- Lawyers helped a British resident get his 61-year-old daughter back. Bitcoin, access to which he lost 12 years ago.
- Despite the closure of the crypto exchange, the courts proved ownership and awarded the bitcoins.
The story of a British man named Chris demonstrates how much Bitcoin's value has changed over the past decade and why lost crypto assets aren't always lost forever. In 2011, he purchased 61 BTC through the British exchange Britcoin, later renamed Intersango. He spent approximately £180 on the purchase, or approximately £2,94 per coin.
However, a few years later, he lost access to the coins. Intersango began winding down operations in late 2012, and by early 2014, the exchange's website was down. The company was officially liquidated in March. 2016 years. For Bitcoin owners, this meant a loss of cryptocurrency.
Chris's problem wasn't a forgotten password or a lost hard drive, but rather that his bitcoins were tied to the infrastructure of a defunct exchange. In 2014, the value of his holdings rose to £4,000 or $5,400. He tried to contact the platform's former owners, but was unsuccessful.
He then had to watch as the price of the inaccessible bitcoins grew year after year. At some point, Chris practically stopped monitoring the market, believing the BTC were lost. However, in 2026, he decided to try to resolve the issue through legal means.
Lawyers from CEL Solicitors, which specializes in crypto asset recovery, joined the case in January 2026, and the bitcoins were returned to their owner on May 28. The process took approximately four months in total.
According to CEL Solicitors, the company's specialists were able to identify a wallet containing over 5,500 BTC, presumably belonging to former exchange users. Confirming ownership after 15 years was difficult, requiring old bank documents confirming the purchase.
A delighted Chris has no plans to exchange the returned bitcoins for fiat. He'll hold some of them, and use the rest to buy a more spacious house for his family.
The takeaway from this story is that lost access does not always mean a permanent loss of funds, but recovery may require documentation, proof of origin, and professional legal assistance.
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