Ex-Ripple CTO sits on 7,002 Bitcoin

In 2011, software developer Stefan Thomas published a YouTube video about the still unknown cryptocurrency Bitcoin. As a thank you, a fan sent him 7,002 Bitcoin. The gift, worth a few thousand dollars at the time, is stored on an IronKey-branded USB stick. They are considered particularly safe. After ten incorrect password attempts, its contents are deleted. One suspects: Thomas, CTO at Ripple between 2012 and 2018, misplaced the piece of paper with the password – and no longer has access to the assets, which are now worth $240 million. He has already had eight failed attempts, with two remaining.

The IT company Unciphered now claims to have developed a new process that bypasses the block. This is also explosive because the IronKey process was developed to secure highly sensitive data. But it seems that Stefan Thomas is in no hurry at all.