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 laptop contained an active Electrum wallet session.
Mobile or software wallet
A December 2020 case describes a cryptocurrency researcher whose laptop bag was snatched from a café. The laptop contained an active Electrum wallet session. Th
Device lost — software wallet 2020
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had stored a wallet exclusively on an iPhone found in December 2020 that Apple's iCloud backup had been deactivated on that phone due to insufficient
Estate access failure — software wallet (2020)
Mobile or software wallet
A November 2020 probate case involved a deceased who had used Bitcoin as their primary savings vehicle. The will directed Bitcoin to specific heirs but gave no
Documentation absent — software wallet (2020)
Mobile or software wallet
A December 2020 estate case involved a Bitcoin holder who had invested heavily in 2020's bull run. No written record of wallet locations, exchange accounts, or
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet (2020)
Mobile or software wallet
A December 2020 forum case describes a user whose wallet passphrase was the model and serial number of a component from a computer they had built in 2013. The c
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet (2020)
Mobile or software wallet
An October 2020 forum post describes a user who created their wallet passphrase by interleaving two separate phrases. They could recall both base phrases but no
Among items stolen was a laptop containing their primary Bitcoin Core wallet.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin investor's home was broken into in January 2020. Among items stolen was a laptop containing their primary Bitcoin Core wallet. Their seed backup was s
A user's smartphone was stolen from their car in January 2020.
Mobile or software wallet
A user's smartphone was stolen from their car in January 2020. The phone contained their primary Bitcoin wallet. The wallet app had no additional PIN beyond the
With both ill, the quorum was unreachable for 5 weeks.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin startup's 2-of-3 multisig treasury was rendered inaccessible in March 2020 when two of three key holders were simultaneously hospitalised with COVID-1
An early Bitcoin adopter died from COVID-19 in March 2020.
Mobile or software wallet
An early Bitcoin adopter died from COVID-19 in March 2020. The estate found nine paper wallets of varying ages. Six were empty (funds spent years earlier). Two
Owner incapacity — software wallet 2020
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin day trader developed severe anxiety disorder during the March 2020 COVID crash, triggered by the rapid loss of 50% of their exchange balance in 24 hou
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet 2020
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin holder who had used the latitude and longitude of their birthplace as their passphrase found in March 2020 that they had remembered the wrong precisio
They could recall 10 words confidently but 2 words were inaccessible.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin holder who had memorised their 12-word seed phrase suffered a minor stroke in March 2020 that caused selective word-retrieval difficulties. They could
By 2020 they had lost fluency in the language and could only partially reconstruct
Mobile or software wallet
A user's wallet passphrase was a phrase in a minority language that they had been studying in 2013. By 2020 they had lost fluency in the language and could only
A Bitcoin miner who died in April 2020 from COVID-19 had accumulated coins since 2011.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin miner who died in April 2020 from COVID-19 had accumulated coins since 2011. The estate found six old computers. Blockchain forensics linked three to
Seed phrase unavailable — software wallet 2020
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had stored their seed in a time-locked smart contract — intending to prevent premature access — found in April 2020 that the smart contract's unlock
During COVID lockdowns, one key holder relocated to a country without internet access.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin savings cooperative's treasury was held in a 3-of-5 multisig. During COVID lockdowns, one key holder relocated to a country without internet access. A
Seed phrase unavailable — software wallet 2020
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin user who had used a Shamir's Secret Sharing scheme to protect their seed found in May 2020 that the open-source tool they had used had been abandoned
A Bitcoin holder's home was broken into while they were on holiday in June 2020.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin holder's home was broken into while they were on holiday in June 2020. Two computers and a hardware wallet were stolen. The hardware wallet's seed was
Owner incapacity — software wallet 2020
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin holder developed severe long COVID symptoms in July 2020 that included significant cognitive impairment. They had previously managed their holdings in
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet 2020
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin holder who used a passphrase derived from their late grandmother's recipe — written in a dialect that has since changed significantly — found in July
Device lost — software wallet (2020)
Mobile or software wallet
A user who kept their Bitcoin wallet on a work computer had the machine seized by their employer in March 2020 when they were made redundant during COVID-19 cos
A forensics firm spent four months identifying 16 of the estimated 20+ wallets.
Mobile or software wallet
A December 2019 estate case described a living but elderly person whose family discovered, during a health crisis, that the person had accumulated Bitcoin over
A UK Bitcoin trader was kidnapped in October 2019 and held for 48 hours.
Mobile or software wallet
A UK Bitcoin trader was kidnapped in October 2019 and held for 48 hours. The kidnappers demanded a ransom payable in Bitcoin. The victim's family paid 10 BTC to
A Bitcoin user's storage unit was broken into in September 2019.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin user's storage unit was broken into in September 2019. Among items stolen was a desktop computer containing their primary wallet file. The seed backup
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