Unciphered Offers a Glimpse of Hope for Former Ripple CTO Stefan Thomas in Recovering Lost $244 Million Bitcoin

By 0xGorki 10/26/23 5:28 AM

Stefan Thomas, the former Chief Technology Officer of Ripple, has been offered a lifeline to potentially regain access to his Bitcoin wallet, containing a staggering $244 million worth of cryptocurrency. After years of feeling helpless as his digital riches appeared to be forever out of reach, Thomas recently received a proposal from Unciphered, a cybersecurity company, offering their assistance in recovering his lost password.

Thomas made headlines in January 2021 when he revealed that he had forgotten the seed phrase for a wallet containing 7,002 Bitcoins. He had desperately attempted to access the wallet, but after eight unsuccessful login attempts, he was left with just two chances before the wallet would be permanently locked.

While it seemed as though Thomas’ substantial fortune might be lost forever, Unciphered, a team of skilled security experts, has stepped forward to offer a potential solution. On October 25, 2023, the company presented Thomas with a proposition, claiming that they had found a method to unlock his IronKey hard drive and recover his forgotten password.

This is an open letter to Stefan Thomas (@justmoon) – we would love to help you get back into your IronKey.https://t.co/zhfu41b9jn pic.twitter.com/1hYg3h79BF

— Unciphered LLC (@uncipheredLLC) October 25, 2023

Unciphered’s claim is not unfounded. The company states that they have previously succeeded in unlocking a similar IronKey device after “200 trillion attempts,” surpassing the 10-attempt limit imposed on the drive.

The company’s extraordinary efforts to crack the IronKey device are nothing short of remarkable. Unciphered embarked on this challenging journey, internally dubbed “Project Everest,” to reverse engineer the device’s communication protocols, firmware, and cryptographic implementation. They meticulously dissected every aspect of the IronKey’s functionality.

During this process, the Unciphered team identified a weakness that allowed them to gain access to the device successfully. After the initial breakthrough, they honed their techniques and repeated the process thousands of times to ensure reliability.

To further validate their claim, Andy Greenberg from Wired and an undisclosed representative from another organization visited Unciphered’s laboratory to witness their work. The guests provided a few locked IronKeys and left to grab lunch. While they didn’t return to find all devices unlocked, one had been successfully opened by the time the visitor’s plane touched down for the return flight, and the second followed shortly after.

Unciphered’s demonstration of their capabilities goes beyond mere theory. Their success has been attested to by reputable sources, including Wired, and they are willing to demonstrate their prowess on as many samples as necessary to instill confidence in Stefan Thomas and others who have lost access to their digital assets.

Stefan Thomas has been patiently waiting for over a decade for an opportunity like this, and Unciphered is here to make it happen. Their offer to assist Thomas in recovering his lost Bitcoin fortune is a glimmer of hope for anyone facing a similar predicament.

Beyond Thomas’ case, numerous stories of lost Bitcoin fortunes have circulated widely on the internet. It is estimated that approximately 20% of cryptocurrency users have lost access to their digital assets due to various, often ironic, reasons.

For instance, in 2021, a Reddit user claimed to have reclaimed 127 Bitcoins after more than a decade by rediscovering a private key on an old computer. In 2013, James Howells, a UK citizen, accidentally discarded a hard drive containing around 7,500 Bitcoins. Despite multiple attempts to retrieve it, including a recent legal battle with his city council, the hard drive remains buried in a landfill.

The story of Stefan Thomas and the services offered by Unciphered highlight the evolving and complex nature of cryptocurrency ownership and the efforts made to reclaim lost fortunes. As the crypto world continues to expand, the need for innovative solutions to restore access to locked assets becomes increasingly apparent. Unciphered’s offer may represent a turning point for individuals facing similar challenges and reinforces the notion that in the world of cryptocurrencies, opportunities for redemption can sometimes emerge from the unlikeliest of sources.