16.5 BTC recovered: The story

Thanks everyone:
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/addresses/btc/189JveWz2WP79oYU9Gq4NUfiurbiuNPUhn

Years ago, while working on a crypto recovery project, I found Ariel's wallet among the files on a PC. It appeared that he had previously tried to recover his funds. I searched everywhere for him, but he had blocked me on every platform. Eventually, I called his workplace and managed to get in touch with him.

After obtaining his consent, I started working on the recovery. I tried to solve it on my own, but it turned out to be quite challenging. So, I opened it up to the community and invited others to give it a try. At first, I only shared the challenge on Facebook, where most people already knew me.

A year went by, and I decided to repost it. This time, I also shared it on Reddit and X, and even spent money promoting the posts (which, ironically, got my advertising account blocked...).

In less than five days, someone from the community—who wasn't even part of the Telegram group we had created—successfully recovered it.

I'm truly grateful to everyone who participated. Thank you for your time, effort, and support. I hope to bring you more challenges soon, so stay tuned and follow me!

And yes—the password was: "pera5durasnopera5lus"

FAQs:

Can they brute-force the passphrase using the .dat file?

The brute-force attack was executed using a range of clues provided by the original owner, data leaked on the dark web, and common password patterns. (I didn't find the password myself; it was a user participating in the contest I organized, on Telegram u/usermain01.)

Regarding the reward amount (0.5 BTC), it's important to note that participants:

- Are not required to be trustworthy
- Are not asked to share custody responsibilities
- Others are already working for the agreed-upon amount
- The amount is announced in advance, and everyone is free to decide what to do
- All parties were ultimately necessary to release the funds

"The industry standard rate" does not apply here

How come the person who cracked it didnt just take all the btc? didnt have the wallet.dat?

The child key (ckey) containing funds was not exposed and was encrypted with an mkey.
The master key (mkey) was also encrypted with an unknown passphrase.
The mkey was public.
A second, encrypted, and empty ckey was exposed only to allow the successful cracker to sign a message proving success without sharing the passphrase.

PD: A few days ago I made a very short post and everyone thought it was a scam, so I changed it, sorry.