LHV Bank founder has $470M worth of Ethereum, but lost his private key
The founder of Estonia-based LHV Bank, Rain Lõhmus, has been revealed as the owner of a massive 250,000 Ether ( ETH ) stash bought during the Ethereum ICO, which is now worth an eye-watering $470 million.
There's only one problem. He no longer has the keys.
In February, Coinbase director Conor Grogan highlighted a Ethereum whale wallet containing some $470 million worth of ETH, untouched since the blockchain’s genesis.
In an Nov. 6 update on X (Twitter), Conor highlighted Lõhmus’ comments in a recent interview that now tie him to the $470 million worth of trapped ETH.
“One mystery solved,” wrote Grogan who shared an excerpt of an Oct. 31 ERR News report on an earlier Vikerraadio interview with Lõhmus.
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
“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,” Grogan added.
According to ERR’s report, Lõhmus said it was “no secret” he owned a wallet with 250,000 ETH which he lost the password to and hasn’t made much effort to recover.
“I can't solve this alone; if someone thinks they can, I'll take all offers,” Lõhmus said.
Related: US lawmaker proposes to cut SEC chair Gary Gensler’s salary to $1
“It's very common for me to lose passwords,” he said, adding that losing access to funds was a “weak point” of blockchain systems.
In total, Lõhmus’ Ether purchase was $75,000 as ETH’s price at launch was around 30 cents.
At Ether’s Nov. 10, 2021, price peak of nearly $4,900 — Lõhmus stuck stash was worth $1.22 billion.
Lõhmus’ wallet today still has an impressive 628,757% gain and according to Grogan’s February X post had $6.5 million worth of airdrops to boot.
Magazine: Slumdog billionaire — Incredible rags-to-riches tale of Polygon’s Sandeep Nailwal
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
You may also like
Trump and Wall Street: How long will the love affair last?
Share link:In this post: Wall Street loved Trump’s win at first—stocks jumped, Bitcoin soared, and borrowing costs hit rock bottom, but some sectors started cracking fast. Tax cuts and deregulation made financial and energy stocks shoot up, but tariffs and plans to deport workers freaked out economists and markets. Tariffs mean higher prices for Americans, and even Walmart’s warning it’ll have to raise prices if Trump pushes through with his trade war.
How AI could transform Germany’s economic future
Share link:In this post: Germany must innovate to stay competitive with rapid AI advancements. Germany prioritizes safety, slowing progress compared to risk-tolerant nations. Bold investments and ethical AI are key to Germany’s leadership.
How Black Ops 6 plans to stop ranked play cheating
Share link:In this post: Treyarch has addressed the cheating issues in Call of Duty: Ranked Play mode in Black Ops 6. The mode was released last week and already getting complaints of cheating. Treyarch may be increasing its workforce to deal with increasing complaints.
The clash of Bitcoin and benchmark stock indexes
Share link:In this post: The S&P 500 is up 25% this year, with financial and cyclical stocks leading, boosted by optimism around a Trump administration and steady economic growth. Bitcoin has surged 40% this month, nearing $100,000, driven by aggressive trading, retail investor enthusiasm, and headlines hinting at government support. MicroStrategy’s stock hit a $100 billion market cap, tripling its Bitcoin holdings’ value, but its wild 32% drop from intraday highs shows cracks in the frenzy.