How about setting a MAX coin age ?!

[btcusr]

I am not sure whether it is already discussed.

Is it ok to set a max coinage (5 - 10 years), so coins that are were not spent for specific can be invalidated.

and, to distribute these coins through mining rewards (throughout for next few years).

So that, no coins were ever lost.

[jackjack]

AGAIN??
Come on guys, stop stealing money from people keeping it in their vault!
Yes it has been discussed a thousand times, a least once every two months, did you search?

[OnkelPaul]

Bitcoin as it is does not need such a rule - I'm pretty sure that the loss of coins can be handled well already.

But if you design an alt coin (do we have enough already?) you might add this as one of its rules.
I don't know whether it would really have a positive effect - it would make those "lost" coins available again, but there might be some folks who put coins in a cold storage wallet as savings, and they might not be happy to find that their coins have been given to someone else.
Of course, people adopting such a coin would know that they need to touch (move) their coins once in a while to keep them, so it might not be a big problem after all.

Onkel Paul

[jackjack]

Seriously, I search "redistribute old coins", already two results
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=20799.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=171411.0

Try with google...

[Nubarius]

Yes, it's been discussed before. Besides jackjack's results I also found:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=48851.10
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=82847.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=175688.0

In short, most people, including myself, think that there is no such problem. If coins are lost, then the total amount in circulation may be significantly lower than 21 million but there will still be quadrillions of satoshis in circulation.

There will never be the consensus to allow such a fundamental change.

[btcusr]

thanks, I will check those threads.

"max coin age", no results.

[justusranvier]

Maybe there should be an optional opcode that allows an output to be claimed by a miner on or after block n.

That way anybody who is worried about this can store their own funds in such an address without forcing it on everbody else.

[jackjack]

Maybe there should be an optional opcode that allows an output to be claimed by a miner on or after block n.

That way anybody who is worried about this can store their own funds in such an address without forcing it on everbody else.

Who would do that? For what purpose?

[wachtwoord]

How do so many people come up with this ridiculous notion independently from each other? 

@OP don't mind them and me. It's just that this must be the most asked question on the forums and there have been heated debates when people really couldn't be convinced it would be ridiculous to implement this so some people are fed up with it

[justusranvier]

Who would do that?

Probably no one.

For what purpose?

The only reason for such a feature to exist is so that anyone who brings it up could be encouraged to use it themselves instead of arguing about it.

[jackjack]

The thing is I don't get why some people need to add the "forget about your coins if you hoard them" "feature"
WHY?
Because lost coins are a bad thing? How is it bad? It even makes the remaining ones more valuable

Who would do that?

Probably no one.

For what purpose?

The only reason for such a feature to exist is so that anyone who brings it up could be encouraged to use it themselves instead of arguing about it.

I'm sure if such a possiblity is introduced they would be whining about why it is not obligatory

[Rampion]

How do so many people come up with this ridiculous notion independently from each other? 

@OP don't mind them and me. It's just that this must be the most asked question on the forums and there have been heated debates when people really couldn't be convinced it would be ridiculous to implement this so some people are fed up with it

It's called the "I missed the early adopter train" syndrome.

Which is BS, as everybody with brains know.

Just buy and be grateful you were able to know about BTC so early

[jackjack]

How do so many people come up with this ridiculous notion independently from each other? 

@OP don't mind them and me. It's just that this must be the most asked question on the forums and there have been heated debates when people really couldn't be convinced it would be ridiculous to implement this so some people are fed up with it

It's called the "I missed the early adopter train" syndrome.

Which is BS, as everybody with brains know.

Just buy and be grateful you were able to know about BTC so early

So those people would want to kill the assets of early-early-adopters?
Possible
Highly possible indeed

[Trongersoll]

How would you feel if you wanted to buy something and the store refused to take your money because it was old and wrinkley? Or, the money police took it away from you and gave its value in new money to someone else?

[jackjack]

How would you feel if you wanted to buy something and the store refused to take your money because it was old and wrinkley? Or, the money police took it away from you and gave its value in new money to someone else?

Absolutely
Same for the gold you're keeping somewhere hidden
Same for your jewelry you never wear

[edd]

I am not sure whether it is already discussed.

Is it ok to set a max coinage (5 - 10 years), so coins that are were not spent for specific can be invalidated.

and, to distribute these coins through mining rewards (throughout for next few years).

So that, no coins were ever lost.

"Dear, it's finally time to retire and spend some of those bitcoins on that Casascius gold bar you bought back in 2012."

"You're right, honey! Let me just import them into our active wallet... Oh no!"

"What's wrong?"

"The coins expired!"

"When?"

"Yesterday."

[jackjack]

How about setting a MIN coin usage ?!

We could set a minimum coin usage, ie you can't use any of your bitcoins if you don't move at least 1000BTC
That's an improvement as it avoids de facto the blockchain dust

[cr1776]

Who would do that? For what purpose?

Perhaps the OP would do it and the others in the other threads.  Yeah right - most would not do that, but would advocate it for everyone else since they know best.

[teukon]

I've never quite understood the natural objection to lost coins that some people seem to have.  Many other perceived problems with Bitcoin are explained but this one is usually taken as axiomatic.

Is it the lost granularity that concerns people?  Is it a fear that people will hoard bitcoins? (Economic flamewar aside, I don't see why hoarders would be less likely to lose coins than everyone else).

Perhaps it's just because existing currencies are not so fragile.  I don't see a gold forum parallel to bitcointalk.org with topics like "Help!  I accidentally launched 3.8 tonnes of gold into deep space."

[wachtwoord]

"Help!  I accidentally launched 3.8 tonnes of gold into deep space."

Oops!