Open Letter to Founders: The Future of Bitcoin's Greatest Mystery

Dear Founder,

It has been 15 years since you disappeared from the digital world, leaving behind one of the most perplexing unsolved mysteries in the financial sector: hundreds of thousands, possibly even over a million Bitcoins, remain untouched to this day. These digital assets are worth a fortune and are widely regarded as the largest unclaimed digital inheritance in the world.

I am writing this letter not to investigate your identity or whereabouts. I am writing because your Bitcoin is about to face the ultimate test of digital "resurrection," the result of which may surprise you.

In the "afterlife" of cryptocurrency, you are not alone. It is conservatively estimated that around 3 to 4 million Bitcoins have permanently slept in the digital graveyard. These losses stem from forgotten keys, damaged storage devices, and those who took their secrets to the real grave.

A person once searched for his 8,000 Bitcoins in 110,000 tons of garbage in Wales for ten years. Another person has only two password attempts left, and if he fails, he will never be able to access his 7,002 Bitcoins. These are typical cases of digital asset loss.

Hardware failures have also caused significant losses. Hard drive crashes, lost storage devices, and mistakenly discarded computers are not uncommon. In 2017, a vulnerability in a well-known wallet accidentally froze over 500,000 Ether, demonstrating how software errors can instantly create digital graves. The collapse of a well-known trading platform resulted in 850,000 Bitcoins still being contested by creditors, marking one of the most notorious theft incidents in the history of trading platforms.

However, your quantity of about 1 million Bitcoins far exceeds all the cases mentioned above. This is the ultimate digital tomb that has been frozen since the inception of Bitcoin.

Others have lost their Bitcoin due to negligence or disaster, while you choose to let them sleep. Every day that you don't move them, the outside world will continue to speculate whether you have passed away, been imprisoned, or are secretly observing your creation.

Founder, I must tell you a fact that may unsettle you: your Bitcoin is in danger.

Quantum computers may be able to crack them in a few years, or even sooner. Experts estimate that 25% of Bitcoin—over 4 million coins—are stored in addresses vulnerable to quantum attacks. Your Bitcoin is one of the easiest to attack.

The creator of Bitcoin may become the most prominent victim of quantum computing in the cryptocurrency field.

While you remain silent, the Bitcoin development community is racing against time to build quantum defenses. Proposals have been made for quantum-resistant addresses. The team is exploring the reactivation of certain opcodes and the integration of new technologies. They are building the necessary protections for your creation. However, as of June 2025, there is still no formal proposal for widely adopted quantum-resistant addresses.

If a quantum computer cracks your address, the Bitcoin community will be powerless, and you know it deep down. There is no emergency button, no admin key, and no way to freeze or destroy Bitcoin. Your Bitcoin will remain in a vulnerable state until you transfer them to a secure address, or the quantum computer "transfers" them for you.

Modern inheritance technologies could prevent the loss of most Bitcoins, but they cannot resurrect existing digital "heritages." Certain platforms offer "dead man's switches" that can release wallet information to beneficiaries. There are also services that provide multi-signature inheritance planning.

But these solutions require advance planning. They cannot retroactively recover Bitcoin that has already been lost. For the millions of Bitcoins that are already in digital graves, inheritance technology cannot offer redemption.

Your situation is unique. Your Bitcoin is not strictly lost; it is merely in a dormant state. If you are still alive and have access, you can move them at any time. This uncertainty makes your Bitcoin one of the most psychologically significant assets in existence.

The courts are mostly powerless when faced with the finality of cryptographic technology. A claim of £600 million against a city council was dismissed. Another person is unable to force anyone to break his cryptographic device.

The law recognizes Bitcoin as property, but property without keys is equivalent to inaccessible property around the world. Courts can issue many orders, but they cannot command mathematics to yield.

However, your case is different. If someone claims to be you or your heirs, they need to prove their identity by moving your Bitcoin. This is the ultimate identity verification.

Founder, your dormant Bitcoin is not just an object of digital archaeology.

The lost Bitcoins have created an artificial scarcity. With about 1 million Bitcoins, plus millions of others that are permanently lost, the actual supply of Bitcoin is below 21 million. This scarcity supports the higher price of the remaining Bitcoins.

If your Bitcoin suddenly returns to circulation—through quantum recovery, legal proceedings, or your own return—it will trigger a massive supply shock.

Although moving your Bitcoin technically does not increase the supply, they have long existed on the ledger. However, moving Bitcoin that has been dormant for 15 years will trigger a huge psychological and market shock.

The narrative of Bitcoin's scarcity relies on the assumption that "lost Bitcoins will be lost forever." Your "revival" will fundamentally change investors' perceptions of Bitcoin's long-term value.

Despite various "resurrection" paths, the most likely outcome is that your Bitcoin will remain as it is: visible on the blockchain, but never moving.

Whether due to your choice, passing, or loss of access, your Bitcoin has become the most powerful symbol of Bitcoin. They represent the permanence of the crypto promise and the mystery of digital identity.

Moving them will answer questions that the community may not want to know. Keeping them dormant retains the mythical quality that makes Bitcoin surpass ordinary payment systems.

So, I want to ask: What do you plan to do?

If you are still alive and watching, you may have five more years until quantum computers become a real threat. You can transfer Bitcoin to a quantum-resistant address to prove that you are still active without exposing your identity.

If you are no longer in this world, your Bitcoin will face an uncertain fate. Quantum thieves, community destruction, or eternal dormancy—none of these are your choices.

If the "founder" was never a single person, but rather a collective or organization, then these Bitcoins may have been intended to be permanently untouchable — this is the ultimate demonstration of Bitcoin's deflationary attribute.

The Bitcoin community is discussing whether to destroy your Bitcoin or protect them, but without your intention, they cannot decide. Are you an individual with digital property rights, or is the asset a pseudonym that has become public property?

Your Bitcoin is the biggest governance challenge for Bitcoin. Not because they are vulnerable to quantum attacks, which is a solvable issue. But because your mysterious absence forces the community to decide Bitcoin's responsibilities towards absent creators, and whether true decentralization means letting mathematics take its course, even if this involves your wealth.

Quantum computers are coming soon. Tomb raiders are preparing. The community is watching.

After 15 years of silence, perhaps it's time to say something.