Looking back on the whole process, it was probably because after Mt. Gox users had 25,000 BTC stolen, the technology media increased their attention to Bitcoin, and then I paid attention to this incident and created my first Bitcoin wallet in the process.
Google Reader Dropbox: My data treasure trove
You may have heard many stories about you bought some Bitcoins in a certain year, but then lost the private key. But fortunately, I like backing up and archiving data, so using the previously archived data, I restored the process of creating a Bitcoin wallet and receiving Bitcoins for the first time that year. I even dug out some of the data at that time. Articles about Bitcoin reported by the media, including technology media, Guoke.com, and CoolShell.
For something that happened more than ten years ago, it is not that simple to restore it. After all, in the past ten years, I have changed many laptops. Even if I have the habit of backing up data frequently, I may lose a lot of data, and even the backup media may not be reliable (such as hard drives and optical disks). its lifespan).
The data recovery this time mainly relied on Google Reader and Dropbox. Google Reader is an RSS reading tool. At that time, I mainly used it to subscribe to some technology media, design and life blogs. For high-quality content, I often use the collection function for easy reference later. Later, Google Reader stopped operating in July 2013, but they provided a data export function, so I exported all my collections and stored them in Dropbox.
I had never thought about the value of this data before, but I didnt expect that if it was dug out more than ten years later, some clues would still be found.
Data Mining: Tracing the Trail of Bitcoin News Coverage
I retrieved all data related to BTC, Bitcoin, and Bitcoin from my personal Google Reader archive, and found nearly 10 related articles, of which 5 are still accessible.
Earliest article: June 18, 2011
Two days later, there were two similar articles: June 20, 2011
Is the world going crazy because of Bitcoin, or is Bitcoin going crazy? 》
Cool Shell: August 11, 2011
CoolShell CoolShellChen Hao(Also known as the left-eared mouse, he was a technical expert who died unexpectedly in May this year. He oftencriticizeBitcoin) mentions Bitcoin and its fork project Namecoin in an article.
Guoke.com: December 2011
Guoke compiles and releases WIRED articlesThe Rise and Fall of Bitcoin。
https://www.guokr.com/article/76729/(Chinese version compiled by Guoke)
https://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/11/mf_bitcoin/(English original)
Why Create a Bitcoin Wallet
Bitcoin had little trading value in 2011. At that time, some Bitcoin enthusiasts created various faucet websites in order to promote and expand the influence of Bitcoin. Curious users could use simple operations, such as filling in the verification code (anti-witch), to receive certain amounts for free. Amount of Bitcoins (approximately 0.01 BTC).
So I also searched and browsed some faucet websites and successfully received 0.01 BTC. And because of the habit of backing up data, I have also saved the private key file of this Bitcoin wallet to this day.
Later, when I dug out the file from the hard drive, found out the public key and private key, and searched through the block explorer, I found that the time when I received the faucet happened to be June 18, 2011, which is the time I collected it. ChapterHackers have started stealing Bitcoin currencyThe same day as the article.
In fact, June 2011 was a very special time, which happened to be the time when the famous exchange Mt. Gox was stolen.
On 13 June 2011, the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange reported some BTC 25, 000 (US$ 400, 000 at the time) had been stolen from 478 accounts. (Wikipedia)
This incident was also mentioned in the article on the cnbeta website above, so it is likely that the theft incident on June 13th caused the technology media to increase their coverage of Bitcoin, so it attracted more attention. And because of this negative incident, I finally created a Bitcoin wallet and received the Bitcoin “airdrop”.
ending
Although I hold the private key to this address, I still have nothing. Even if I hold this 0.01 BTC so far, it is nothing.
According to the block explorer, 0.01 BTC in my Bitcoin wallet was transferred out in November 2013. As for why it was transferred out at that time, and where it was transferred, I have not yet found the exact clue. But I do remember what operations I did back then, maybe changing wallets or transferring to an exchange.
So this is actually a sad story. Six years have passed since I came into contact with Bitcoin in 2011, and then paid attention to and entered the industry again in 2017. The inspiration for me from this incident is that maybe we still have the opportunity to contact or glimpse some new technologies with great potential, but it may really take more time to be accepted and understood by society, and I am the most suitable All you have to do is continue to be curious and add a little patience.
