What will happen to bitcoins in an online wallet with lost password?

[FLoving]

Suppose a person have some bitcoins in his online wallet and he forget the password (or lose access to that online wallet in any way) then what will happen to that bitcoins?Will that be there forever or as the wallet providers have access to them and they will get them if they find no any owner for years.

[knircky]

Suppose a person have some bitcoins in his online wallet and he forget the password (or lose access to that online wallet in any way) then what will happen to that bitcoins?Will that be there forever or as the wallet providers have access to them and they will get them if they find no any owner for years.

If with online you mean hosted by a company u can always get it back.

If it's a wallet where you control the keys, such as jaxx then it's gone

[Karpeles]

depends on the company and the web wallet

some can't access your funds if you lose the password or id, but they have secret seed that would allow you to recover the wallet, and you may export the private keys, so you would not lose your funds

the answer depends on the service

[BingoDog]

Tricky situation but the coins doesn't necessary have to be lost. Many web wallets have ways to,recover your funds, even if the password is lost, like blockchain. The best way is to contact the customer service, explain what happened and I'm sure there will be some kind of solution.

[South Park]

Suppose a person have some bitcoins in his online wallet and he forget the password (or lose access to that online wallet in any way) then what will happen to that bitcoins?Will that be there forever or as the wallet providers have access to them and they will get them if they find no any owner for years.

In some web wallets even if you lose the password you are giving some way to recover your coins but if lost that as well, then the most likely answer is those coins are forever lost and you just made a small contribution to the other bitcoin holders by taking out of circulation that amount of bitcoin.

[unamis76]

Suppose a person have some bitcoins in his online wallet and he forget the password (or lose access to that online wallet in any way) then what will happen to that bitcoins?Will that be there forever or as the wallet providers have access to them and they will get them if they find no any owner for years.

That person would use the recover password functionality that exists in many places. If you were questioning what happens if the owner's identity cannot be proven, that probably depends from provider to provider (maybe you can find it in their TOS, or something like that).

In general, funds would probably remain stuck until the wallet services shut down. At which point, yes, they would probably be lost for good.

[agustina2]

Suppose a person have some bitcoins in his online wallet and he forget the password (or lose access to that online wallet in any way) then what will happen to that bitcoins?Will that be there forever or as the wallet providers have access to them and they will get them if they find no any owner for years.

If the user is gone for long years, then it will prompt to the online wallet owner that such account having a balance are already inactive anymore. They can get the bitcoin as they have an access to it.

For a case that the owner came back after many years, that person can still seek to his coins because afterall online wallets have database and systems that tracks records of transactions of their clients.

[FLoving]

depends on the company and the web wallet

some can't access your funds if you lose the password or id, but they have secret seed that would allow you to recover the wallet, and you may export the private keys, so you would not lose your funds

the answer depends on the service

Yeah it depends on the service. and The question came to my mind after looking at a notice of blockchain wallet. once when I was creating my blockchain it said that if I lost my wallet ID or password then I would not be able to recover my coins.

[MWesterweele]

Suppose a person have some bitcoins in his online wallet and he forget the password (or lose access to that online wallet in any way) then what will happen to that bitcoins?Will that be there forever or as the wallet providers have access to them and they will get them if they find no any owner for years.

you need to recover it thru your email. bitcoin is very hard to lost because it has a value for us. but when the time comes that you cant recover it, it will stay in your online wallet forever and ever.

[FasTroy]

Suppose a person have some bitcoins in his online wallet and he forget the password (or lose access to that online wallet in any way) then what will happen to that bitcoins?Will that be there forever or as the wallet providers have access to them and they will get them if they find no any owner for years.

I think this problem can be solved in most of cases, It depend with which web wallet that person(x) use and the company. So, x can contact them and try to solve the problem with them by sharing his account information. due to that, he can recover his account and bitcoin. Anyways, I don't think this is a big problem.

[Nanda Dewi277]

Suppose a person have some bitcoins in his online wallet and he forget the password (or lose access to that online wallet in any way) then what will happen to that bitcoins?Will that be there forever or as the wallet providers have access to them and they will get them if they find no any owner for years.

if you forget the password maybe you can request a new password, all online wallet features Recover password

[Text]

You can forgot password to recover your account. However if there is no other way to have access on it, I think the BTC will stay forever unless the owner or administrator is aware on how to get it. That's why bitcoin is decreasing because we consider it as lost.

[batang_bitcoin]

Suppose a person have some bitcoins in his online wallet and he forget the password (or lose access to that online wallet in any way) then what will happen to that bitcoins?Will that be there forever or as the wallet providers have access to them and they will get them if they find no any owner for years.

Well if that is the case then those coins are lost forever. It will be called as 'burnt bitcoins' and those will remain there forever. But just like what others said, you can use recover password. It's up to that wallet provider if they will do something about those coins but if someone find it out, they will lose their credibility.

You can forgot password to recover your account. However if there is no other way to have access on it, I think the BTC will stay forever unless the owner or administrator is aware on how to get it. That's why bitcoin is decreasing because we consider it as lost.

He said that losing access to that online wallet in any way.

[TastyChillySauce00]

Just if an online wallet is just deducting some bitcoin from some wallet that they consider as a non-active wallet and have been left by the owner, it's still not their right to take it and it can be considered as a wrong action unless they're already having an agreement towards their client regarding this, therefore, the online wallet provider which have done this could be considered as an untrustworthy service provider, it's also a proof that the service providers still keeping sensitive data in their database.
And because of that, the bitcoin will remain forever in the wallet until the real owners have an access to get through and take their own BTC.

[7788bitcoin]

Most online wallet service providers keep all the private keys to the bitcoins. You balance is actually in the SP own ledger. Therefore, if you can prove who your ownership of the account, the SP should be able to help.

If case if the online wallet service is shutting down, there should be a period of time in which users can withdraw their balances. However, most like the unclaimed balance will go to SP's pocket.

[Zadicar]

Most members are saying the same thought which is very true because this would depends on the service,asking for password recovery would be so troublesome if you cant provide proofs that you own that wallet and all web wallet provider do really have the seeds which there a possibility those bitcoins could be accessed again.

[ralle14]

Suppose a person have some bitcoins in his online wallet and he forget the password (or lose access to that online wallet in any way) then what will happen to that bitcoins?Will that be there forever or as the wallet providers have access to them and they will get them if they find no any owner for years.

if you forget the password maybe you can request a new password, all online wallet features Recover password

If we are talking about the web wallet from blockchain.info you can't request a new password and the only way is by recovering your password  using the mnemonic phrase provided from blockchain.

[neochiny]

--
Yeah it depends on the service. and The question came to my mind after looking at a notice of blockchain wallet. once when I was creating my blockchain it said that if I lost my wallet ID or password then I would not be able to recover my coins.

Well, since you're specifically referring to blockchain.info then they've already said it pretty clearly.
They claim to have no copy of user's password, so if you loose it, you better have backed-up your secret phrase/mnemonic.

If you do, then I think they'd be able to help you recover/generate the wallet. If not, then I'm not sure they'd accommodate other ways of verifying account ownership. If you were actively buying/selling from their exchange with your personal bank account/cards/etc, then they might be able to verify via the documents, but if you were just using their wallet, then that's hard.

So, make sure you always backup any/all mnemonics for your wallets.

[Ucy]

Tricky situation but the coins doesn't necessary have to be lost. Many web wallets have ways to,recover your funds, even if the password is lost, like blockchain. The best way is to contact the customer service, explain what happened and I'm sure there will be some kind of solution.

Hugh relief to see Blockchain mentioned. The initial impression was if you lose your password you lose your money as well. 

[Xester]

Suppose a person have some bitcoins in his online wallet and he forget the password (or lose access to that online wallet in any way) then what will happen to that bitcoins?Will that be there forever or as the wallet providers have access to them and they will get them if they find no any owner for years.

Those bitcoins will not be lost but will remain untouched. The site in their agreement with the users will clearly state that the bitcoin in the wallets will remain untouched by the company except if necessary. Those bitcoins though not lost will be considered lost since they will be left untouched until the site is still running. But this will be a warning to all of us to really keep the password safe so we wont regret anything.