Estonia Bank Founder Reveals He Bought $470 Million in Ethereum But Lost the Keys

• Rain Lõhmus, founder of LHV Bank in Estonia, originally owned 250,000 Ether from the Ethereum ICO launch.
• The current value of the 250,000 Ether is approximately $470 million.
• Lõhmus lost access to the funds due to a forgotten password.

Rain Lõhmus, founder of LHV Bank in Estonia, has revealed that he was the original owner of 250,000 Ether from the Ethereum ICO launch, now valued at an astonishing $470 million. However, in an interview on Oct. 31 with ERR News, Lõhmus admitted that he lost the keys to access the funds years ago and has made little effort to recover them since.

“It’s no secret that I own the wallet with the 250,000 Ether, which I unfortunately lost access to as I lost the password,” Lõhmus told ERR News. “I can’t solve this alone; if someone thinks they can help me recover the keys, I’ll take all offers.”

The disclosure solves the mystery of the long-dormant Ethereum wallet identified by Coinbase executive Conor Grogan back in February as containing the massive stash of ETH. At the time, Grogan highlighted that the wallet had sat untouched since Ethereum’s inception in 2015.

“One mystery solved,” wrote Grogan on Twitter while sharing the news. “Unfortunately, he lost his keys and can’t access these 100s of millions.”

Lõhmus said it’s very common for him to lose passwords

Lõhmus acknowledged to ERR News that losing access to funds was a “weak point” of blockchain systems. “It’s very common for me to lose passwords,” he remarked.

When Lõhmus initially purchased the 250,000 ETH, it cost only $75,000, as Ethereum was priced at around 30 cents per coin at launch. At Ether’s peak last November of nearly $4,900, the stash was valued at a staggering $1.22 billion.

While Lõhmus may have lost access to his massive Ethereum holdings, the wallet has still seen an impressive 628,757% gain in value. According to Grogan, the wallet also contains $6.5 million worth of airdrops.