CustodyStress
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Part of the CustodyStress archive of observed Bitcoin custody incidents
CS-00438

Seed phrase unavailable — software wallet 2017

Blocked
Case description
A forum user reported in September 2017 that they had their 24-word seed tattooed on their body in a private location, using modified spellings to obscure each word. A serious illness required hospitalisation and multiple procedures including one that scarred the tattooed area, rendering several words illegible.
Custody context
Stress conditionSeed phrase unavailable
Custody systemMobile or software wallet
OutcomeBlocked
DocumentationUnknown
Year observed2017
CountryUnknown
Structural dependencies observed
Single point of failure
What this illustrates
There was only one way in. When that path was gone, so was access. Access was not recoverable.
Outcome interpretation
Access was not possible under the reported conditions.
Source
Publicly Reported
Evidence type
Forum post
Related cases involving seed phrase unavailable
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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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