An X thread claiming Anthropic’s Claude AI helped recover a dormant Bitcoin wallet containing 5 BTC has triggered widespread discussion online, with the holdings estimated to be worth around US$400,000 (AU$552,000). The wallet had reportedly been inaccessible since 2015.
The posts came from a pseudonymous X user known as “cprkrn”, who said years of recovery attempts had failed before Claude assisted in identifying files linked to the wallet. According to the user, old data from a college-era computer was uploaded into the AI system, which then helped locate an encrypted wallet file connected to a mnemonic phrase written in a notebook.
HOLY FUCKING SHIT OMG CLAUDE JUST CRACKED THIS SHIT, THANK YOU @AnthropicAI THANK YOU @DarioAmodei NAMING MY KID AFTER YOU
—https://t.co/gObNirRDpS https://t.co/ByTdIM4d20 pic.twitter.com/xB5LUJb6Pe
(@cprkrn) May 13, 2026
Cprkrn said they had previously used tools including btcrecover and Hashcat in an effort to regain access, while also paying multiple recovery services roughly US$250 (AU$345). Despite testing trillions of password combinations, none of the earlier methods succeeded.
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The user later posted that the recovery process involved matching the old seed phrase with the recovered wallet file before decrypting the private key. Claude reportedly also analysed the btcrecover tool, identified a configuration issue and assisted in converting the key into Wallet Import Format for use in a modern wallet client.
Blockchain data appears to show the wallet remained inactive from 2015 until recent transactions occurred, lending support to parts of the claim. The posts generated millions of views and prompted debate over whether AI models could meaningfully assist with recovering lost credentials and encrypted cryptocurrency wallets.
Some crypto users remained sceptical, arguing the AI primarily helped organise and analyse existing data rather than breaking Bitcoin’s underlying security systems.
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