hodler/ex-hodler ratio

[600watt]

I wonder for every lucky current hodler of bitcoins, how many are out there that HAD bitcoins but
-lost them
-spent them
-cashed out way too early
-got goxxed
-got hacked
-blew it on hookers and coke
-lost access
-forgot about them
-have deceased
-"invested" them in scams or in unsuccessful projects
-bought mining equipment that never paid off
-gave them away
-made bad trades (buy high, sell low...)
-lost faith,
-sent them to a wrong address,
-threw away hardware with coins stored
-etc, etc, etc

one of my relatives has lost more than 100 btc. (lost access)
i invested 20 btc in altcoins that went to zero (fuck, I must have found the only ones that did not get pumped.  ), I also made bad trades, got goxxed, bought BFL  , but all of that combined still did not kill my stash completely.

edit: if you can think of more ways to lose bitcoin than the one I mentioned above, please let me know. I will update the list.

[gentlemand]

I'd guess that peak lossage occurred 2009-11 due to worthlessness and ignorance and it gradually tailed off after that. However mining rewards were huge and prices were piddling so it could well add up to an actual shitload of coins.

I'd also guess that there will be many, many more non screwed holders now simply because of the weight of numbers, but they may well hold fewer coins in total. If we really knew we might be shocked.

[buenav]

Lost bitcoins are something that effectively reduces the total supply and things like marketcap calculations never take these into account.

As for ex holders, I don't think many people were very smart to hold since the early times.

[1Referee]

My losses so far;

Lost around 15BTC with gambling back in 2014 - my own stupidity.
Lost over 10BTC with SilkCoin back in 2014 - my own stupidity.
Lost around 3BTC with some smaller other altcoins back in 2014 - my own stupidity.

I think it was at the end of 2014 that I completely ditched the altcoin market, and at the same time stopped gambling completely.

[600watt]

My losses so far;

Lost around 15BTC with gambling back in 2014 - my own stupidity.
Lost over 10BTC with SilkCoin back in 2014 - my own stupidity.
Lost around 3BTC with some smaller other altcoins back in 2014 - my own stupidity.

I think it was at the end of 2014 that I completely ditched the altcoin market, and at the same time stopped gambling completely.

  not many can say they blew more than $ 60 k on drugs and gambling without forming a habit at all....   congrats for keeping your stash. well done.

[JimboToronto]

I realized early that the smartest thing to do was hold and never sell.

Except for losing 50 coins to MtGox, I've still got all my Bitcoin except for tiny amounts given as gifts, donations, tips, etc., and spent on merchandise like BTC ballcaps etc.

One year I put paper wallets containing $5 worth in Christmas cards along with links to Satoshi's white paper, the Bitcoin 101 Blackboard Series and BitcoinTalk and sent them out as stocking stuffers.

My largest outlay was 2 $100 gifts to my grandnephew's college fund, one in a paper wallet to start him off on his 2nd birthday last December, and another on his mother's birthday in April. Last time I checked his balance at blockchain.info it was worth over $500. If I add another $100 every birthday, by the time he's ready for university he should have enough to pay for his schooling. If he doesn't go to college, he can have them when he turns 30. Hopefully by then he won't waste it on goofy stuff like cars, clothes, partying and consumer goods.

Bitcoin, the gift that keeps on giving.

My most recent purchase was a new ballcap. It arrived today. Cost me considerably less coin than the one it's replacing. Got one with a silver/white logo instead of orange. I got sick of explaining that it wasn't a Boston Bruins cap. It did serve to make some people aware of Bitcoin though. Both have only the BTC logo though, no lettering.  Only those already into Bitcoin recognize it. That cap got me a $20 btc tip at a gig once years ago. Kept the coin and now it's worth hundreds.

I keep all my coins offline now and backup the keys. Once burned, twice shy.

Satoshi once said that if you lose your keys, don't consider the coins lost. Consider them a gift to the community.

[afbitcoins]

Overall my stack isn't smaller despite losses I've made bigger trading gains. Biggest loss, bitcoinica hack/theft followed by mintpal and cryptsy. I still trade on exchanges but since bitcoinica, only trust with small portion of my funds.

Don't know how to gauge how many hodlers vs ex hodlers there are. But I think most people would hodl

[Meuh6879]

if you don't spend after an up of 100x the initial bid ... you have a serious life problem.
so, holders provide the liquidity.

[richardsNY]

Overall, I have lost around 1-2 BTC with altcoin trading. I think it was more yolo gambling than actual trading based on analysis, but the damage is already done, lol. Other than that, I have probably burned like 0.15-0.20 BTC in total, due to me deleting wallet files that shouldn't be deleted -- these coins are out of circulation, for ever. Generally speaking, my Bitcoin holdings have only increased due to me consistently buying a certain amount of coins every month below the $500 level.

[ktabb]

I wonder for every lucky current hodler of bitcoins, how many are out there that HAD bitcoins but
-lost them
-spent them
-cashed out way too early
-got goxxed
-got hacked
-blew it on hookers and coke
-lost access
-forgot about them
-have deceased
-"invested" them in scams or in unsuccessful projects
-bought mining equipment that never paid off
-gave them away
-made bad trades (buy high, sell low...)
-lost faith,
-sent them to a wrong address,
-threw away hardware with coins stored
-etc, etc, etc

one of my relatives has lost more than 100 btc. (lost access)
i invested 20 btc in altcoins that went to zero (fuck, I must have found the only ones that did not get pumped.  ), I also made bad trades, got goxxed, bought BFL  , but all of that combined still did not kill my stash completely.

edit: if you can think of more ways to lose bitcoin than the one I mentioned above, please let me know. I will update the list.

You could spend 10,000 of them to buy 2 pizzas lol

[pooya87]

most of these cases that lost bitcoin one way or another have bought back, at least all the people i know of have done that so they are still hodlers even though they lost something.
i wasn't born yet by the time of gox but i have lost bitcoin in cryptsy and some shitcoins i've invested in but i have bought more coins and made more profit than i have ever lost so the ration shouldn't be that big.

[Holliday]

I wonder for every lucky current hodler of bitcoins, how many are out there that HAD bitcoins but

Unless you've lost a hard drive in 2010 and recently found it again in 2017 chock-full of bitcoins, hodling has had nothing to do with luck.

It takes a special kind of determination along with the skill to keep them secure to hodl bitcoins for over 5 years.

Imagine all the opportunities one had to have accidentally all your coins in that time. Imagine how many people will have told you to "sell immediately if you are smart" in that time. Imagine how you've had to reexamine your own understanding of the Bitcoin ecosystem as things changed over that time.

It's simply an insult to suggest luck was involved.

Luck is finding a dollar on the street and using it to purchase the only lottery ticket that you've ever purchased in your entire life and winning the powerball with that ticket.

[Karartma1]

I realized early that the smartest thing to do was hold and never sell.

Except for losing 50 coins to MtGox, I've still got all my Bitcoin except for tiny amounts given as gifts, donations, tips, etc., and spent on merchandise like BTC ballcaps etc.

One year I put paper wallets containing $5 worth in Christmas cards along with links to Satoshi's white paper, the Bitcoin 101 Blackboard Series and BitcoinTalk and sent them out as stocking stuffers.

My largest outlay was 2 $100 gifts to my grandnephew's college fund, one in a paper wallet to start him off on his 2nd birthday last December, and another on his mother's birthday in April. Last time I checked his balance at blockchain.info it was worth over $500. If I add another $100 every birthday, by the time he's ready for university he should have enough to pay for his schooling. If he doesn't go to college, he can have them when he turns 30. Hopefully by then he won't waste it on goofy stuff like cars, clothes, partying and consumer goods.

Bitcoin, the gift that keeps on giving.

My most recent purchase was a new ballcap. It arrived today. Cost me considerably less coin than the one it's replacing. Got one with a silver/white logo instead of orange. I got sick of explaining that it wasn't a Boston Bruins cap. It did serve to make some people aware of Bitcoin though. Both have only the BTC logo though, no lettering.  Only those already into Bitcoin recognize it. That cap got me a $20 btc tip at a gig once years ago. Kept the coin and now it's worth hundreds.

I keep all my coins offline now and backup the keys. Once burned, twice shy.

Satoshi once said that if you lose your keys, don't consider the coins lost. Consider them a gift to the community.

Nice story my dear long term Go Bitcoin Go friend!

As for the last sentence, I'm a pretty good donor then. 

[jorneyflair]

I wonder for every lucky current hodler of bitcoins, how many are out there that HAD bitcoins but
-lost them
-spent them
-cashed out way too early
-got goxxed
-got hacked
-blew it on hookers and coke
-lost access
-forgot about them
-have deceased
-"invested" them in scams or in unsuccessful projects
-bought mining equipment that never paid off
-gave them away
-made bad trades (buy high, sell low...)
-lost faith,
-sent them to a wrong address,
-threw away hardware with coins stored
-etc, etc, etc

one of my relatives has lost more than 100 btc. (lost access)
i invested 20 btc in altcoins that went to zero (fuck, I must have found the only ones that did not get pumped.  ), I also made bad trades, got goxxed, bought BFL  , but all of that combined still did not kill my stash completely.

edit: if you can think of more ways to lose bitcoin than the one I mentioned above, please let me know. I will update the list.

Lost access and throwing away hard drives that contained your wallet files is probably only relevant for very early bitcoin adopters. I think it is currently very rare for anyone to lose access to their bitcoins because they know how valuable it is and why they should back up their wallet.dat files, etc. But yes, it could happen and i would love to hear stories(although tragic) from people that have lost their coins due to this as well.

The most common way people lose their coins is through careless investment or storing their coins on a wallet that they can't access their private keys with. I've lost 5 bitcoins with Mt Gox, and i'm sure most bitcoiners that used bitcoin in 2012-2013 will have lost their coins as well. Other than that, probably only bitfinex hack where i had 0.2 BTC. When i got the BFX tokens i dumped them rightaway for half a dollar each i think, but in the end everything resolved, and i could have gotten some extra btc.

[600watt]

(...)
It takes a special kind of determination along with the skill to keep them secure to hodl bitcoins for over 5 years.

Imagine all the opportunities one had to have accidentally all your coins in that time. Imagine how many people will have told you to "sell immediately if you are smart" in that time. Imagine how you've had to reexamine your own understanding of the Bitcoin ecosystem as things changed over that time.

It's simply an insult to suggest luck was involved.

Luck is finding a dollar on the street and using it to purchase the only lottery ticket that you've ever purchased in your entire life and winning the powerball with that ticket.

you are right. hodling is hard and not lucky.

[BitHodler]

you are right. hodling is hard and not lucky.

I wouldn't directly say hodling is an easy thing to do for everyone, but we shouldn't make things look harder than they in reality are.

If you distance yourself from all market pumps and dumps, the regular dose of fud, and just focus on the potential end result, hodling is a piece of cake. Seriously, look where we stand right now.

I am not planning to sell any of my coins because I value my them too much to convert them to a deflating fiat currency. It just doesn't make any sense to me.

[gentlemand]

Lost access and throwing away hard drives that contained your wallet files is probably only relevant for very early bitcoin adopters.

The earlier you mined the fewer other miners there were. I'm sure Satoshi has plenty, but nowhere near that million that's often claimed.

It was 7200 coins per day from the start of 2009. There wasn't even any type of price at all until early/mid 2010 so that's a minimum of 4 million or so coins that were completely and utterly worthless.

The odds are extremely high that a high percentage of those mined coins are goners.

It's very easy now to think you'd hang on to them. Back then it would've been an annoying program that made your computer wear out for no compelling reason.

[BlindMayorBitcorn]

I wonder how many of us have already died surrounded by cats and a heap of coins no one knows about.