Chris recovered access to his Bitcoin after a 12-year fight, and the British man recovers lost bitcoin story now carries a value of around £3.3 million. He had bought £1,500 worth of the cryptocurrency in 2011, then lost access when the account tied to Intersango froze.
Chris and Intersango
£4,000 was the approximate value of the coins when he could no longer reach them, before Bitcoin’s later rise turned the holding into a multi-million-pound asset. Chris said, “It was a bit of a shock when it happened. It wasn't really money that I wanted to lose,” and later described the long wait as “a punch in the stomach watching Bitcoin go up and up”.
More than 5,000 accounts sat on Intersango when the website ran into trouble, and Chris’s case shows how an old exchange balance can become a major asset if ownership can still be proved. Earlier this year he made one more attempt to recover the Bitcoin with the help of lawyers, and within months the coins were returned to him.
Bitcoin in 2011
2011 was when Chris entered Bitcoin after a friend told him it was going to be a massive thing, buying cautiously through Intersango, formerly called Britcoin. The site launched in July 2011, got into difficulties in late 2012, and by early 2014 users received no response when they tried to withdraw funds.
2014 was also the year Chris found his account had been frozen when he tried to log in, leaving him with limited recourse because Intersango was not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. He later said “jaws dropped, eyes popped” when access returned, and the unresolved practical issue for other former users is straightforward: only proof of ownership can turn a stranded balance into money again.
