Economy
The Biggest Amounts of Cash Lost with Bitcoin
Since cryptocurrencies are decentralized, protecting them is the responsibility of their owners. No government agency or private company can help you recover the password to your digital wallet.
The New York Times reports that 20% of all Bitcoins are missing from cold storage. This is helping to drive up the price of the remaining Bitcoins. These dollars disappear as rapidly as people delete old emails and photos.
So, let’s take a look at the 5 biggest Bitcoin-related financial disasters – which will show you why it’s always wise to get the best crypto currency wallet in 2022.
The Curious Case of Bitcoin’s Founder
Satoshi Nakamoto, the enigmatic Bitcoin creator, is reportedly pretty wealthy. Is there a rationale behind Satoshi’s decision to quit using Bitcoin after it gained popularity?
Satoshi reportedly has 1.1 million Bitcoins as of 2022, yet this amount may be higher. Satoshi’s budgetary priorities are a mystery. This would cause significant volatility in Bitcoin.
The mysterious man who created Bitcoin is a selfless idealist who has never handled any of the currency but is nonetheless vital to its history, values, and legacy. Nobody may ever know what became of Satoshi’s private keys.
If Satoshi were to receive his Bitcoins back, he would likely become one of the world’s wealthiest people.
Not Knowing Where Your Key Is
The story about Stefan Thomas has been in the news for years now. The coder forgot the password to his $220 million Bitcoin wallet. Stefan started buying and selling with Bitcoin in 2011 and currently possesses 7,002.
Stefan protected his Bitcoins with the help of an IronKey. He could only make ten attempts to access the flash disk if he forgot the password.
Stefan tried to break into his USB storage eight times before turning to social media and other news outlets. He allowed the would-be decryptors two tries before giving up. Stefan “accepts” that he will never get a return on his investment.
A Wanted Poster With a 25% Reward
Like Stefan Thomas, James Howells lost 7,500 BTC in 2013 after he carelessly disposed of an outdated laptop containing his cryptocurrency. The hard drive was home to the digital wallet.
James offered to give the Welsh municipal officials 25% of the cash in his dormant wallet if they could help him find the laptop. He gave an additional £50 million to help those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Because of his landfill permit, the Newport City Council forbade James to open his wallet. It would have ramifications on the court system and in the environment. The cost of merely hunting for the wallet alone may be considerable, and there’s no assurance that it will operate or be located.
X Marks the Spot
Hackers uncovered the fifth-largest Bitcoin wallet of 2018, containing 69,000 Bitcoins bought from a dark web vendor. Since then, countless others have used the wallet safely as it was handed around. It was widely believed to be bogus.
In September 2020, the CTO of Hudson Rock tweeted about the wallet. In 2020, Alon told Motherboard’s investigators that it was typical for hackers to buy large wallets on hacker forums and then sell them to other hackers concerned that their technology had been compromised. The U.S. Department of Justice has reportedly claimed control of a Bitcoin wallet via Bitcoin.com.
The person identified only as “X” is the wallet’s rightful possessor. The United States administration is aware of its true identity.
The cryptocurrency exchange Silk Road had its coins stolen, and the blockchain analytics company Chainalysis has the evidence. Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, claimed to be aware that Individual X had stolen them.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, said the removal of petrol subsidy saved Nigeria N15.8 trillion between June 2023 and December 2025.
Mr Oyedele disclosed this on Wednesday at a press conference, where he provided a breakdown of the financial impact of the federal government’s economic reforms under President Bola Tinubu, the same day that the campaign for the 2027 presidential elections commenced.
He said the subsidy savings were reflected in the resources available to the federation, although they did not appear as a separate credit to the federation account under the description “subsidy savings”.
“Between June 2023 and December 2025, subsidy savings mobilised the sum of N15.8 trillion in resources for the federation.
“Many people will say, where is the subsidy savings? As a matter of fact, there wasn’t any alert to the Federation Account with the description ‘subsidy savings’,” Mr Oyedele said.
According to the minister, the federal government received N5.4 trillion of the N15.8 trillion, while N10.4 trillion was shared among state and local governments through the Federation Account.
Mr Oyedele said the government’s overall financial position during the period also reflected increased independent revenue and borrowing to fund its expenditure.
He said the federal government generated N3.1 trillion in incremental independent revenue, largely from remittances by government-owned entities and increased surpluses from government agencies.
The government also borrowed an additional N11.9 trillion between June 2023 and December 2025.
“People will say, you said you have exceeded your revenue, why are you still borrowing?” Mr Oyedele said, “The additional borrowing that the federal government took for that period of time, June 2023 to December 2025, amounted to N11.9 trillion.”
According to him, the combination of incremental independent revenue and additional borrowing brought the Federal Government’s incremental resources during the period to N20.4 trillion.
However, he said total incremental expenditure stood at N30.64 trillion.
Mr Oyedele said the figures demonstrated the fiscal implications of the reforms, which were introduced to address long-standing economic distortions and reduce pressure on government finances.
“The administration of President Bola Tinubu has embarked on major reforms to address age-long economic challenges,” he said.
He identified the removal of petrol subsidy and the unification of the foreign exchange market as key measures undertaken by the administration.
“The removal of fuel subsidy, which was quietly bankrupting the country, and the unification of an exchange rate system that had become a source of distortion and corruption rather than stability.
“Those decisions came at a cost, and we are not here to implement otherwise. What does reform cost?” Mr Oyedele questioned.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange weakened further by 1.75 per cent on Tuesday, August 18, triggered by losses recorded by the duo of Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and Food Concepts Plc.
CSCS Plc, the Nigerian securities depository company, lost N8.48 to settle at N90.02 per share compared with the previous value of N98.50 per share, while Food Concepts Plc, the parent company of fast food franchise, Chicken Republic, dropped 15 Kobo to end at N2.35 per unit versus N2.50 per unit.
Consequently, the NASD Security Index (NSI) further declined by 77.26 points to 4,348.76 points from Monday’s 4,426.02 points, while the market capitalisation dipped by N46.37 billion to N2.610 trillion from N2.656 trillion.
During the session, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors slumped by 82.6 per cent to 113,728 units from the previous session’s 652,081 units, and the value of securities slid by 12.4 per cent to N9.4 million from the preceding day’s N10.7 million, while the number of deals increased by 47.6 per cent to 31 deals from 21 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units traded for N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 79.7 million units transacted for N5.8 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, trailed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units worth N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units exchanged for N415.7 million.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The value of the Nigerian Naira further appreciated against the US Dollar by N6.22 or 0.46 per cent in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Tuesday, August 18, to N1,343.32/$1 from the previous rate of N1,349.54/$1.
This occurred amid steady growth in Nigeria’s external reserves, rising to $52.32 billion as of August 17, 2026, giving the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) enough arsenal to defend the local currency when the need arises in the FX market.
Also, the domestic currency improved its value against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N10.85 to close at N1,819.26/£1 compared with the previous day’s N1,830.11/£1, and gained N8.55 on the Euro to sell at N1,556.24/€1 versus Monday’s N1,564.79/€1.
In the same vein, the Naira appreciated against the Dollar in the black market during the trading session by N5 to quote at N1,390/$1, in contrast to the N1,395/$1 it was traded a day earlier, and strengthened at the GTBank forex desk by N7 to N1,357/$1 from N1,364/$1.
NAFEM interbank FX turnover declined as financial institutions’ activities moderated. Interbank FX turnover dropped by 16.6 per cent to $364.709 million from $437.529 million, with the number of deals down by 39.3 per cent to 108 deals from 178 deals.
As for the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin (BTC) traded at $64,120.36, as most other major cryptocurrencies closed in the green amid a global selloff in chip stocks.
An Asian semiconductor gauge dropped more than 3 per cent, following a 5 per cent slide in the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index on Tuesday, its worst session since late July, while investors await US Federal Reserve minutes and are widely expecting no rate change in September.
Solana (SOL) gained 1.4 per cent to sell at $76.66, Cardano (ADA) added 0.9 per cent to trade at $0.1748, Ethereum (ETH) grew by 0.6 per cent to $1,905.54, Ripple (XRP) appreciated by 0.4 per cent to sell at $0.9986, TRON (TRX) improved by 0.3 per cent to $0.3327, and Dogecoin (DOGE) soared by 0.2 per cent to $0.0698.
However, Binance Coin (BNB) depreciated by 0.4 per cent to $600.88, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
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