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Conor Grogan, the head of product at Coinbase, reported that he uncovered $322,000 in digital assets that belonged to an individual who was unaware of their existence, as the funds were transferred following Ethereum’s hard fork in 2016.
The executive found that the owner of the cryptocurrency had previously fallen victim to hackers who depleted their entire life savings.
Fortunate Day for Many Investors Thanks to Grogan
The director at Coinbase announced via Twitter that he had located “6+ figures” for individuals who have overlooked their on-chain funds or were unaware they received tokens through airdrops.
One reason people may have been holding significant amounts without knowledge is due to Ethereum’s hard fork event in 2016, which resulted in the protocol splitting into Ethereum Classic (with its native token ETC) and Ethereum (ETH).
“ETH forked in 2016; if you held a balance, you would receive a 1:1 credit of ETC. My theory is that many individuals are unaware they were included in the snapshot,” Grogan clarified.
Twitter user Griff Green is one such individual who possessed 23 ETH but was unaware of their existence. Due to the appreciation of ether’s price over the years, this amount is now valued at nearly $45,000 (7,400% more than the $600 at the time).
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Grogan’s most significant find was an account containing over $320,000 worth of ETC. Although locating the owner proved challenging, he came across “one unique coin” named EOSDAC. This token was airdropped on Ethereum to EOS holders in 2018, which helped Grogan make the connection and identify the fortunate individual.
It appears that luck has finally favored this person, who had previously been a victim of a hacker in 2019, resulting in the loss of all their life savings. Additionally, the individual was engaged in a legal dispute with the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex.
Grogan shared a screenshot of the dialogue between him and the individual, indicating that the latter was completely unaware of the existence of those assets.
Many Twitter users commented on the post, acknowledging Grogan’s efforts. Among them was Patrick Hillmann, the Chief Strategy Officer at Binance.
Ethereum Classic: The Original Version of Ethereum
Ethereum Classic is an open-source, decentralized cryptocurrency platform that facilitates smart contracts. Although it is less popular than Ethereum, some consider it the original iteration of the blockchain protocol.
It was established in 2016 following a significant attack known as “The DAO hack.” The DAO, a decentralized venture fund utilized by Ethereum investors, once accumulated over 11 million ETH. However, hackers exploited vulnerabilities and siphoned off about a third of those assets.
The majority of DAO members sought to restore the stolen funds to investors, but not everyone agreed. This disagreement led to the creation of Ethereum Classic (which adheres to the principle that “Code is Law”) and Ethereum.
The former has a native token called ETC, which is distinct from ETH but has recently seen positive momentum. It currently trades around $20, with a market capitalization of less than $3 billion (according to CoinGecko data).
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