Losing a password is a common experience in today’s digital world. Most of the time, the worst consequence is being locked out of an old email or a social media account.
For Kevin Durant, however, the cost was extraordinary: losing millions of dollars in Bitcoin.
A forgotten password leaves Kevin Durant locked out of a multimillion-dollar Bitcoin fortune
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Kevin Durant’s Investment Trapped in the Cloud
The figure is staggering: more than $23 million worth of Bitcoin became inaccessible to Durant simply because he forgot a password.
The story dates back to 2016, when the NBA star and his business partner Rick Kleiman decided to invest in cryptocurrencies after a casual conversation at a birthday party.
What for most people might mean the minor inconvenience of losing access to an email account turned into something far greater for Durant—being shut out of a fortune that has multiplied many times over, leaving the sports world stunned.
At one point, Durant confidently remarked that the money was “in the cloud,” a phrase that drew laughter and highlighted his limited familiarity with cryptocurrency terminology.
The comment became the most colorful detail of the story—even if technically inaccurate.
Kevin Durant
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Why Recovery is Almost Impossible
Unlike most digital services, cryptocurrency platforms enforce far stricter security protocols.
Recovering a password is not as simple as clicking “Forgot password”; in many cases, it becomes an impossible mission. For Durant, it means being locked out of millions.
How Much Money is Really at Stake?
To grasp the magnitude of the loss, one only needs to look at the market’s evolution.
In September 2016, when Durant and Kleiman reportedly invested around $100,000, Bitcoin was trading at roughly $600 per coin.
With that sum, they could have acquired about 200 Bitcoins—never imagining their future value.
Today, each Bitcoin trades at over…