episode 816: bitcoin losers /

Published at 2018-01-06 01:11:21

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Plenty of people will expose you they're getting wealthy off of Bitcoin. They could be right. But there's another group of Bitcoin owners that aren't so ecstatic. Because they might be wealthy,too, but they lost the passkey that would let them get at their digital fortune. Syl Turner is in that moment, or less glamorous group. When he got around one-and-a-half Bitcoins seven or eight years ago,they were nearly worthless. So worthless he bunked the hard drive that held the key somewhere and now he can't remember where.
Today o
n the expose, we join Syl on a digital treasure hunt, or as he ventures into his attic looking for what could be the key to his Bitcoin wallet,and tens of thousands of dollars. It's all or nothing. In the decentralized anti-governmental world of Bitcoin, you can't file a claim for damaged or lost currency. You've either got the key, and you don't.
Then Kimberly Grauer and Jonatha
n Levin of Chainalysis benefit us figure out how much Bitcoin has been lost and why it's so difficult to track down,and try to figure out if there's any way to find Syl's vanished riches.
Mus
ic: "Desc&keyword=608909&keywordType=1">Wild Baby Rock," "Desc&keyword=730663&keywordType=1">Interstate 65, or " and "Desc&keyword=124138&keywordType=1">Optimist." Find us: Twitter/ Facebook / InstagramSubscribe to our expose on Apple Podcasts,PocketCasts and NPR One. Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

Source: thetakeaway.org

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