LHV Bank Owner Faces Risk of Losing $472 Million in ETH
In a national broadcast on Estonian television, Rain Lõhmus confirmed that he currently owns 250,000 Ethereum (ETH), valued at over $478 million USD, but has lost access to the private key.
LHV Bank Owner Faces Risk of Losing $472 Million in ETH
Rain Lõhmus, founder of LHV Bank from Estonia, holds Ethereum (ETH) assets worth up to $478 million USD. Ironically, he has lost access to the wallet containing this significant sum due to misplacing the private key.
During an interview on the national radio channel Vikerraadio in late October, Rain Lõhmus revealed:
"I indeed own a wallet storing 250,000 Ethereum."
Notably, he does not prioritize recovering access to the wallet but is open to any assistance offered.
One mystery solved: This address (which now holds $450M of crypto) belongs to Rain Lohmus, founder of LHV Bank
— Conor (@jconorgrogan) November 6, 2023
Unfortunately he lost his keys and can't access these 100s of millions. If you can help him recover them somehow, he's willing to split them with you https://t.co/wYLAU9gKzb pic.twitter.com/0A1nIjFSyn
Lõhmus spent $75,000 to acquire 250,000 ETH during the ICO in 2014. By February of this year, Coinbase Director Conor Grogan hinted at a wallet holding $470 million USD worth of ETH, estimating that at least $1.67 billion USD may have been permanently lost.
Based on ETH's all-time high price in November 2021, Lõhmus' wallet was valued at $1.22 billion USD. This excludes the $6.5 million USD in tokens received from various airdrops.
1D chart of ETH/USDT pair on Binance at 09:50 AM on November 9, 2023
This story serves as a cautionary tale for crypto users, emphasizing the importance of backing up passwords and securing wallets. Loss of passwords or private keys can lead to complete loss of assets. Several wallet providers are developing solutions, although widespread adoption remains limited.
Despite its rarity, similar unfortunate incidents have been observed before. Former Ripple CTO Stefan Thomas, who thought he had lost $244 million USD worth of Bitcoin for years, recently recovered access with assistance from security firm Unciphered.
