Investor Loses Access to Ethereum Wallet Worth $1.18 Billion

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Investment from 2014

Lõhmus’s wallet currently holds 250,000 ETH, purchased from a presale in 2014 for about $75,000. By August 2025, with ETH surpassing $4,700, this amount is valued at over $1.18 billion—exceeding the total on-chain assets held by Ethereum’s creator, Vitalik Buterin (approximately $1.16 billion).

However, ironically, Lõhmus has completely lost access to this vast fortune after misplacing his private key, with no way to recover it. This means the ETH can be considered permanently “burned,” as no one can conduct transactions or withdraw funds without the access key.

In a 2023 interview with Estonian national radio, Lõhmus acknowledged the loss of access and expressed his willingness to accept any reliable assistance to regain entry to the wallet.

Confirmation from the Crypto Community

By November 2023, Conor Grogan, Product Director at Coinbase, confirmed that the wallet address indeed belongs to Lõhmus and called on the community to help him find ways to recover the massive assets contained in the wallet.

Data from Arkham shows that this wallet has been completely “inactive” for the past nine years, except for a few small “dust transfer” transactions and some transfers into the wallet. Importantly, no ETH has ever been withdrawn from this wallet.

Lõhmus also shared that he had previously lost access to a small amount of Bitcoin, leading him to recognize the significant risks of self-custody in crypto. He stated, “Self-custody of private keys is a critical weakness. Today, I had to reset my ID card password—if this were crypto, I would have been in crisis”.

Not the Only Case

Lõhmus’s story is just one of many cases of lost access to cryptocurrency wallets. The issue is so prevalent that in 2021, a reality TV show was dedicated to helping investors recover lost crypto assets.

Another notable case is that of James Howells, who has spent over a decade pursuing a legal battle to gain access to a landfill in Newport to retrieve a hard drive containing 8,000 BTC worth over $720 million. This Bitcoin was mined in 2009 and stored with the private key backed up on a small hard drive. However, due to a mistake during a cleanup, the hard drive was accidentally thrown away, and local authorities have prohibited excavation for environmental protection reasons.

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