Houston Rockets star Kevin Durant has thousands, maybe millions of dollars, floating in the ether all because he forgot a password.
During a conference hosted by CNBC, Rich Kleiman recounted a discussion he and Durant heard around a decade ago in which bitcoin was mentioned numerous times. That led the 15-time All-Star to purchase some of the cryptocurrency for himself.
Unfortunately, Kleiman and Durant forgot the password that’s tied to his Coinbase account, so he can’t actually access his bitcoin.
“We’ve yet to be able to track down his Coinbase account info, so we’ve never sold anything, and this bitcoin is just through the roof,” Kleiman said, per CNBC’s Liz Napolitano. “It’s just a process we haven’t been able to figure out, but Bitcoin keeps going up … so, I mean, it’s only benefited us.”
Durant added that he’s been trying to track down the password for “a few years” and that “it’s in the cloud.”
Napolitano noted the price for bitcoin ranged from $360 to $1,000 in 2016 and is now trading for more than $117,000. Even a small purchase nine years ago would net a massive profit right now.
Luckily for Durant, money stopped being an issue a long time ago. He has earned $447.9 million across his NBA career, which doesn’t include his off-court revenue or future salaries. He’s collecting another $54.7 million this year, and he has the opportunity to cash out with another big contract since he’s eligible for free agency in 2026.
With that kind of cash in the bank, you can leave your bitcoin sitting online for an indeterminate period of time.
Durant said this problem has been unfolding for “a few years,” but it sounds like the solution is pretty straightforward. Coinbase confirmed to Napolitano that its app contains self-service tools for the purpose of resetting your password.
Considering Durant is both a famous athlete and struck a formal partnership with Coinbase in 2021, surely everyone can resolve this in short order.