Man becomes overnight millionaire after finding Bitcoin lost for 12 years

A British man who lost access to his Bitcoin (BTC) 12 years ago finally has control of his holdings which has turned him into an overnight millionaire, LBC reported on Aug. 26.

The man, who wants to remain anonymous, bought Bitcoin worth £1,500 (around $2,400) in 2011, after a friend convinced him that the cryptocurrency was going to be a "massive thing."

It had been only two years since Bitcoin's launch and not many people had realized its potential.

But this man was an early Bitcoin buyer who purchased it over Intersango, one of the earliest crypto trading exchanges in the United Kingdom.

But the exchange, launched in 2011, went down in 2014, and its users were left without any clarity about their holdings.

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Frozen account, financial strain

When the anonymous man tried logging in to his Intersango account, he discovered that it was frozen. Much to his disappointment, Intersango was not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

His octogenarian parents with health concerns and children's university education put him under a financial burden. Meanwhile, Bitcoin kept rallying all these years and he couldn't do anything about his holdings.