A Bitcoin (BTC) investor has allegedly lost access to funds worth over $12.9 1000000 after failing to record the passphrase for their wallet.

In what may become the latest timely lesson for the wider Bitcoin user base, Reddit account u/lumanubrecon claimed that as of November. 26, their rest of 1,800 BTC was out of reach.

Brain wallet woes

The user said the coins were originally stored in a so-called "encephalon wallet" in 2016. When attempting to recover the wallet using the passphrase generated at the fourth dimension, nevertheless, the wallet does not unlock.

A brain wallet is a form of Bitcoin wallet which normally involves no physical or digital record of its passphrase at all. Instead, users create a passphrase which is easy to recall simply difficult to crack. An example is a unproblematic sentence which swaps out standard messages for symbols that resemble those messages.

"Abreast memorising the laissez passer phrase I also wrote it down in a book. Then now when I keyed in the pass phrase it doesn't generate the address where I've sent 1800 btc to," u/lumanubrecon explained in an accompanying post.

Fact or fiction, wallet security is essential

Analysis of the claims produces questions. Co-ordinate to data from monitoring resource Bitinfocharts, just two wallets with an initial balance of around 1,800 BTC appeared in 2016. Both saw multiple subsequent inbound transactions, while 1,000 BTC ($7.xvi million) left one of them in 2017.

A Reddit moderator subsequently marked the post as "likely false." BashCo, the moderator of the r/Bitcoin subreddit, took aim at brain wallets as a means of Bitcoin storage.

"Why is it called a 'brain' wallet when anyone with an bodily brain would never exercise something so stupid? The story is so dumb I assume it is not real," he tweeted.

Regardless of the complaint'southward actuality, however, the demand to protect the individual keys to cryptocurrency balances continues to gain attention in 2019.

Every bit Cointelegraph reported, a dedicated drive to brand users have control of their holdings will hold its 2d almanac event on Jan. iii next twelvemonth. Known as Proof of Keys, the upshot demands anyone who owns cryptocurrency command their ain individual keys.

On Mon, meanwhile, fresh findings from exchange Binance revealed the vast majority of institutional investors using its services — 92% — did non control their private keys.