Rain Lõhmus, the founder of Estonia’s LHV Bank, has recently been identified as the holder of a substantial cryptocurrency treasure trove, comprising a staggering 250,000 Ether (ETH). This impressive digital asset was acquired during the Ethereum Initial Coin Offering (ICO) and has now soared in value to a mind-boggling $470 million.
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However, a significant obstacle exists in Lõhmus’s pursuit of this crypto fortune: he no longer possesses the keys required to access it.
In February, Conor Grogan, a director at Coinbase, brought attention to an Ethereum wallet, commonly referred to as a “whale wallet,” brimming with approximately $470 million worth of ETH. Astonishingly, this cache remained untouched since the inception of the Ethereum blockchain.
A recent development on November 6, shared by Conor on Twitter, shed light on Lõhmus’s connection to this locked vault of digital assets. Grogan highlighted Lõhmus’s comments from a recent interview, unequivocally tying him to the $470 million worth of ETH.
Conor’s tweet read: “One mystery solved: This address (which now holds $450M of crypto) belongs to Rain Lohmus, founder of LHV Bank. 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.”
As per a report by ERR News, Lõhmus candidly admitted to owning a wallet containing 250,000 ETH, but he lamentably misplaced the password, and his attempts at retrieval have been lackluster. He expressed his willingness to entertain any offers from individuals who believe they can assist in the recovery of his lost access.
In a rueful acknowledgment, Lõhmus disclosed, “I can’t solve this alone; if someone thinks they can, I’ll take all offers.” He also acknowledged his propensity for losing passwords and recognized the vulnerability of blockchain systems in safeguarding access to digital assets.
Remarkably, Lõhmus initially acquired this Ether stash for a modest sum of $75,000, as ETH’s price during its launch hovered around 30 cents. Fast forward to November 10, 2021, when Ether reached its peak price of nearly $4,900, and Lõhmus’s stash was valued at a staggering $1.22 billion.
Even today, Lõhmus’s wallet boasts an impressive gain of 628,757%, and as reported by Grogan in February, it received a notable $6.5 million worth of airdrops.