CustodyStress
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Part of the CustodyStress archive of observed Bitcoin custody incidents
CS-00799

Passphrase unavailable — software wallet (2020)

Survives
Case description
An August 2020 case describes a user whose passphrase incorporated the daily closing price of a stock on a specific date in 2013. They remembered the stock but not the exact price. Historical financial data services showed the date's closing price but the passphrase incorporated a format — with or without decimal, with or without dollar sign — that was unclear.
Custody context
Stress conditionPassphrase unavailable
Custody systemMobile or software wallet
OutcomeSurvives
DocumentationUnknown
Year observed2020
CountryUnknown
Structural dependencies observed
Single point of failure
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.