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▲ Bitcoin (BTC), cryptocurrency wallet/ChatGPT generated image
Market interest is growing as attempts emerge to recover a Bitcoin wallet that has remained untouched since 2010.
According to crypto media outlet BeInCrypto on May 2 (local time), a developer is reportedly attempting to recover a lost wallet belonging to a user known as 'Stone Man' using a GPU-based CUDA tool.
The wallet holds 8,999 BTC, valued at approximately $688 million. This address has no transaction history for about 16 years.
The incident dates back to early 2010. Stone Man held approximately 9,000 BTC using an early Bitcoin client, version 0.3.2, at the time. During a transfer of 1 BTC, the system automatically moved the remaining 8,999 BTC to a new change address.
The problem occurred afterward. The user ran the program in a Linux boot CD environment, and the updated wallet.dat file was deleted during system shutdown. The existing backup did not include the new address information, and consequently, the assets remained inaccessible as the private key could not be secured.
The recovery tool that has now emerged is designed to reduce the private key search range by leveraging the low entropy characteristics of early Bitcoin clients. It uses CUDA-based GPU computation to find keys faster than traditional CPU methods. The developer stated that if this method is verified, it could be applied to wallets that were previously inaccessible due to similar issues.
Meanwhile, this attempt is noteworthy as it is a recovery case targeting a large-scale Bitcoin wallet that has been dormant for a long time.
*Disclaimer: This article is for investment reference only, and we are not responsible for any investment losses based on it. The content should be interpreted for informational purposes only.*
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