Bitcoin Lost for 12 Years Returns as $4.5 Million Windfall for UK Investor

A British investor has recovered Bitcoin lost 12 years ago, CoinDesk reported. The holdings were worth just $2,000 when they became inaccessible and have since surged roughly 2,250-fold to $4.5 million.

U.K. law firm CEL Solicitors recently said it had helped an investor identified by the pseudonym "Chris" recover Bitcoin he bought through former British digital-asset exchange Intersango.

Chris first bought Bitcoin in December 2011 through U.K. exchange Britcoin. Britcoin later changed its name to Intersango, then stopped trading at the end of 2012 and shut down completely in early 2014.

Chris initially invested about 1,500 pounds ($2,000), the report said. The value of his holdings later rose to $5,400, but he lost access to the assets after the exchange ceased operations. “The hardest part was watching Bitcoin keep rising and thinking about what I could have done with that money,” he said.

CEL Solicitors said it used digital-asset tracing software from its sister company, The Crypto Tracing Experts, to identify wallets believed to hold assets belonging to Intersango users. Those wallets contain more than 5,500 Bitcoin, currently worth about $421 million.

Chris recovered about 59 Bitcoin. The holdings are now worth about $4.5 million. Bitcoin was trading at less than $4 when he first bought it, versus about $76,500 now.