Programmer holds 7,002 Bitcoin private keys on a USB drive with only 2 password attempts remaining, valued at approximately $777 million

Odaily reported that programmer Stefan Thomas holds an IronKey encrypted USB drive containing the private keys to 7,002 Bitcoins. These Bitcoins were payment for an educational video titled "What is Bitcoin?" he created in 2011. Recently valued at approximately $111,000 per coin, the total is estimated at $777 million. 

The IronKey device is configured to permanently lock and delete its contents after 10 incorrect password attempts. Thomas has already tried 8 times, leaving only 2 password attempts remaining. Manufacturer Kingston stated that aside from the original password set by the user, there is no backup password or alternative recovery method available. 

Thomas sought assistance from digital forensics company Naxo and security researcher Chris Tarnovsky, and had previously declined Unciphered's help after reaching verbal agreements with two other teams. As of late 2025, the IronKey remains stored in a Swiss vault, and as of mid-2026, successful recovery has not been confirmed.