CustodyStress
Archive › Passphrase unavailable
Part of the CustodyStress archive of observed Bitcoin custody incidents
CS-01353

The wallet contained 2.4 BTC worth approximately $240,000 at January 2025 prices.

Survives
Case description
A 2025 recovery case documented by Dave Bitcoin's Wallet Recovery Services involved an Electrum wallet encrypted in 2017 with a password the holder could no longer recall. The holder remembered it was 'something about Star Wars' but not the specific construction. The recovery service built a custom dictionary attack using character names, planets, ship names, and film quotes from the franchise, combined with common password patterns (capitalisation, number substitution, appended years). After 36 hours of computation, the password was recovered—a combination of two character names with a number between them. The wallet contained 2.4 BTC worth approximately $240,000 at January 2025 prices.
Custody context
Stress conditionPassphrase unavailable
Custody systemDesktop Software Wallet
OutcomeSurvives
DocumentationUnknown
Year observed2025
CountryUnited States
Structural dependencies observed
Technical specialist required
Outcome interpretation
Access remained possible under the reported conditions.
Source
Privately Reported
Evidence type
News article
Evidence link
https://rewallet.com/blog/bitcoin-core-forgotten-password/
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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