世界上最遥远的距离，是明知一大笔只属于你的比特币就存在网络上，但你却想不起打开比特币钱包的密码。眼看着最近比特币的价值疯涨，一群持有大量比特币、却想不起存放比特币钱包密码的人心情也越来越糟。
The world’s most distant distance is to know that a large amount of bitcoin belongs only to you exists on the Internet, but you can’t remember the password to open bitcoin’s wallet. As the value of bitcoin rose sharply recently, a group of people who hold large amounts of bitcoins and who can’t remember to store bitcoin’s wallet code were getting worse.
眼看着比特币的价值越涨越高，手握7,002枚比特币的德国工程师托马斯(Stefan Thomas)心情也越来越糟，因为他把自己的比特币钱包密码存在一颗加密硬盘，但他却想不起来加密硬盘的解锁密码。
The German engineer Stefan Thomas, who was holding 7,002 bitcoins, was in a bad mood as he watched the value of bitcoin grow, because he had his own bitcoin wallet code in an encrypted hard disk, but he could not remember to encrypt it.
现在，托马斯已经连续猜错8次解锁密码，如果连续猜错10次，硬盘就会自动加密里头所有资料，任谁都没办法读取。
Now, Thomas has missed the password eight times in a row, and if the code is wrong 10 times in a row, the hard drive will automatically encrypt all the information in it and nobody will be able to read it.
托马斯手上的这7,002比特币是来自一名早期的比特币玩家，他看到托马斯制作的一支区块链介绍影片，决定送给他7,002枚比特币，奖励他的付出。
The 7,002 bitcoin in Thomas' hands came from an early bitcoin player who saw a block chain made by Thomas presenting the film and decided to give him 7,002 bitcoins to reward his payment.
当年，一名早期比特币玩家看到托马斯制作的影片后，送给他7,002枚比特币做为奖励。但如今，托马斯却想不起来打开比特币钱包的密码。
In that year, an early bitcoin player saw a film made by Thomas and gave him 7,002 bitcoins as a reward. Now, Thomas can't remember to open the password to the bitcoin wallet.
「我只能躺在床上，努力回想密码。」托马斯说道：「然后我会起身走向电脑，尝试一些新的、可以帮助我想起密码的方法，最终发现这些方法都不管用，然后我就会感觉被绝望吞噬。」
“I will only lie on my bed and try to remember the code.” Thomas said, “Then I will rise up to the computer and try some new ways that will help me remember the code, and I will find them not working, and then I will feel consumed by despair.”
2013年，豪威尔斯误将存放比特币密码的硬盘丢进垃圾桶、最终被埋进垃圾掩埋场。如今，他虽多次向政府申请希望开挖，却始终被拒绝。
In 2013, Howells accidentally threw a hard drive containing the bitcoin code in a trash can and was buried in a dump. Today, he has been denied permission to dig despite repeated requests to the government.
托马斯并不是唯一一个想不起或弄丢比特币密码的人。2013年时，英国工程师豪威尔斯(James Howells)突然发现他误将一颗存放7,500枚比特币钱包密码的硬盘丢掉，现已埋在当地的垃圾掩埋场。多年来，他一直向政府申请开挖垃圾掩埋场，希望能找回这颗一度价值6亿人民币的硬盘，却屡遭拒绝；美国企业家亚萨尔(Brad Yasar)也遇到类似状况，落入空有大笔财富却无法取用的窘境。
Thomas was not the only one who could not remember or lose the bitcoin code. In 2013, the British engineer James Howells suddenly discovered that he had dropped a hard disk containing 7,500 bitcoin wallet codes, which he had buried in the local landfill.
根据区块链分析公司Chainalysis的估计，目前全球大概有20%的比特币，也就是价值约1,400亿美元的比特币存在使用者忘记、或遗失密码的比特币钱包中而无法使用。
According to the estimates of Chainalysis, a block chain analysis company, about 20 per cent of the world currently has bitcoins, or bitcoins valued at about $140 billion, that cannot be used in the wallets of bitcoins that users have forgotten or lost their passwords.
如果是忘记传统银行帐户的密码，人们还可以努力向银行证明身分，最终取得或是重设密码。
If the password for traditional bank accounts is forgotten, efforts can also be made to prove the identity of the bank and eventually obtain or reset the password.
这种悲剧的发生，其实也与比特币的设计原理有关。如果是传统的银行帐户，那么使用者忘记密码时，还能向银行求助，透过它们恢复或重新设置密码。
This tragedy is also related to the design principles of Bitcoin. In the case of traditional bank accounts, users can turn to banks for help when they forget their passwords and restore or reset them through them.
但在比特币上，同样的事情便难以发生，因为当初比特币发明人中本聪(Satoshi Nakamoto)就是以去除这些中介机构的影响力为核心来开发比特币，这样的好处是能大幅提高现实世界中的银行、政府干涉比特币帐户的难度，但一大缺点就是只要使用者忘记比特币钱包的密码，想要用钱简直难如登天。
But in bitcoin, the same thing is hard to do, because it was at the heart of the Bitcoin inventors that Satosh Nakamoto developed bitcoin by removing the influence of these intermediaries. The advantage was that it would make it much more difficult for banks in the real world to interfere with bitcoin accounts, but a major drawback was that it would be difficult for users to spend money as long as they forgot the password to the bitcoin wallet.
然而，不少人也从这些弄丢比特币密码的使用者身上嗅出商机，因而提供一系列协助他们找回密码的付费服务，从催眠术到强大的电脑都有人使用。
However, many people also smell business opportunities from those users who lost the bitcoin code, thus providing a series of fee-paying services to help them recover the code, ranging from hypnosis to powerful computers.
自从发现其实有不少人想不起自己的比特币钱包密码后，有人开始推出一系列「协寻密码」的服务，从算法到催眠术都有人使用。
Since the discovery that many people can't really remember their bitcoin wallet codes, a series of "cooperative passwords" services have been introduced, ranging from algorithms to hypnosis.
美国南卡罗莱纳州格林维尔县(Greenville)的催眠师米勒(Jason Miller)表示，只要使用者愿意支付1枚比特币，加上目标帐户内5%的比特币金额，就有机会透过催眠术找回密码。
Jason Miller, a hypnotist in Greenville County, South Carolina, United States, said that if users were willing to pay a bitcoin, plus 5 per cent of the bitcoin in the target account, they would have the opportunity to retrieve the password through hypnosis.
他说：「我已经开发出一系列技术，可以帮助人们想起尘封已久的记忆，或是看到他们藏在某个地方的东西。」
He said, “I have developed a series of techniques that can help people remember long-sacred memories, or see what they hide somewhere.”
如果不信任催眠术，也能找上像「钱包回复服务」(Wallet Recovery Services)这样的公司。
If you do not trust hypnotism, you can find companies like Wallet Response Services.
一般来说，忘记密码的人其实对密码还是有点模糊的印象，只是无法回想起正确的顺序、组合，因此「钱包回复服务」所提供的服务，就是透过强大的演算法和电脑运算，来帮使用者从这些模糊线索中拼凑出可能的密码。
Generally speaking, those who forget the password still have a vague impression of the password, but simply cannot recall the correct sequence and combination, so the services provided by the Wallet Response Service are to help users, through powerful algorithms and computer computing, to put together possible passwords from these vague threads.
一旦成功，「钱包回复服务」将收取该比特币帐户价值20%做为服务费用。
Once successful, the Wallet Response Service will charge 20 per cent of the value of the Bitcoin account as a service fee.
虽然收费比催眠师米勒高出一截，但「钱包回复服务」表示，过去一个月，前来委托他们帮忙找密码的客户大幅成长了三倍，平均每天都会收到70名不同使用者的请求。
Although the charges were higher than that of hypnotist Miller, the Wallet Response Service indicated that clients who had come to them to help find passwords had grown three times over the past month, receiving an average of 70 requests from different users every day.
终究，幸运找回比特币钱包密码的人只是少数，大部分人最终除了祈祷，没有太多手段可以找回自己的密码，以及那笔巨额财富。
Ultimately, only a small number of people are fortunate enough to recover the bitcoin wallet code, and most people end up praying with little means to recover their passwords and that huge fortune.
「钱包回复服务」的客户默多克(Nathan Murdoch)四年前买了一批比特币，却不幸忘记密码。在他生日当天，「钱包回复服务」送上一份大礼：找到默多克的比特币钱包密码了。
Nathan Murdoch, who bought a batch of bitcoins four years ago, unfortunately forgot the password. On his birthday day, the wallet answered with a big gift: the Bitcoin wallet code was found in Murdoch.
欣喜若狂地默多克表示：现在我已经把密码抄在纸上，也做好备份了。我绝对不会重蹈覆辙。
Happily Murdock said, "Now I've copied the code on the paper, and I've done it." I'm not going to do it again.
但这些透过「钱包回复服务」、催眠术找回密码的人终究只是少数，像托马斯一样迟迟无法找回密码的大有人在。
But those who recovered the password through the Wallet Response Service, hypnosis and hypnotism are only a handful of people who, like Thomas, were too late to retrieve the password.
现在，托马斯已经把他的硬盘藏在一个隐密的地方，以免骇客找出新的密码破解方法，抢在他之前盗走大笔财富。但与此同时，托马斯也在努力忘掉自己拥有大笔财富这件事。
Now, Thomas has hidden his hard drive in a hidden place in order to prevent hackers from finding new ways to decipher and steal a lot of wealth before him. At the same time, Thomas is trying to forget about his wealth.
他说：「我是这样告诉自己的：『为了你的心理健康，让这件事过去吧。』」
He said, ‘This is how I told myself, ‘Let this be done for your mental health.’’
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