US programmer at peace with losing $300m cryptocurrency fortune

Appearing to have consigned himself to never recovering the $303 million stash, Mr Thomas said he had long ago “made peace” with his likely reality.

He has been unable to remember his password to a small hard drive, known as an IronKey, which contains the critical private keys to Mr Thomas’ digital wallet.

If unlocked, the digital wallet is where the 7002 Bitcoin are stored.

After his story went viral last week, he has had advice on how to get the password from hackers and well-meaning public, some logical, some chemical, some mystical.

“Some people have recommended various mediums, psychics, prophets that I could talk to. Some people are suggesting nootropic memory enhancing drugs.”

He has not taken up any of the offers, including the help of hackers who claim they can break into the IronKey for a slice of the fortune.

Mr Thomas said “time heals all wounds”, but it has taken some years to come to terms with his probable loss.

“There were sort of a couple weeks where I was just desperate, I don’t have any other word to describe it,” he said.

“You sort of question your own self-worth. What kind of person loses something that important?”

Perhaps the best-known case of anyone losing their Bitcoin fortune was James Howells, a Welsh IT worker, who in 2013 unintentionally threw 7500 Bitcoin in a landfill.

Mr Howells’ Bitcoin would also be worth more than a quarter-billion-dollars on today’s rate.

He tossed his hard drive, where his Bitcoin private keys were stored, into a rubbish bin which was dumped at Newport, South Wales.