LHV Bank Co-Founder Has $470M Worth Of Ethereum, But Lost His Private Key

Rain Lõhmus, the co-founder of Estonia-based LHV Bank, has been identified as the owner of an Ethereum wallet containing 250,000 ETH purchased during an initial coin offering (ICO). Currently, the holding is valued at an impressive $470 million. Unfortunately, he lost the keys and can’t access it.

Inactive Ethereum Wallet With 250K ETH Leaves Investors Confounded

In February, Coinbase director Conor Grogan highlighted an Ethereum whale wallet containing 250,000 ETH. This wallet, according to Conor, was the only ETH wallet that had participated in the ICO in 2014 and has not processed any transactions since then.

Conor said the wallet not only saw a significant increase in its initial investment but also received more than $6.5 million in airdrops. After this initial post, several theories emerged explaining why the investor did not transfer any coins. Some thought the owner had lost his private keys, while others guessed he might be dead or in prison. However, Conor has finally uncovered the truth about this wallet.

Lõhmus Loses Keys To ETH Wallet

On November 6, Conor shared a screenshot from an interview with Rain Lõhmus, the co-founder of LHV Bank, who confessed to losing access to his Ethereum wallet containing 250,000 ETH.

During ETH’s ICO, the price was only $0.31 per coin. Lõhmus invested around $75,000 to acquire 250,000 ETH. Interestingly, on November 10, 2021, when Ether’s price peaked at around $4,900, Lõhmus’ stash was worth a staggering $1.22 billion. Lõhmus’ wallet still has an impressive 628,757% gain despite the recent market dip. ETH’s price is now nearly 60% lower than its highest point in 2021.

One mystery solved: This address (which now holds $450M of crypto) belongs to Rain Lohmus, founder of LHV Bank

Unfortunately he lost his keys and can't access these 100s of millions. If you can help him recover them somehow, he's willing to split them with you https://t.co/wYLAU9gKzb pic.twitter.com/0A1nIjFSyn

— Conor (@jconorgrogan) November 6, 2023

Lõhmus revealed that he lost the wallet password and hasn’t tried hard to recover it. He expressed his willingness to collaborate with anyone who could assist in recovering the lost keys.

He stated:

“I can’t solve this alone; if someone thinks they can, I’ll take all offers.”

Lõhmus admitted that he had a recurring problem of losing passwords. But the inability to access funds was a vulnerability of blockchain systems, he stressed.

Conor Grogan revealed that the total amount of lost Ethereum, with little chance of recovery, now stands at 886,000 ETH, worth more than $1.63 billion.

Added a few extra addresses I've been meaning to (Incl. Prime Trust lost ETH) and we are up to 909,800 ETH worth $1.73B+ that are lost forever: 0.75%+ of all circulating supply pic.twitter.com/mb2XSqsQb2

— Conor (@jconorgrogan) November 6, 2023