An Argentinian (@marcebit) offered a bounty of 0.5 BTC to anyone who can crack the password of an inaccessible wallet for years. The initiative seeks to recover access to the funds through external collaboration.
The Bitcoin Core wallet has been encrypted for over 12 years; the bounty increased from 0.23 to 0.5 BTC after a year with no results. Marcelo R. Bianchi, an Argentinian specialist in crypto wallet recovery, known on social media as @marcebit, published an open call offering 0.5 BTC —equivalent to approximately USD 31,000— to whoever can decrypt the password of a Bitcoin Core wallet created in 2013.
According to Bianchi, the owner of the funds encrypted the wallet without paying attention to the process, and when attempting to withdraw the accumulated funds, they couldn't remember setting a password. According to Bianchi's post, the version of Bitcoin Core in use in 2013 suggested that when encrypting, a phrase of ten or more random characters or eight or more words should be used, although that requirement wasn't mandatory. The specialist indicates that the owner believes the password might contain the words "wallet" or "billetera," which narrows down the search space for those attempting a brute force recovery.
This isn't the first time Bianchi has made this call public. In May 2025, he launched a similar call with a bounty of 0.23 BTC —around USD 20,000 at that time— without yielding results. In the current call, according to his post, he increased the bounty to 0.5 BTC and warned that those who contribute significantly, even if they don't solve the case, might receive smaller donations.
$BTC #BTC
The Bitcoin Core wallet has been encrypted for over 12 years; the bounty increased from 0.23 to 0.5 BTC after a year with no results. Marcelo R. Bianchi, an Argentinian specialist in crypto wallet recovery, known on social media as @marcebit, published an open call offering 0.5 BTC —equivalent to approximately USD 31,000— to whoever can decrypt the password of a Bitcoin Core wallet created in 2013.
According to Bianchi, the owner of the funds encrypted the wallet without paying attention to the process, and when attempting to withdraw the accumulated funds, they couldn't remember setting a password. According to Bianchi's post, the version of Bitcoin Core in use in 2013 suggested that when encrypting, a phrase of ten or more random characters or eight or more words should be used, although that requirement wasn't mandatory. The specialist indicates that the owner believes the password might contain the words "wallet" or "billetera," which narrows down the search space for those attempting a brute force recovery.
This isn't the first time Bianchi has made this call public. In May 2025, he launched a similar call with a bounty of 0.23 BTC —around USD 20,000 at that time— without yielding results. In the current call, according to his post, he increased the bounty to 0.5 BTC and warned that those who contribute significantly, even if they don't solve the case, might receive smaller donations.
$BTC #BTC
