CustodyStress
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Part of the CustodyStress archive of observed Bitcoin custody incidents
CS-00309

Multisig quorum failure — 2-of-3 multisig (2016)

Survives
Case description
A venture capital fund that stored its Bitcoin portfolio in a 2-of-3 multisig lost one key when a general partner's laptop was seized by authorities during an unrelated investigation. The remaining two general partners could not form a quorum alone. An emergency court application was needed to establish temporary authority to access the fund while the investigation was ongoing.
Custody context
Stress conditionMultisig quorum failure
Custody systemExchange custody
OutcomeSurvives
DocumentationUnknown
Year observed2016
CountryUnknown
Structural dependencies observed
Legal process requiredHardware device required
Outcome interpretation
Access remained possible under the reported conditions.
Source
Publicly Reported
Evidence type
Forum post
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Framework references
Terms guide
Survives
Access remained possible under the reported conditions.
Constrained
Access remained possible, but only with delay, dependence, or significant difficulty.
Blocked
Access was not possible under the reported conditions.
Indeterminate
There was not enough information to determine the outcome.
Single-person knowledge
Recovery depended on information or capability held by one individual who was unavailable.
Institutional dependence
Recovery depended on a third-party institution or service that was inaccessible or uncooperative.
Documentation gap
Recovery depended on instructions that were missing, incomplete, or unclear.
Authority mismatch
The person with legal authority to act did not have operational access, or vice versa.
Original text
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