Is the number of available bitcoins decreasing?

[pereira4]

There's no need to fear that the total supply will ever get expanded because:

1) It would instantly crash the price so there's no incentive to do so
2) It will never be a problem to run Bitcoin no matter how little Bitcoin's are available

SO in other words, Bitcoin will only appreciate with time, no real risks of holding long term, at least definitely not related to the total supply ever being modified because it makes no sense to do so.

[tigershark]

So when will we reach that point where there are more bitcoins being lost than are being mined?  I know it's hard to estimate that, but that could be a turning point in the value of bitcoin where we could see the price increase more.

[Crazygreek]

So when will we reach that point where there are more bitcoins being lost than are being mined?  I know it's hard to estimate that, but that could be a turning point in the value of bitcoin where we could see the price increase more.

It will be possible in 20 - 30 years i think cause everyone now trying to mine and a lot of people spending bitcoins, we have cycle so nowdays more bitcoins mines than lost.

[n0ne]

So when will we reach that point where there are more bitcoins being lost than are being mined?  I know it's hard to estimate that, but that could be a turning point in the value of bitcoin where we could see the price increase more.

It will be possible in 20 - 30 years i think cause everyone now trying to mine and a lot of people spending bitcoins, we have cycle so nowdays more bitcoins mines than lost.

I don't think bitcoin price drops due to the lost bitcoin on the event of mining. During the process of mining a very small percentage gets lost which doesn't have any effect on price.

[Amph]

So when will we reach that point where there are more bitcoins being lost than are being mined?  I know it's hard to estimate that, but that could be a turning point in the value of bitcoin where we could see the price increase more.

it will happen when the mined bitcoin will be so low in number that would not affect the value in any case already, so i would not bother with it

and anyway compared tot he current amount in circulation is still a tiny fraction

[xuan87]

So when will we reach that point where there are more bitcoins being lost than are being mined?  I know it's hard to estimate that, but that could be a turning point in the value of bitcoin where we could see the price increase more.

it will happen when the mined bitcoin will be so low in number that would not affect the value in any case already, so i would not bother with it

and anyway compared tot he current amount in circulation is still a tiny fraction

Yeah I also think like that, the amount that lost is in fraction it wont be disrupt or affect bitcoin existence or bitcoin price for now, so it still safe and stable to used bitcoin

[Mumbeeptind1963]

I think the number of available is increasing but when happening bitcoin halving it decreases because they hide many bitcoin amount so it decreasing because they hide it, and hold it

[fricircled]

I think the number of available is increasing but when happening bitcoin halving it decreases because they hide many bitcoin amount so it decreasing because they hide it, and hold it

That is right. I hide many bitcoins, it is not on the market. So it will not increase the supply and suppress the price.

[ObscureBean]

The number of freshly created Bitcoins will decrease because of the block halving. In Juli this year the second block halving will kick in and lower the block rewards to 12.5 BTC. Can you explain what exactly you mean with Bitcoins being "lost"?

People send (voluntarily or by mistake) coins to addresses nobody controls. (https://blockchain.info/address/1BitcoinEaterAddressDontSendf59kuE)
Or have stored their coins in an address which the private key has been lost.  

Technically though those coins are not really "lost", they are still in the system but are simply unreachable. I wonder if there are people out there researching ways to tap into these forgotten stashes/addresses. For those well versed in Bitcoin code, are there any scenarios at all where this could be even remotely possible?

[sukamasoto]

I think the number of available is increasing but when happening bitcoin halving it decreases because they hide many bitcoin amount so it decreasing because they hide it, and hold it

That is right. I hide many bitcoins, it is not on the market. So it will not increase the supply and suppress the price.

Imagine if many people hold bitcoin , ofcourse bitcoin total amount will be decrease.
Also big company starting use bitcoin will affect on bitcoin value so it will increase market demand !

[katrimans]

All that matters to the Bitcoin price is the number of coins for sale and the number of coins being bought at any given time (supply and demand).

[Thresh]

Could people be hoarding?

Is that even possible with bitcoin? And how?

[Gohs]

As of current, the number of available Bitcoins are likely increasing as opposed to decreasing, due to the 25 coins being generated every 10 minutes, if I remember correctly.

There are some incidents when people lost massive amounts of Bitcoin for one reason or another, however the rate of loss currently does not outpace the rate of creation.

Once all 21m coins are mined, then there will be amounts of Bitcoin being lost.

I keep wondering what will happen to bitcoins when all the 21m coins have been mined. Does that mean the gradual end of bitcoin trading, or will another program emerge that will generate new coins? I keep wondering...

[saiha]

Quantity of bitcoins is decreasing due to some bitcoin holders are hiding it and waiting for the price increase of bitcoin.

[Tristana]

Quantity of bitcoins is decreasing due to some bitcoin holders are hiding it and waiting for the price increase of bitcoin.

There should be some kind of law that prohibits the hoarding of bitcoin. This is dangerous to economic balance!

[saiha]

Quantity of bitcoins is decreasing due to some bitcoin holders are hiding it and waiting for the price increase of bitcoin.

There should be some kind of law that prohibits the hoarding of bitcoin. This is dangerous to economic balance!

I guess there is but I'm not sure about that I forgot if there is a particular law about that.
Yes, that is dangerous to the economic balance as other bitcoin wallet address with bitcoins forgets their private key and it will be lost forever.

[calkob]

Bitcoins are def decreasing, i know myself that i have lost a few bits before. and i am sure there are many like me.

[jaysabi]

I think the number of available bitcoins is increasing, because there are many miners out there. And if bitcoins decreasing i think it will affect the price of bitcoins.

Bitcoin will never deacreasing cause of miners it's ture. But a lot of people are holding bitcoins and it's a problem what nobody can solve. Everyone want more money.

Let's set the record straight here.

The total number of bitcoins produced by miners is determined by a fixed schedule. It does not depend on the number of miners or the hash rate or the difficulty. According to the schedule, the number of bitcoins produced decreases every 210,000 blocks until at some point no more bitcoins are produced.

However, bitcoins are also constantly being lost by people losing their private keys.

The question is when will people be losing bitcoins faster than they are produced by miners.

if that's correct, the number of bitcoin produced decreases every 210,000 it means someday the price of bitcoin will soar higher than we've ever seen.

I wasn't aware of this. So what you are saying is that eventually mining for it will be pointless? It will decrease to a point that it will take a year to mine just 1 bitcoin.

Yes, at some point, only fractions of a Bitcoin will be produced with every block. I wouldn't say mining is pointless. It's necessary to maintain the network. When block coins drop, mining fees will necessarily have to increase to keep people mining. In this sense, it is likely that fees will eventually be so expensive as to make Bitcoin unviable.

[jaysabi]

There's no need to fear that the total supply will ever get expanded because:

1) It would instantly crash the price so there's no incentive to do so
2) It will never be a problem to run Bitcoin no matter how little Bitcoin's are available

SO in other words, Bitcoin will only appreciate with time, no real risks of holding long term, at least definitely not related to the total supply ever being modified because it makes no sense to do so.

Totally disagree. At the point where bitcoins are not be mined sufficiently to offset the cost of propagating the network, mining fees will have to rise dramatically to offset the loss of block coin generation income. In order to keep a decentralized network, the fee increase could be such that the only way to keep Bitcoin viable is to increase the cap on total coins, otherwise the mining fee would be so high as to fldrive people away from using Bitcoin all together because it's just too expensive. Either way, your conclusion that there will never be a problem is not accurate at all. Bitcoin's Board can't even effectively decide how to manage the minor problem of the needed block size increase. It gives me very little faith they can be trusted to handle an even more dangerous issue such as this.

[jaysabi]

Quantity of bitcoins is decreasing due to some bitcoin holders are hiding it and waiting for the price increase of bitcoin.

There should be some kind of law that prohibits the hoarding of bitcoin. This is dangerous to economic balance!

I guess there is but I'm not sure about that I forgot if there is a particular law about that.
Yes, that is dangerous to the economic balance as other bitcoin wallet address with bitcoins forgets their private key and it will be lost forever.

Bitcoin is all about decentralization and freedom. There would be nothing more antithetical to Bitcoin than a law that prohibits saving.