Bitcoiner Dumps Old Computer Files Into Claude AI, Recovers 5 BTC Lost Since 2015

Bitcoiner Recovers 5 BTC Worth $500K From 11-Year-Locked Wallet Using Claude AI

The wallet, tied to code 14VJySbsKraEJbtwk9ivnr1fXs6QuofuE6, had been inaccessible since astir 2014 oregon 2015. While successful college, @cprkrn changed the wallet’s password portion intoxicated and forgot the caller one. He inactive had an aged mnemonic, “lol420fu**thePOLICE!*:)”, but it nary longer opened the existent wallet file.

He spent astir $250 connected nonrecreational betterment attempts implicit the years and tried what helium described arsenic “like 7 trillion passwords” earlier giving up connected accepted methods. He waited until bitcoin crossed $100,000 to earnestly effort betterment again. By May 13, 2026, the terms had pulled backmost to the $80,000 to $82,000 range, but the funds were inactive worthy pursuing.

His attack was direct. He uploaded the afloat contents of his aged assemblage computer, including files, notebooks, and backups, into Claude. The AI located an older wallet record that predated the password alteration and identified wherefore the mnemonic nary longer worked connected the existent file.

The method occupation came down to however the password was being processed. The btcrecover tool, a wide utilized open-source bitcoin wallet betterment utility, was concatenating a shared cardinal with the password successful an incorrect order. Claude identified the bug, corrected the decryption logic, ran the process, and extracted the private keys successful Wallet Import Format.

Screenshot of Claude’s effect shared connected X.

The recovered keys matched the people address. Claude’s output, which @cprkrn screenshotted and posted to X, read: “ PRIVATE KEYS DECRYPTED! WE GOT IT!!! THE 5 BTC IS YOURS!” The wallet app screenshot that followed showed an imported bequest P2PKH wallet with the afloat 5 BTC equilibrium and pending outbound transactions.

“Just mega dump each of your computers and notebooks into Claude,” @cprkrn wrote successful a follow-up post, summarizing the method for others successful akin situations.

@cprkrn described the process arsenic a last-ditch effort aft months of digging done aged files. In a abstracted station helium added, “Step 1. Download Claude. Step 2. Mega dump each of your accusation and pray.”

The X thread drew much than 414,000 views and astir 1,900 likes wrong hours. Responses came from crossed the crypto community, including Nic Carter, Jesse Pollak, Laura Shin, and @bitcoinarchive. Some called it a lifesaver. A smaller fig raised questions astir the information implications of AI systems moving with encrypted wallet files, though the betterment relied connected the idiosyncratic already possessing the correct, older password.

What Claude did was not a brute-force attack. It parsed files, understood the operation of bequest wallet software, debugged an existing tool, and ran the corrected process. The wallet format progressive was P2PKH, a bequest benignant communal successful aboriginal bitcoin usage earlier 2015.

@cprkrn closed the thread by thanking Anthropic and its CEO, Dario Amodei, directly. “Naming my kid aft you,” helium wrote.

The wallet had past been publically referenced by @cprkrn successful August 2023, erstwhile helium lamented the locked funds connected the aforesaid address. The funds helium received connected April 1, 2015, totaling 5 BTC, sat untouched until they were swept retired the aforesaid time the betterment was completed.