Forgot bitcoin what is blockchain
The digital currency bitcoin used to only be a big deal in small circles of libertarians, but has exploded over the last year. Some early investors are now trying to find bitcoins forgot bitcoin what is blockchain lost.
As the digital currency bitcoin has skyrocketed in value, many of the forgot bitcoin what is blockchain adopters have become millionaires - only if, forgot bitcoin what is blockchain is, they can find their bitcoins. Kenny Malone from our Planet Money team went on a virtual treasure hunt. Syl Turner heard about bitcoin about 10 years ago, and he figured, what the heck, got a couple of coins and then saved them to what's known as a digital wallet on his hard drive.
You know, at the time I didn't think bitcoin was worth anything so I didn't laughterback anything up. To be fair, it wasn't worth anything at the time. Turner had digital pennies and then let them fall between the digital couch cushions.
And so Turner is standing in his attic, staring at a waist-high layer of junk, looking for a year-old hard drive. Jonathan Levin is co-founder of Chainalysis, a company that makes bitcoin analysis software, and the company did a study that found around 20 percent of all bitcoin is lost, out of circulation.
And Levin says the confusing thing is that, technically speaking, bitcoin can't be lost. Blockchain - big word, sure, but here's a very non-technical way of understanding what it means.
Imagine with me, if you will, a massive auditorium filled with forgot bitcoin what is blockchain bookkeepers. Now, Jonathan wants to send me one bitcoin. He walks on stage in front of all these bookkeepers, steps up to a microphone, and he's like Hello, entire bitcoin universe.
As all of your books show, I, Jonathan, have three bitcoins to my name. After Jonathan says this, all of these virtual ledger keepers sort of scribble this transaction down, deduct one bitcoin from Jonathan's account, increase Kenny's account by one, and that is a bitcoin transaction.
Nothing is really transferred. It's more like an instantaneous adjustment across a whole bunch of ledgers. When people talk about the blockchain, they're talking about this system where there is no central bookkeeper.
Whatever bitcoins Syl Turner has, they're still there sitting in a kind of virtual vault, but he has lost the key. He's looking for an old hard drive with a super complicated password, and it's not up here. Bitcoin was created to be this decentralized currency. There's no federal reserve tweaking interest rates, there's no treasury department printing new money and there's no customer service line forgot bitcoin what is blockchain call if you are Syl Turner. But that lost bitcoin expert Forgot bitcoin what is blockchain Levin, he does have a phone number.
So we have gathered here today to try and resurrect Syl's lost bitcoin. Turner explained how he knows he's got tens of thousands of dollars of bitcoins locked away, he just cannot find that hard drive with the digital wallet with the private key. Well, what we need to find the needle in the haystack is even, like, a little bit of a key.
What Levin is saying is that bitcoin private forgot bitcoin what is blockchain are designed to be un-guessable even by the most powerful computers we have right now. But if Turner happened to write down part of this key at some point, there are companies that will use that information to help him break into his account.
But, like lots and lots of other early bitcoin enthusiasts, Syl Turner did not write down any part of the key and forgot bitcoin what is blockchain nothing to go on. I know this is going to be, like, my deathbed regret. I'm like, I should have backed up that wallet. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc.
This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. Accessibility links Skip to main content Keyboard shortcuts for audio player. Finding Your Lost Bitcoins The digital currency bitcoin used to only be a big deal in small circles of libertarians, but has exploded over the last year.
Finding Your Lost Bitcoins. Facebook Twitter Flipboard Email. January 18, 5: Heard on Morning Edition. So let's dig in. Yeah, we can start digging in. There's, like, a broken fog machine. Some kind of table saw thing, paper shredder, Game Boy Forgot bitcoin what is blockchain.
Two TVs that are identical, Goldfish crackers box. While Turner rummages, we found an expert specifically in lost bitcoin. What do people actually say? You can have bitcoins, and bitcoin is, like, the currency unit. So if I send you bitcoin, I send bitcoin to your account on the bitcoin blockchain. Of course, it would not be a name. It would be an anonymized account number. I would like everyone here to know that I am giving one bitcoin to Kenny. Syl Turner, still digging through his attic.
I don't think I put it in this one. Can you guys all hear each other OK? So probably orsomewhere around there So that's where I'm at. So there are bitcoin bounty hunters out there. There are bitcoin bounty hunters out there. Unfortunately - unfortunately we can't actually help you out.
What kind of things do you say to somebody in Syl's position? For the people that have lost their bitcoins, I say tough luck.
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