the myths and legends surrounding the whereabouts of lost Bitcoin. Is second to none, but presumably for all eternity destroyed BTC assets of Bitcoin Creator Satoshi Nakamoto. A short story about the curiosities of the cryptography.

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26. January 2019BTC$3.553,02 -0.05%part Facebook Twitter LinkedIn xing mail

cryptography, well and good. But what if you lose from carelessness out his Private Key? Tough luck. As simple as that, unfortunately. The SHA-256 hash function is for the safety of the Bitcoin network is a good thing. Not for nothing, SHA stands for „Secure Hash Algorithm“.

And with the security it has taken Nakamoto really is. Since the Bitcoin Mining as well as the mathematical link between the Public and Private Key based on SHA-256. And the really bomb-proof: There are more opportunities for Private – and Public-Key combinations than atoms in the universe. Key collisions are mathematically impossible.

It is more likely, in the Atlantic ocean, sunk by the gold coin to find, than to guess randomly a matching Private Key.

Ergo: The probability of lost Bitcoin Keys find, tends to Zero. What may come for the individual Bitcoin enthusiasts a disaster, sometimes leads to curious Stories. Here are five cases of lost BTC.

1. James Howells Kafkaesque fight against garbage

right at the beginning of a classic. You remember dark to the guy that wanted to dig in a dump for Bitcoin? His Name is James Howells, and he has meanwhile changed sides. Apparently, he now holds Bitcoin Cash in the rod:

James Howells on BCH: This is the real Bitcoin

watch This Video on YouTube.

at the time submerged Howells (or one of his colleagues, so exactly do not know) it is a hard drive with 7,500 neatly mined BTC on a Welsh landfill. Since then, the Software developer has made, through his tenacious struggle against the authorities of his Church Newport headlines. Because instead of putting their head in the Sand, sent the computer engineer, the landfill after his treasure hunt. So far, however, without success.

2. Wired destroyed voluntarily 13 BTC

Similarly absurd is the Story from Wired. The engineering magazine devoted to the history of 13 lost Bitcoin even a veritable Reportage. And goes like this: Apparently, the editorial team of Wired 2013 got an ominous equipment of the company Butterfly Labs. The square, black box turned out to be soon as a Bitcoin Miner. You forget about it quickly, but the Bitcoin Mining was not marked by the beginning of giant farms close to the Arctic circle.

Read also: 5 areas that can revolutionize the Blockchain

at the time you could still go with the home computer on the Bitcoin hunt. The fact it is so long until you had 13 BTC. However, it wasn’t long until the question arose as to the use of the Coins. Various proposals were in the room, and from the absence of better Alternatives, decided to join the Wired editorial team to destroy the Coins. „Ouch!“, blurts out so many certainly, given today’s value.

on The contrary, destroyed the first assets Wired his 13 mined BTC, not accidentally, but with intent. In full awareness that the Coins might one day have a „six-or seven-digit value,“ explains Michael Calore, editor in the art Department at Wired.

Whether the editors regret your drastic step today? One can only speculate.

3. Elon Musk doesn’t know where his BTC

not go If Elon Musk wants to only on Mars, but also „to the moon“, you know, up to today. The technology fanatic and serial entrepreneur Musk made several times in the past hints in this direction. Whether, and in what crypto currency he knows, but until today nobody.

Through a Tweet in November 2017, however, became known that a friend sent, at the time, some crypto-money. Where the Satoshis are gone, he also.

The relationship Musks to the crypto-scene is based more on a kind of flirtatious distance. Only in the autumn of last year, the Tesla founder allowed himself a joke, and imitated the just big become Scam-mesh, in the case of the fake accounts of prominent people Free tokens promised. Short hand locked Twitter Musks account and contributed to the Amusement of the same.

4. Users of the network confused fees with a transaction volume of

If someone has already asked the question of whether there are transaction fees, an upper limit, reference is made to the following Story. Spoiler: there isn’t. The next story in the annals of the most curious Bitcoin transactions in the history of the currency. She turns to be the most expensive Transfer in the network.

Read also: 5 crypto-friendly countries in the world

in 2016, resulted in this Tweet from user @ActualAdviceBTC a stir: