Bitcoin Custody Incident Archive Observed Bitcoin custody cases in which access or recovery by a legitimate owner, heir, or authorized party became constrained, delayed, or blocked.
This archive documents custody survivability failures. It does not attempt to document all Bitcoin losses, hacks, thefts, or scams. Cases are drawn from public reports, professional observations, or sourced user submissions and are reviewed for structural relevance before inclusion.
Cases correspond to structural failure modes modeled in the CustodyStress assessment, including owner absence, device loss without recovery paths, authority barriers, coercion, and geographic access constraints.
Situation
All situations Owner death Owner incapacity Passphrase unavailable Seed phrase unavailable Device loss Documentation absent Multisig quorum failure Institutional custody dependency Legal or authority constraint Forced relocation Physical or behavioral coercion Custody system
All systems Hardware wallet (single key) Multisig (self-managed) Collaborative custody Mobile or software wallet Desktop wallet Exchange custody Institutional custody Outcome
All outcomes Survives Constrained Blocked Indeterminate Documentation
All Documentation present Partial documentation Present but ambiguous No documentation Unknown Year
All years 2009–2015 2016–2020 2021–2025 2026 onwards ▸ More filters
1,349 cases
Summaries Table
A user's laptop containing a Bitcoin Core wallet file was stolen.
Blocked Mobile or software wallet · 2012
A user's laptop containing a Bitcoin Core wallet file was stolen.
device loss
The user reported the loss on Bitcoin forums.
Blocked Mobile or software wallet · 2012
A user's hard drive failed and the wallet.dat file was not recoverable.
device loss
Device lost — software wallet 2012
Blocked Mobile or software wallet · 2012
A user recovered a wallet.dat backup file after hardware failure but could not remember the encryption password.
device loss
Device lost — software wallet 2012
Blocked Mobile or software wallet · 2012
A user sent a computer for repair and the technician reformatted the drive, overwriting the wallet.dat file.
device loss
An early Bitcoin miner's primary mining computer experienced hard drive failure.
Blocked Mobile or software wallet · 2012
An early Bitcoin miner's primary mining computer experienced hard drive failure.
device loss
A user reinstalled their operating system and lost access to their Multibit wallet.
Blocked Mobile or software wallet · 2012
A user reinstalled their operating system and lost access to their Multibit wallet.
device loss
Device lost — software wallet 2012
Constrained Mobile or software wallet · 2012
A user had backed up their wallet.dat to an external drive, but the backup was from several months prior.
device loss
Documentation absent — software wallet 2012
Blocked Mobile or software wallet · 2012
A user set up an Armory offline signing arrangement involving two computers.
documentation absent
Passphrase unavailable — software wallet 2012
Blocked Mobile or software wallet · 2012
A user running an early version of Armory wallet had set an encryption passphrase they later could not recall.
passphrase unavailable
Laptop stolen — Bitcoin-Qt (2013)
Blocked Mobile or software wallet · 2013
A user's laptop containing the only copy of their Bitcoin-Qt wallet.dat was stolen in 2013.
device loss
Seed phrase unavailable — software wallet 2012
Blocked Mobile or software wallet · 2012
A user installed Electrum on a new computer but did not record the seed phrase generated during setup.
seed unavailable
Seed phrase unavailable — software wallet 2012
Blocked Mobile or software wallet · 2012
A user wiped a computer running an older pre-HD Bitcoin wallet without first exporting the private keys or backing up the wallet file.
seed unavailable
Seed phrase unavailable — software wallet 2012
Blocked Mobile or software wallet · 2012
A user had generated a brain wallet by hashing a memorable phrase, storing no written backup under the assumption they would remember it.
seed unavailable
Seed unavailable — Electrum (2012)
Blocked Mobile or software wallet · 2012
An early Electrum user generated a new wallet to receive mining proceeds but did not record the seed.
seed unavailable
A Bitcoin-Qt user made over 100 transactions without ever making a fresh wallet backup.
Blocked Mobile or software wallet · 2012
A Bitcoin-Qt user made over 100 transactions without ever making a fresh wallet backup.
seed unavailable
Two key holders resigned in January 2018 following a major investor disagreement.
Constrained Mobile or software wallet · 2018
A cryptocurrency startup's treasury was held in a 3-of-5 multisig.
multisig quorum failure
Device lost — software wallet 2013
Blocked Mobile or software wallet · 2013
A user who had been mining Bitcoin through 2012 performed a clean OS reinstall in early 2013 without first exporting the wallet.dat file from the AppData directory.
device loss
Device lost — software wallet 2013
Blocked Mobile or software wallet · 2013
A user's hard drive failed in 2013 due to a mechanical failure.
device loss
The BTC remained in on-chain addresses but the private keys were permanently lost.
Blocked Mobile or software wallet · 2013
A user whose home was flooded in 2013 lost a computer containing their Bitcoin wallet.
device loss
Institutional lockout — exchange custody (2022)
Constrained Exchange custody · 2022
Crypto lending platform Nexo announced in October 2022 that it was winding down its US operations following regulatory pressure from multiple state attorneys general.
vendor lockout
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