A webpage that keeps track of all the lost bitcoins

[istar]

There are probably thousands of deleted bitcoins.

It would be great if someone could make a website where people can report lost beyond recover, bitcoins so we all know
how more exactly how many bitcoins are left.

When 10.000 persons have lost 100 bitcoins or 50.000 have lost 20 bitcoins that is a million bitcoins...

[Bitcoinfrance]

haha nice idea!
gonna impement that :p

[myrkul]

Not a horrible idea, but, two concerns:

1) How would we confirm that those bitcoins were, in fact lost? Panic could ensue if someone reports a large amount destroyed.

2) I kinda like the fact that 'destroyed' bitcoins are - to the Market at least - the same as saved coins. It promotes currency stability.

[istar]

If a lot of bitcoins are lost, it increases the value of the other bitcoins.

But problem is just evidence.

Is there any way to confirm it? Just so that people dont say they lost em to increase the bitcoin value?

[Alex Beckenham]

If a lot of bitcoins are lost, it increases the value of the other bitcoins.

But problem is just evidence.

Is there any way to confirm it?

Nope. Saying "I don't have such-and-such private key anymore" is like saying "I don't have example.txt on my drive anymore". How is anyone going to prove that they don't have a particular piece of data?

[myrkul]

Here's how I would see this 'Panic' scenario playing out:

Guy puts a lot of bitcoins into a wallet. (let's say, 100k)
Reports lost bitcoins. Everybody checks, sees Yup, there's 100k btc in that 'lost' wallet.
Guy waits for market to readjust, with higher price, then dumps those BTC into the market.
Somebody checks again, sees the wallet empty, price drops back down again, guy laughs all the way to the bank.

[Rob P.]

You cannot destroy bitcoins.  You can only lose control of them.
You also cannot verify that in fact they are lost.

So, what's the point?  Nothing you build would actually be of use, because the only thing you could do is take user reports that certain addresses are "dead" and there's nothing stopping people from lying.

[Icy-]

Aren't we able to lookup transactions from anyone with the date? If so, why not create a system where it shows top inactive bitcoin accounts with large amount? And of course some other way to average in all the smaller amounts of bitcoins based on inactivity.

[Alex Beckenham]

Aren't we able to lookup transactions from anyone with the date? If so, why not create a system where it shows top inactive bitcoin accounts with large amount? And of course some other way to average in all the smaller amounts of bitcoins based on inactivity.

Inactivity might just mean it's someone's long-term savings.