How many Bitcoins are lost forever?

[coinzat]

fortunately I did not lose any bit coin until now
I think most of lost bitcoins would be for people who mined in the first days and then they lost their privkey so those would be a huge amounts of btc

[MasterYii]

I know it is a tricky question. What do you think, how many Bitcoins are lost forever and are 'out of the network' by lost private keys?

I'm not really sure but I think many coin owners have lost some of their biticoins and to sum all of there lost coins there are a lot of lost coins now, I  don't really know where it go maybe got internet theft or maybe it is impossible if I say misplace anyway gone just gone.

[safari88]

I probably lost about 0.2 - 0.3 in a Ponzi game and gambling

[Rude Boy]

I probably lost about 0.2 - 0.3 in a Ponzi game and gambling

Don't bother the gambling looses. Because, its gain for someone else and its still under circulation

I know it is a tricky question. What do you think, how many Bitcoins are lost forever and are 'out of the network' by lost private keys?

OP consider the bitcoins which cannot be recovered.

[NewLiberty]

add about a bitcoin for someone that asked me to send it to their torwallet.
They lost the key unrecoverably before transferring it out.  There it sits forever.

[coinyoo]

Another record of someone who lost some of its Bitcoins. But overall, the answer is really hard to answer. We can only collect the records of losses.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1249342.0

[tyz]

Right, I see that this is not predictable but we could collect all losses in order to get a better view of how many Bitcoins are / or could be lost.

Your record is a really little amount compared to other losses.

Another record of someone who lost some of its Bitcoins. But overall, the answer is really hard to answer. We can only collect the records of losses.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1249342.0

[CyberKuro]

last week I lost 0.004 and if I add up everything, my bitcoin lost as much as 0:02 BTC 

[doublemore]

Some have estimated it's 30 per cent of all Bitcoins. It coins haven't moved for years it's unlikely anyone still controls them, except for Satoshi's coins. The figure keeps increasing because of things like burned coins, such as the 2130 Bitcoins burned during the Counterparty distribution.

I reckon 30% or greater could actually be about right. Most people early in bitcoin lost 1k coins like it was nothing regularly.  Its pretty insane people talk of the 21 mil club and needing 21 bitcoins.  When actually you probably only need like 10 coins if you take into account 2140 mining end also.

[btcjoin14]

I think more than 3M BTCs ,I am sure a lot of people got in at the beginning and became bored of it and just left or forgot about their wallets.

[coinyoo]

This is what I think, too. Especially at the beginning there where many losses of higher Bitcoin stakes when it was just worth some pennies.

I think more than 3M BTCs ,I am sure a lot of people got in at the beginning and became bored of it and just left or forgot about their wallets.

[mtnsaa]

I lost 0.05 when I started because I created an address and somehow I thought I had the private key but I still can't find it. I'm not even sure if I wrote it down, oh well.

For many of us that lose any kind of amount, it haunts us, it's lost forever right. I know it's not THAT much but still.

[crazyivan]

I think we might up losing 20-30% of the initially planned 21 million. However, this is not the issue we should think about. The main problem is how to increase demand for BTC and in this case 21 or 17 millions does not really make a difference.

[Videodrome]

I have lost 1 btc in a wallet about 4 y ago.

[mtnsaa]

I think we might up losing 20-30% of the initially planned 21 million. However, this is not the issue we should think about. The main problem is how to increase demand for BTC and in this case 21 or 17 millions does not really make a difference.

Well it does make a difference, that's a huge amount in terms of percentage. If there is demand for Bitcoin, having only 17 instead of 21M will clearly be more expensive to get a hold of.

But as you said, the real problem is actually creating that demand. We have to be honest and acknowledge that so far Bitcoin hasn't established it in any niche or is the standard for nothing, "just" the most prominent digital currency. It may have some answers to other methods and it's a new technology and idea but it also comes with its share of problems which are not small.

If it can't create actual demand in the next years it will die, that to me is a fact.

[crazyearner]

With the amount of lost bitcoin that can not be used for such reason as destroyed wallets lost coins maybe their should be a fork put into place to re distribute the missing coins. Then again that would be unfair in some ways but in others would benefit many other people at the same time. Their can only be 21 million coins and even getting to that amount is going to take a mammoth task to do or 2120 for last coin to be minted. Maybe fork the diff produce the remaining to allow as a stake. Right now mining is game over unless free energy and some massive corporate mining farm Who knows but lost coins in a way to a degree is good because cant be controlled. Reminds me of burner coin they burnt other coins to gain good value but soon ended up game over. I think right now maybe 10 to 20% lost forever from early miners and losing wallets or passwords to amounts and peoples wallets being lost on hard drives being thrown away.

[franky1]

With the amount of lost bitcoin that can not be used for such reason as destroyed wallets lost coins maybe their should be a fork put into place to re distribute the missing coins. Then again that would be unfair in some ways but in others would benefit many other people at the same time. Their can only be 21 million coins and even getting to that amount is going to take a mammoth task to do or 2120 for last coin to be minted. Maybe fork the diff produce the remaining to allow as a stake. Right now mining is game over unless free energy and some massive corporate mining farm Who knows but lost coins in a way to a degree is good because cant be controlled. Reminds me of burner coin they burnt other coins to gain good value but soon ended up game over. I think right now maybe 10 to 20% lost forever from early miners and losing wallets or passwords to amounts and peoples wallets being lost on hard drives being thrown away.

buddy... dont start up the old argument about redistributing coins. its been done to death and has come to a consensus that its unfair to anyone that 'holds'.
classifying all coins not touched for X years is a recipe for disaster.

that said.. hows life.

[crazyearner]

With the amount of lost bitcoin that can not be used for such reason as destroyed wallets lost coins maybe their should be a fork put into place to re distribute the missing coins. Then again that would be unfair in some ways but in others would benefit many other people at the same time. Their can only be 21 million coins and even getting to that amount is going to take a mammoth task to do or 2120 for last coin to be minted. Maybe fork the diff produce the remaining to allow as a stake. Right now mining is game over unless free energy and some massive corporate mining farm Who knows but lost coins in a way to a degree is good because cant be controlled. Reminds me of burner coin they burnt other coins to gain good value but soon ended up game over. I think right now maybe 10 to 20% lost forever from early miners and losing wallets or passwords to amounts and peoples wallets being lost on hard drives being thrown away.

buddy... dont start up the old argument about redistributing coins. its been done to death and has come to a consensus that its unfair to anyone that 'holds'.
classifying all coins not touched for X years is a recipe for disaster.

that said.. hows life.

Hahaha amen to that and well some good can come of it but still bad can come at the same time only time will tell what will really actually happen. Am doing good getting back on track with everything. And looking to get my projects under way and working for next year and become self employed. Also looking at own computer business and maybe looking at e-cig shop too. Got a lot of plans to be going though and looking at should have you all sorted soon enough too so do not worries not forgot about ya, just had hella lot on me plate since last spoke to you and even more on me plate right now. Hence why want to get own business set u and fuckoff working for other people and be my own boss. lol

[tyz]

Another record where someone lost Bitcoins worth of $9000. Guess it is around 20 Bitcoins by taking the current market price.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1285812.0

[tyz]

I just stumbled over the Bitcoin.it wiki article about controlled supply. There is an interesting part:

The first BTC50, included in the genesis block, cannot be spent as its transaction is not in the global database.

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Controlled_supply

The first 50 generated Bitcoins are lost, too.