Man Searches Through Landfill for 8 Years for $350M Lost Bitcoin Wallet

iflscience.com

20 points·kordlessagain··8 comments

Made me think of El Capitan[1] from the original Ducktales (spoiler, though the description doesn’t do it justice):

> After everyone makes it out of the destructing Valley, El Capitan breaks loose, but when he comes to the spot where the Valley would be, he finds that it is now all buried under a mountain of dirt. Frustrated yet undaunted, El Capitan starts trying to dig up the gold.

[1]: https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/El_Capitan

Is it better to have mined and lost, than to have never mined at all

He hasn't spent 8 years searching a landfill.

He's spent 8 years trying to get permission to search a landfill. Unsuccessfully...

That's got to be among one of the suckiest situations to be in.

But why? There is nothing preventing him from giving up the search and leading normal life. He keeps punishing himself even though he can stop at any moment.

He think if he keeps doubling down all this can be set right.

Possibly, but it seems like a dangerous gamble. He could spend millions in resources and there very well (or even very likely) will be nothing recovered. Also, what are the odds that the magnetic media could survive yearly weathering like this for ~ a decade (not to mention pressure of junk and bulldozers up top)?

Straight out of a Phillip K. Dick Novel.

Or a black mirror episode, either way.

Paywall and tons of ads? Thanks no

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