<p>What if $3 million was locked behind a password you forgot a decade ago? Michael Chen has been going through this situation for 11 years now. But last month, he finally got his money back.</p><p><br></p><p>This is not just another story about losing your cryptocurrency; this is a blueprint for you if you currently have a wallet that you can't access, or if you want to prevent this from happening in the future.</p><h1>The $200 Investment That Became a Fortune</h1><p>In 2013, as a college student. Michael spent $200 on Bitcoin just to experiment with the cryptocurrency. He bought 43 BTC at about $4.50 each. Michael went through several lifestyle changes after college, getting a job, and moving to 3 different locations, and forgot that he even owned any Bitcoin. Fast forward to 2021; when Bitcoin's value soared well over $60,000 per BTC, Michael remembered that he bought 43 BTC. He was shocked to discover that those coins were now worth over $2.5 million dollars. But the good news came to an abrupt end. He could not remember his wallet password.</p><h1>The 11-Year Password Prison</h1><p>Have you ever thought about trying the "Fresh Start" option? Unfortunately, unlike Netflix, you can't reset your password to regain access to your account or have someone assist you through customer service representatives, nor will there be a backdoor option in the future.</p><p>Michael looked through his list of possible passwords to use such as his childhood passwords, his birthday date, and the names of every pet he ever owned — but nothing worked for him.</p><p><br></p><p>Michael shared with reporters, "Every day for the last 12 months I have felt sick to my stomach. I would continuously check the price of Bitcoin only to negatively calculate how much I should've and would have made if my wallet was unlocked. It has been true torture." This isn't an isolated or uncommon experience either — as Chainalysis, a company that studies the Bitcoin blockchain, reports that an estimated 20% of all bitcoins (roughly 140 billion dollars) are in the "lost" or "inaccessible" wallet status.</p><p><br></p><p>However, Michael never gave up on his quest for re-accessing his wallet, and such determination is what differentiates his experience from the experiences of other individuals in a similar position.</p><h1>The Three-Step Recovery Method That Changed Everything</h1><p>Michael used three steps when figuring out how to recover lost cryptocurrency: documenting memories and finding a credible expert.</p><p><br></p><h3>Documenting Memory</h3><p>Michael had already been documenting memory fragments all summer. He kept a “password journal” and daily wrote down things he remembered from 2013 such as song lyrics and inside jokes as well as video games and passwords for old jobs. It may seem like a lot of work; nevertheless, it is critical to remember that you store memories with a criminality regarding when they occurred. If you can reconstruct your 2013 mindset, you will find other memories that you forgot about entirely. In this way, you will create a comprehensive list of different possibilities so that you will have an adequate number to work with in recovering your lost passwords (over 400).</p><h3>Finding a credible expert</h3><p>The principle behind finding the right expert begins with one question: What makes one expert better than another? Michael didn’t trust any of the advertisements posted on Facebook for “crypto recovery professionals”, so he reached out to Dave Bitcoin (yes, his name), a well-known cryptographer, who conducted an extensive interview with Michael. He would be able to use Dave’s research abilities and those of his company to recover at least an equal amount of Michael’s lost coins, in this instance, approximately $200 million. In addition, because of thorough use of sophisticated algorithms to test billions of different combinations, having an approximate or educated guess of what the original code was (thanks to the password journal and putting all that information together) will help make the recovery process very short and simple for the cryptography professional.</p><h3>He Negotiated Smart Terms</h3><p>To sum up, the majority of people have no idea that actual recovery experts normally charge a percentage based on their success which is between fifteen percent and twenty-five percent of any monies that they have recovered. Michael negotiated to pay a fee of twenty percent of the amount that was recovered, i.e. six hundred thousand dollars; however, would you rather receive eighty percent of three million dollars, or one hundred percent of nothing?</p><p><br></p><p>Dave's algorithm has finally broken through all the processing that has taken place on the original password.</p><p>The password is "Tr0ub4dor&amp;3Batman", which refers to an XKCD comic that was a favorite amongst Michael, and is also his favorite superhero.</p><p>Michael had written down "BATMAN" in his journal, but had not previously been able to connect it to an XKCD comic until now, when the algorithm found the password combination.</p><h1>What This Means for You</h1><p>Start keeping a history of every time you had access to your wallet to improve your memory and eventually find the lost access point. It's like an exercise for your memory — the more you use it, the better you will be able to remember.</p><p><br></p><p>If you have crypto available, write down the keys to each wallet, save them in several places, and give one person you trust access to these credentials.</p><p>Every year more bitcoins remain unclaimed and if you are unable to regain access then the value of your invested bitcoin will be much less than it currently holds.</p><h1>The Moment of Truth</h1><p>At the moment when Michael was finally able to regain access to his wallet, he kept his account open without cashing out. According to Michael, he said "When I finally gained access to my wallet, I cried for ten minutes straight before I began to transfer the funds to a hardware storage account with a pin code I will never forget."</p><p><br></p><p>With an ever-increasing amount of funds in his account because of bitcoin's continually rising price, today, Michael's investment is worth over $4 million.</p><p>The college experiment that was $200 one year, became generational wealth due in large part to Michael's unwillingness to accept "lost forever".</p><p><br></p><p>What keys do you need from your past to become a future millionaire?</p><p><br></p><p>Start keeping a history and start looking back. You may be thankful for your efforts down the road.</p><p><br></p>

In 2013, as a college student. Michael spent $200 on Bitcoin just to experiment with the cryptocurrency. He bought 43 BTC at about $4.50 each. 

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