British Investor Recovers $4.5 Million in Lost Bitcoin After 12-Year Wait

A British investor has recovered his lost Bitcoin stash after 12 years, regaining access to 61 BTC valued at $4.5 million.

Chris invested £1500 in Bitcoin through Britcoin, later renamed Intersango, in 2011. The platform faced issues in 2012 and eventually stopped operating by early 2014. Users were unable to withdraw funds and received no responses to their inquiries.

After the exchange's closure, Chris made several unsuccessful attempts to recover his assets. In 2018, he received emails from two Intersango co-founders asking him to get in touch, but he assumed they were from scammers and deleted them.

Chris revisited the issue of fund recovery in January 2026 at his wife's suggestion. He contacted the law firm CEL Solicitors, which worked on verifying his rights to the coins. The process concluded with negotiations without a separate court case at Chris's request.