# 7.5 Million in Bitcoins buried in landfill **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 10, 2013, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941 "2013-12-10T01:39:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2013, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941/21 "2013-12-10T23:26:47Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Yeah. Plus, each time you make a copy, there’s another $7.5 million! I think they have a check against that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941/22 "2013-12-10T23:50:19Z")
A Bitcoin “wallet” does not actually contain the “coins”. It simply gives you access to them. A copy of a Bitcoin wallet would simply give you access to the same stash. Like a second key to a safe deposit box. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941/23 "2013-12-11T00:35:06Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > The first block of Bitcoins awarded to the first miner was a block rewarding 50 bitcoins. Now, I don’t know how long it took to mine a block back then at difficulty 0 - but it seems they were tiny little blocks, and they were being mined every few seconds (it looks to take several minutes these days). Well, we probably have to assume the first bunch of blocks were claimed by whoever came up with the scheme before they went public with it. And the supply is limited at 21 million bitcoins, so at the rate of 50 an hour per miner it would only take 500 people to mine out the entire supply in 35 days. We know that couldn’t have been the case because an exponentially higher number of people are still working at it today, with computers that have far more computing power than anything that existed in 2009. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941/24 "2013-12-11T05:26:07Z")
Why in the world would he not have had a backup for something like that? ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941/25 "2013-12-11T06:17:34Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Why in the world would he not have had a backup for something like that? Because they were pretty much worthless at the time. Nobody dreamed they would hit $1000 apiece. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941/26 "2013-12-11T07:19:53Z")
Fuck. I have an old computer in storage that has like 0.5 bitcoins on it. If they are worth $1000 bucks or even several hundred, that’s not chump change. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941/27 "2013-12-11T12:31:41Z")
The landfill site is in Newport, which must now make it one of the most valuable pieces of real estate in Wales. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941/28 "2013-12-11T12:34:07Z")
Wow, according to my email history, I have over 0.9 bitcoins on that old hunk of junk. I think I’ll go dig it out of storage and make a sale 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941/29 "2013-12-11T13:44:07Z")
I hope this doesn’t become the currency of the future, cause I sure don’t understand it. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941/30 "2013-12-11T21:23:23Z")
Should be easy to find, right? I mean, 7.5 million of anything is going to take up a LOT of space. [sub]Huh? Oh, nevermind[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941/31 "2013-12-11T22:41:13Z")
Embarassingly, I have half a bitcoin in a disk image file right here on my laptop. A disk image file _to which I have forgotten the password._ :smack: ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2013, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941/32 "2013-12-11T23:07:23Z")
Do you mean the login password, or is the image encrypted? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941/33 "2013-12-12T00:08:10Z")
It’s encrypted. :: sob :: ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941/34 "2013-12-12T00:14:05Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > I hope this doesn’t become the currency of the future, cause I sure don’t understand it. You’re not the only one. And in fact a bit coin doesn’t sound like much… a fraction of a penny if that? I have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941/35 "2013-12-12T00:21:53Z")
Actually, one bitcoin is currently worth around nine hundred dollars. I just [checked](http://www.bitcoincharts.com/markets/virtexCAD.html). ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941/36 "2013-12-12T01:27:51Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > It’s encrypted. :: sob :: Do you have any passwords you habitually use? Try those. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941/37 "2013-12-12T01:29:47Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#): > > You’re not the only one. And in fact a bit coin doesn’t sound like much… a fraction of a penny if that? I have no idea. The word “bit” refers not to the size but to the fact that it’s digital. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941/38 "2013-12-12T15:44:10Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Actually, one bitcoin is currently worth around nine hundred dollars. I just [checked](http://www..com/markets/virtexCAD.html). I actually bought 50 bitcoins when they dropped to around $5 and was thrilled when I sold them for $22…still had .43 that I had mined laying around and sold them when it was $1146. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941/39 "2013-12-12T16:26:17Z")
> [@Telperion](#): > > Well, we probably have to assume the first bunch of blocks were claimed by whoever came up with the scheme before they went public with it. And the supply is limited at 21 million bitcoins, so at the rate of 50 an hour per miner it would only take 500 people to mine out the entire supply in 35 days. We know that couldn’t have been the case because an exponentially higher number of people are still working at it today, with computers that have far more computing power than anything that existed in 2009. But, as others have said, they get exponentially harder to mine over time. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941/40 "2013-12-12T17:52:24Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > But, as others have said, they get exponentially harder to mine over time. Yeah, I know that, but I still don’t buy that there was ever a point where a few hundred dudebro’s on 2009 (or earlier) model Dell laptops could have cleaned out the entire supply of bitcoins in a matter of weeks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/7-5-million-in-bitcoins-buried-in-landfill/675941.md?page=3)