Part of the CustodyStress archive of observed Bitcoin custody incidents
Passphrase unavailable
Cases in this category involve wallets protected by a passphrase that could not be recovered. Even where the seed phrase was available, passphrase unavailability blocked access.
Passphrase unavailability differs from seed unavailability in that it often arises years after setup, when memory of an infrequently used passphrase has faded. Cases in this category frequently involve users who understood the concept of a passphrase but underestimated the precision required to reproduce it exactly. Even small variations in capitalization, spacing, or punctuation produce a different wallet.
217 observed cases
Blocked
152 (70%)
Constrained
2 (1%)
Survives
51 (24%)
Indeterminate
12 (6%)
Passphrase unavailable — Bitcoin-Qt (2016)
Mobile or software wallet
An early adopter who had set their 2012-era Bitcoin-Qt wallet passphrase to their old university student number found in late 2016 that their university no long
Their insurance records only preserved partial VIN data.
Mobile or software wallet
A user who set their wallet passphrase using the VIN number from their vehicle found in November 2016 that the vehicle had been written off in an accident, and
The hint read 'the address from the summer of 2013.' The investor had lived at two
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin investor who had encrypted their wallet with a passphrase found in December 2016 that they had stored the hint—not the passphrase itself—in a notes ap
Passphrase unavailable — exchange 2016
Exchange custody
A user who had not accessed their exchange account since 2013 found in September 2016 that the exchange had updated its authentication system. Their old passwor
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet (2015)
Mobile or software wallet
A university student who had mined Bitcoin as a computer science project in 2013 returned to their wallet in July 2015 intending to sell after price increases.
Passphrase unavailable — Bitcoin-Qt (2015)
Mobile or software wallet
A 2015 forum post describes a user who had encrypted their 2012 Bitcoin-Qt wallet with a passphrase they associated with a deceased relative's nickname. By 2015
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet 2015
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had set a wallet passphrase as an obscure film quote in a foreign language found in 2015 that neither they nor any resource they consulted could repr
The script was lost in a disk failure in 2013.
Mobile or software wallet
A forum thread from March 2015 describes a user who encrypted their Bitcoin-Qt wallet with a passphrase generated from a custom algorithm they wrote in 2012. Th
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet (2015)
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had set up a BIP38-encrypted paper wallet in 2013 kept the encrypted private key but had not used the wallet in over a year. In April 2015 they attem
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet 2015
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had generated a 'brain wallet' by hashing a memorable poem into a private key found in 2015 that the specific line they had used—one they had encount
During an office cleanout the Post-It was discarded.
Mobile or software wallet
A user documented in 2015 that they had encrypted their wallet with a passphrase stored on a Post-It note attached to the underside of their keyboard. During an
The wallet contained far more BTC than expected—accumulated from a mining pool payout
Mobile or software wallet
A developer who had created a wallet for testing in 2013 and then forgotten about it rediscovered it in 2015. The wallet contained far more BTC than expected—ac
Passphrase unavailable — Electrum (2015)
Mobile or software wallet
A documented 2015 case describes a user who had set their Electrum wallet passphrase as a concatenation of two pet names. Both pets had since died and the user
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet 2015
Mobile or software wallet
A user who used a keyboard macro to enter their wallet passphrase found in August 2015 that the macro software had auto-updated and the stored macro was not com
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet 2015
Mobile or software wallet
A forum user documented a 2015 case where they had set their Armory wallet passphrase to a phrase that included the current date—a practice recommended nowhere
The phone was lost in 2014 and the cloud backup had not included voice memos.
Mobile or software wallet
A 2015 case documents a user who had backed up their wallet passphrase as a voice memo on a mobile phone. The phone was lost in 2014 and the cloud backup had no
They had traveled to 12 countries that year.
Mobile or software wallet
A Bitcoin holder documented in October 2015 that their wallet passphrase had been set during a period of heavy travel and likely included the name of a city or
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet (2015)
Mobile or software wallet
An early Bitcoin forum member who had held BTC since 2011 attempted to decrypt their encrypted wallet in November 2015 ahead of an anticipated price rise. They
They had updated every PIN except the one they could not recall: the wallet passphrase
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had set their wallet passphrase to a personal PIN code they used for everything discovered in December 2015 that they had changed all their PINs foll
Passphrase unavailable — exchange custody (2015)
Exchange custody
A long-dormant exchange account holder attempted to access their account in April 2015, having held BTC there since 2012. The exchange had migrated to a new pla
Passphrase unavailable — exchange 2015
Exchange custody
A Bitcoin user attempted to log in to their exchange account in March 2015 after a long dormancy period and discovered their email provider had discontinued the
Passphrase unavailable — hardware wallet 2015
Hardware wallet (single key)
A user who had set a PIN on their Trezor device entered it incorrectly multiple times, triggering the device's progressive delay and eventual wipe after 16 inco
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet 2014
Mobile or software wallet
A forum post from February 2014 documents a user who had set their wallet passphrase using a keyboard pattern they associated with a physical gesture. Following
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet 2014
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had set their wallet passphrase to a combination of two family members' names and birthdates could not recall, three years later, which name came fir
Gox—coins they had retrieved just before withdrawals were suspended.
Mobile or software wallet
A user who had rushed to move BTC from Mt. Gox to a new local wallet in early 2014 set a new passphrase during the stressful emergency transfer process. They la
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