💔 In 2011, Stefan Thomas — former CTO of Ripple — made a video explaining Bitcoin.
They paid him 7,002 BTC.
Worth a few thousand dollars at the time. He didn't think much of it.
He stored everything on a small encrypted device called an IronKey. Wrote the password on a piece of paper.
Then lost the paper.
The device allows only 10 attempts before it permanently wipes itself forever.
He has used 8.
2 attempts left.
Those 7,002 BTC peaked at $830 million last year. Today still worth nearly $500 million.
A cybersecurity firm called Unciphered told him — "We cracked it. We can get your Bitcoin back."
He said no.
He already made a verbal deal with two other teams years ago. He's honoring his word.
So $500 million sits locked. Untouched. Waiting.
He told reporters he has "made peace" with the loss.
Can you imagine making peace with $500 million?
This isn't just a story about a forgotten password.
It's a story about what happens when you don't take something seriously until it's too late.
The pizza guy spent his BTC.
Stefan Thomas forgot his password.
Millions of others never bought at all.
Every single one had the same opportunity you have right now.
What's stopping you? 👇
