Svmuu News: Programmer Stefan Thomas possesses an IronKey encrypted USB drive containing the private keys for 7,002 Bitcoin. These Bitcoin were earned from the educational video “What is Bitcoin?”educational video he produced in 2011. Based on a recent valuation of approximately $111,000 per coin, the total value of these is estimated at $777 million. 
The IronKey device is configured to permanently lock and delete its contents after 10 failed password attempts; Thomas has already tried 8 times, leaving him with only 2 attempts remaining. The manufacturer, Kingston, states that there is no backup password or alternative recovery method other than the original password set by the user. 
Thomas had sought assistance from the digital forensics firm Naxo and security researcher Chris Tarnovsky, and had declined Unciphered’s offer because he had already reached verbal agreements with both teams. As of the end of 2025, the IronKey remained stored in a Swiss vault, and as of mid-2026, there was no confirmation that recovery had been successful.