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NEW YORK - Salomon Brothers announced Thursday that its client has completed inserting notices into dormant digital wallets as part of an initiative to address security risks posed by abandoned cryptocurrency wallets.
According to the investment bank, approximately 0.5% of digital wallets are abandoned by owners who have lost their private keys. These wallets reportedly hold about 20% of Bitcoin and other digital assets, based on Wall Street Journal figures cited in the announcement.
The company claims abandoned wallets present security vulnerabilities as they cannot be upgraded to newer encryption protocols, potentially making them targets for hackers, including those backed by rogue states and criminal organizations.
"Securing wallets protects the millions of wallets that are not abandoned," said R. Adam Smith, a Salomon Brothers representative, in the press release statement.
The notices inserted into dormant wallets give owners at least 90 days to respond and demonstrate continued ownership. Wallet holders can prove active ownership either by conducting an anonymous on-chain transaction using their private key or by completing a contact form on a Salomon Brothers webpage.
The firm reports that some wallet owners have already responded by moving their digital assets to new wallets, confirming these accounts were not abandoned.
The announcement states that Salomon Brothers’ client plans to allocate a portion of any recovered digital assets to a fund for wallet owners who lost their keys, with details to be released in coming months.
Salomon Brothers is an independent investment bank headquartered in New York that provides capital advisory and strategic advisory services, including staking advice for digital currency holders, according to the press release.
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