A Bitcoin holder using the name cprkrn on X said he recovered 5 BTC from a wallet that had been inaccessible for more than 11 years after using Anthropic’s Claude AI to review old computer files and assist with the recovery process.
The recovered Bitcoin was worth close to $400,000 at a Bitcoin price near $79,622. The user said the funds had been locked after he changed a Blockchain.com wallet password years ago and later lost access to the correct credentials.
Claude AI Helped Locate BTC Old Wallet Backup
According to posts shared by cprkrn, the recovery began after he uploaded old college computer files, notes, and wallet-related data to Claude as a final attempt. The AI system reportedly identified an old encrypted wallet backup file among the stored material.
The user said Claude then helped review the recovery workflow using btcrecover, an open-source tool widely used for crypto wallet password recovery. Screenshots posted to X showed Claude analyzing the decryption process and identifying how the tool handled password logic.
The recovery depended on an old mnemonic and password information that the user said he had found in a college notebook. Claude reportedly helped match that information with the old wallet backup, allowing the user to decrypt the file and access the private keys.
Bitcoin Recovery Followed Years of Failed Attempts
The wallet owner said he had tried commercial recovery services before using Claude, paying about $250 per failed attempt. He also said he had tested trillions of password combinations through brute-force methods without success.
In a later post, cprkrn said the recovery effort included searches across two Macs, two external drives, Apple Notes, emails, Twitter direct messages, notebooks, and other old files. He said about 3.5 trillion password attempts were tested through tools such as btcrecover and Hashcat.
The successful method did not involve breaking a seed phrase. Instead, the user said an older wallet backup could be decrypted with a previously known password. Since Bitcoin private keys remain the same even when wallet encryption changes, decrypting the backup allowed access to the same funds.
A post from another crypto user noted that Claude did not “crack” Bitcoin security. The AI assisted in finding and using a local encrypted file that the owner already controlled.
Case Raises Attention Around AI and Crypto Recovery
The recovery story drew wide attention on X, gaining millions of views and responses from crypto market figures, wallet companies, and investors. Some users described the case as an example of how AI tools can assist with technical research, file review, and software troubleshooting.
However, the case has also raised security concerns since uploading wallet backups, private keys, seed phrases, or related files to any AI system can expose sensitive financial data. Consequently, crypto users should not share private credentials with online tools unless they fully understand the risks.
The recovery also drew attention because of cprkrn’s reaction online. In one post, he joked that he planned to name his child after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei after recovering the Bitcoin, which was worth nearly $400,000 at the time.
The incident adds to wider interest in dormant Bitcoin wallets. Many older wallets remain inactive because owners have lost passwords, misplaced seed phrases, or discarded devices. Some recovery cases depend on whether users kept old hard drives, wallet files, notebooks, or cloud backups.
