I Lost My 2009 Bitcoin Private Keys... Whoopsie.
2018FEB09 -@bmania
Like some other unfortunate people in the early days of Bitcoin; I didn't adequately protect my private keys. Hell, I even forgot all about my mining activities in the early days until somewhat recently. Yes, I was was Bitcoin mining in June/July of 2009. No, this isn't a BS story of the millions that almost were or some kind of allegory. It is just a straight forward prose and reminder to hold on tight and protect those elusive, stress-inducing suckers.
In 2008-09 I was deployed to Iraq. If you have ever been deployed or know someone who was- then you understand or at least have a decent idea of the need to fill whatever free time is available. It helps the mind from wandering, thinking of home, and focus on the tasks at hand. Often that time is filled with hours of gym rat status, gaming, reading, possibly some college courses, and whatever else floats the days away. Which I did all of the above, but having some serious nerd-like tendencies I read about a new technology on some message boards that not only scratched my tech itch, but seemed to speak directly to my distrust/disgust with the financial industry as I had just recently witnessed my retirement account be decimated.
Initially, myself and a three others saw it as a competition between each other. No real downside, we all had (at the time) top of the line dual core processing laptops, no electricity costs, and of course- time on our hands. Speaking of time, during that period Bitcoin was worth nothing, (.008 cents USD if I remember correctly) so it was a speculative long term game that obviously in our mindset would never amount to any real money, but was just a game between friends to mine more coins than the next guy. We even made a bet on who would mine more.. I won but that is neither here nor there.
Needless to say, in 2009 information about Bitcoin was not as readily available as it is today. We were using Bitcoin version 0.1.5, so there was a little bit of trial and error coupled with a few websites and message boards to glean for learning the program and process. Nevertheless we all persisted, secured our place as Bitcoin miners, and went on with our competition. I don't have an exact number of coins that we mined, but I do remember that each of us broke 100, because that was a cool milestone- if I had to guess it would be in the 125-175 range per person.
When it came time to leave Iraq we all were trying to figure out how to sufficiently backup our wallet.dat files, transfer them without corruption, and get them back safely. We wrote down private keys, might have printed paper wallets, copied to CDs, and took other measures we thought would help us to continue to mine when we returned home. The problem is:
- That was 8.5 years ago and memories are fuzzy of the details.
- We had a larger focus on our minds... getting home and seeing family.
- Multiple housing moves, job relocations, and general life experiences occurred since then.
When I returned home I took an immediate vacation to the beach and then started a new job. I had Vista on my laptop now and Bitcoin wasn't compatible with it yet. So I forgot. I forgot about Bitcoin. I forgot about mining and I continued on with life back in the real world.
I can't really say at what point in the past 8 years I lost track of my private keys, only that the media buzz regarding cryptocurrencies in 2017 reignited my memory of mining in the beginning. Additionally, the crypto sensation has set me on a course of digital forensics, data recovery, computer security, and a deeper appreciation for protecting and securing my valuable items and data all in an attempt to recover my missing private keys.
The original hard drive still exists, artifacts of the program are abundant throughout metadata, but the elusive and frustrating task of locating the keys still persists. 8.5 years of adding/removing software, virus scans, and partitioning has most likely destroyed them, but I will continue to search my data horde until I have viewed every recovered file, old CD/DVD, and external data device. Am I disappointed in myself for not being smarter about my data storage and protection? Of course. Will it change my life any if I don't find them? Not in the slightest. Who's to say if I had continued to mine when I returned home that I wouldn't have sold my Bitcoin years ago during a pinch or to help buy my house.
A few words of advice from someone who could have been (and still hopefully will be) a Bitcoin millionaire: hold on to your crypto private keys, secure them, back them up, and don't forget about them. Put them in offline wallets inside a fire proof safe with a clue that you will understand and not forget. Cryptos are the future for currencies, so don't let setbacks stop you from using, mining, or buying them.
Have your own crypto story or relevant information for recovering private keys? Feel free to post and share below.