wildfire in October 2020. Multiple devices containing backups were destroyed. The user's seed phrase had been stor
The solicitor's office had relocated during COVID lockdowns and had not updated their
Mobile or software wallet
An estate attorney documented an August 2020 case in which the deceased had created an elaborate multi-step access system for their Bitcoin involving a safe, an
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet (2020)
Mobile or software wallet
Stefan Thomas, a Bitcoin developer who held 7,002 BTC on an encrypted IronKey drive, was reported in 2021 to have had only two remaining password attempts left
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet 2020
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin holder who had used a sequence of numbers from an analogue electricity meter as their passphrase found in January 2020 that the meter had been replace
The SIM swap bypassed 2FA on the trader's exchange account, enabling a $45,000
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin trader was the victim of a SIM-swap attack in February 2020. The attacker had obtained the trader's phone number from a compromised exchange database
The provider's terms allowed deletion of inactive images after 12 months.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin programmer found in February 2020 that the virtual machine image they had been using as an air-gapped wallet environment had been permanently deleted
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet 2020
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin holder who had created a wallet during the 2017 bull run found in February 2020 that their passphrase hint — stored in their phone's notes app — was i
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet 2020
Mobile or software wallet
A user whose Bitcoin wallet passphrase was encoded in a physical key's teeth pattern — photographed and the key discarded — found in February 2020 that the phot
The repository had been on a private Git host that shut down in 2017.
Mobile or software wallet
A programmer who had used a hash of their own source code as a wallet passphrase in 2013 found in March 2020 that the original code no longer existed. The repos
Device lost — software wallet 2020
Mobile or software wallet
A user found in April 2020 during COVID lockdown that their old computer — on which their Bitcoin wallet resided — had been thrown away by a family member doing
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet (2020)
Mobile or software wallet
During COVID lockdown in April 2020 a user attempted to access a forgotten wallet to convert Bitcoin to cash for expenses. The passphrase had not been used sinc
Device lost — software wallet (2020)
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin trader's laptop was destroyed when coffee was spilled on it in May 2020 during a home-working setup. The hard drive was not recoverable. The wallet's
The employer had been acquired, the building demolished, and the old employee IDs
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin holder's passphrase was based on a combination of their old employee ID and the name of a building they worked in. The employer had been acquired, the
By 2020 they remembered the PRNG function used but not the seed value.
Mobile or software wallet
A developer's 2013 wallet passphrase was derived from the output of a deterministic pseudo-random number generator seeded with a value they could only partially
Physical coercion — software wallet (2020)
Mobile or software wallet
A prominent Bitcoin YouTuber was targeted by attackers who had identified their home address from vehicle registration records. The attackers arranged a deliver
A forensics lab charged $2,500 but could not recover the specific file.
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had stored their wallet on an old phone set aside as a cold device found in June 2020 that the phone's storage had developed bad sectors due to age a
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