A cryptocurrency holder successfully recovered 5 BTC—currently valued at approximately $400,000—by using the AI model Claude to bypass a decade-long lockout. The recovery process began after the user found themselves unable to access their wallet following a password change made over 11 years ago. By feeding the AI an exhaustive collection of files from an old computer, the user allowed the model to identify critical backups and candidate passwords that had been overlooked for years.
The breakthrough occurred when Claude diagnosed a technical error in how the user was attempting to use recovery software. The AI discovered that a shared key and the suspected passwords were not being combined correctly within the btcrecover tool. By reverting to an older wallet file from before the password change and applying the correct decryption logic identified by the AI, the user finally unlocked the private keys and moved the funds to a secure, modern wallet.
