CustodyStress
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Part of the CustodyStress archive of observed Bitcoin custody incidents
CS-01310

The price milestone converted previously small or moderate-value inaccessible wallets

Indeterminate
Case description
Bitcoin's price exceeded $100,000 for the first time in December 2024, triggering a surge in recovery service enquiries from holders who had forgotten access credentials to dormant wallets. Recovery service providers reported that the volume of incoming requests in December 2024 was the highest since the 2021 bull market. The price milestone converted previously small or moderate-value inaccessible wallets into significant financial losses: a wallet holding 1 BTC that had seemed like a low-priority problem at $20,000 became urgent at $100,000. Recovery firms noted that the older the wallet, the harder the recovery—many of the new enquiries involved Bitcoin Core wallets from 2013-2017 that used legacy encryption formats.
Custody context
Stress conditionPassphrase unavailable
Custody systemDesktop Software Wallet
OutcomeIndeterminate
DocumentationUnknown
Year observed2024
CountryInternational
Structural dependencies observed
Technical specialist required
What this illustrates
The seed phrase was there, but the passphrase that unlocked it was gone. Both are required. It's not clear whether anyone ever regained access.
Outcome interpretation
Not enough information is available to determine the outcome.
Source
Publicly Reported
Evidence type
News article
Evidence link
https://www.bankrate.com/investing/how-to-recover-lost-bitcoins-and-other-crypto/
Related cases involving passphrase unavailable
A 2025 recovery case involved a Bitcoin Core wallet.dat file from 2015.
Desktop Software Wallet · 2025 Survives
Wallets containing 0.5–2 BTC that had been uneconomical to pursue recovery services
Desktop Software Wallet · 2025 Constrained
Passphrase unavailable — Ledger Nano S (2025)
Hardware wallet (single key) · 2025 Blocked
217 cases involve passphrase unavailable 25 cases involve desktop software wallet View archive statistics →
This archive documents observed custody survivability failures. It does not attempt to document all Bitcoin losses or security incidents. Submit a case
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Framework references
Where Bitcoin Custody Intersects Legal and Fiduciary Authority
Where custody creates gaps in estate planning, fiduciary duty, and professional responsibility.
Professional Scope Boundary Matrix
What each professional or product covers, what they do not, and where gaps form between them.
The Independent Assessment Layer in Bitcoin Custody
How independent diagnostic layers emerge when multiple parties depend on shared infrastructure.
Terms guide
Outcome terms
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.
Structural terms
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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