What happens in the future when most Bitcoins are lost in limbo?

[GoldenOrder]

What will happen, lets say around 2100, when most of the bitcoins are lost in the limbo?. See, by then (year 2100) almost 20 million bitcoins would have been mined, but also more than half of the bitcoins would be lost in limbo (lost in hardware wallets or web wallets that were owned by people who died and didnt give their passwords, etc etc to someone else in time). Eventually most of the bitcoins will be lost in the limbo with no way of recovering them. What happens then?, will it dissapear or will they have to add more decimals to the few remaining bitcoins?.

At least with Gold, if you die someone can recover/find the Gold (unless you bury it in a very remote place in the eath). But bitcoins can never be recovered if permanently lost.

So, what will happen in the future when 90% or more of the bitcoins are permanently lost in the limbo?. Maybe the remaining bitcoins will become a very valuable "collector's item" or something?

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[HabBear]

See, by then (year 2100) almost 20 million bitcoins would have been mined, but also more than half of the bitcoins would be lost in limbo (lost in hardware wallets or web wallets that were owned by people who died and didnt give their passwords, etc etc to someone else in time).

Eventually most of the bitcoins will be lost in the limbo with no way of recovering them. What happens then?, will it dissapear or will they have to add more decimals to the few remaining bitcoins?.

At least with Gold, if you die someone can recover/find the Gold (unless you bury it in a very remote place in the eath). But bitcoins can never be recovered if permanently lost.

So, what will happen in the future when 90% or more of the bitcoins are permanently lost in the limbo?.

Wow, your so pessimistic on Bitcoin, why are you involved in Bitcoin at all?

The freedom Bitcoin grants you also comes with the responsibility to keep your Bitcoin secure. Why do you think so many people will be so careless?

[Showtime24]

You have no idea what you're saying; do a little more research.  90% of bitcoins will not be lost lol

[jseverson]

What will happen, lets say around 2100, when most of the bitcoins are lost in the limbo?. See, by then (year 2100) almost 20 million bitcoins would have been mined, but also more than half of the bitcoins would be lost in limbo (lost in hardware wallets or web wallets that were owned by people who died and didnt give their passwords, etc etc to someone else in time). Eventually most of the bitcoins will be lost in the limbo with no way of recovering them. What happens then?, will it dissapear or will they have to add more decimals to the few remaining bitcoins?.

At least with Gold, if you die someone can recover/find the Gold (unless you bury it in a very remote place in the eath). But bitcoins can never be recovered if permanently lost.

So, what will happen in the future when 90% or more of the bitcoins are permanently lost in the limbo?. Maybe the remaining bitcoins will become a very valuable "collector's item" or something?

Why would they have to be some collector's item of sort? Bitcoin can be infinitely divisible. You can technically never run out of coins to distribute. Of course, the smaller number of coins in circulation, the higher each coin's value. Should your thought exercise scenario happen in reality, each Satoshi could easily be worth a few thousand dollars. This is why it doesn't matter if Bitcoins are permanently lost. Satoshi has already addressed this matter in the past. Bitcoin is deflationary by nature, and losing coins just further amplifies that effect.

[ayesha201009]

even each bitcoin has an intrinsic property. you can divide naturally up to the 8 decimal. just use only 1 btc it means 100milion of satoshi each unit.
but we can also agree one day for a new algorithm were it's also possible to divide each btc for 10 or 12 decimal. by itself it's impossible see bitcoins in a limbo.

[lizardbtc]

What will happen, lets say around 2100, when most of the bitcoins are lost in the limbo?. See, by then (year 2100) almost 20 million bitcoins would have been mined, but also more than half of the bitcoins would be lost in limbo (lost in hardware wallets or web wallets that were owned by people who died and didnt give their passwords, etc etc to someone else in time). Eventually most of the bitcoins will be lost in the limbo with no way of recovering them. What happens then?, will it dissapear or will they have to add more decimals to the few remaining bitcoins?.

At least with Gold, if you die someone can recover/find the Gold (unless you bury it in a very remote place in the eath). But bitcoins can never be recovered if permanently lost.

So, what will happen in the future when 90% or more of the bitcoins are permanently lost in the limbo?. Maybe the remaining bitcoins will become a very valuable "collector's item" or something?

Well this is just a question that is out of the ordinary.... erm I dubt that we will see half of bitcoins being lost but yes people need to be aware that it is actually easy to "lose" your bitcoins. Although you can find bitcoins as well (since you compared it to gold) chances are minimal but still its not impossible. Anyway in this case bitcoin will have huge price or how to see it will be valuble over the world, already some people compare it to gold - this is not me tho - if we look that supply is limited.


If for what ever reason this really happens like for real we could switch to some altcoin, also possible now, but btc will stay as an collectors item if we can call it that way so it will still have value. Other case scenario is that we just leave the chain and forget about it, that it even existed.

[cryptonoob312]

There are services based on smart contracts that let you send crypto to any other wallet if a particular condition is completed. For example, if you wallet is not used for more than a year (looks like its owner is dead). One of the best examples of such services is MyWish. Currently its developers are having ICO with an only $2.5M hard cup. The service is already ready to use, so you can check it out. However, in plans there is iOS and Android app that need investments. So, you can buy some tokens to get later more.

[slate_main]

There was some talk to recover these 'lost' Bitcoins, there are also projects that have selected certain 'dead' address in an aim to Bruteforce them via distributed computing, there are rumous about that Satoshi built a 'reset' switch into the code that will be activated in some time.

[darkangel11]

What will happen, lets say around 2100, when most of the bitcoins are lost in the limbo?. See, by then (year 2100) almost 20 million bitcoins would have been mined, but also more than half of the bitcoins would be lost in limbo (lost in hardware wallets or web wallets that were owned by people who died and didnt give their passwords, etc etc to someone else in time).

This is speculation. You can't know for sure, yet you're talking like you do. Have you seen any statistics as to how many coins are being lost per year? Do they even exist?
I guess the answer is no and thus we can't predict how many coins will be lost by 2100. Also, I'm going to be long dead by that time so why would I care?

At least with Gold, if you die someone can recover/find the Gold (unless you bury it in a very remote place in the eath). But bitcoins can never be recovered if permanently lost.

You can also recover BTC unless you forget to leave your loved ones a way to do it. With physical gold or silver you have to hide it so that they can't get it. Cryptocurrencies are hidden by default so you have to make sure people can recover them after your death

[GoldenOrder]

There was some talk to recover these 'lost' Bitcoins, there are also projects that have selected certain 'dead' address in an aim to Bruteforce them via distributed computing, there are rumous about that Satoshi built a 'reset' switch into the code that will be activated in some time.

What do you mean about the "reset switch"?

[izanagi narukami]

When bitcoin reach another highest value, I will sold them partially so if bitcoin one day collapse or lost, I feel no regret because I've made some profit from it.
For now, just keep hold it,guys !

[richlipkin]

If the supply is really deflationary, then it should rise in value if demand stays the same.

[Argoo]

If bitcoin is lost for various reasons, it remains encrypted in the block chainin block chain. However, it does not disappear and remains there until it is decrypted to access it. Despite the complexity of the keys used, these are all mathematical codes that can be hacked by other technologies in the future. One possible example of this is quantum computers that are able to do this. Taking into account the fact that bitcoin will become increasingly difficult to extract and that its number is limited, it will grow in price, which will facilitate the use of various new technologies to gain access to lost bitcoins. Apparently, it will be something like the mining of lost bitcoins.

[holydarkness]

It actually answered one of my questions on my earlier time with bitcoin, while I am still new to it. The question was never asked, didn't found the answer, and being forgotten until today where it came answered unexpectedly. So if someonw forgot their coins in a wallet somewhere, it got lost forever?

Kinda nice, isn't it? It'll be like burning the bitcoin supply, only it is in micro (or even nano) scale.

[Kingofthe80ss]

Interesting concept. 90% might seem a bit steep but I think the OP has a point here.

I think it would increace scarcity.

[balehubucks]

If bitcoin is lost for various reasons, it remains encrypted in the block chainin block chain. However, it does not disappear and remains there until it is decrypted to access it. Despite the complexity of the keys used, these are all mathematical codes that can be hacked by other technologies in the future. One possible example of this is quantum computers that are able to do this. Taking into account the fact that bitcoin will become increasingly difficult to extract and that its number is limited, it will grow in price, which will facilitate the use of various new technologies to gain access to lost bitcoins. Apparently, it will be something like the mining of lost bitcoins.

That's an interesting idea, but couldn't that same technology then be used steal bitcoins from active accounts?  Maybe you could get me one of those quantum computers that you're talking about once they are released.

[Kakmakr]

Scarcity is our friend. The Bitcoin price is determined by supply and demand, so less available coins will increase the value of the remaining bitcoins. <hoping that the demand would stay the same or increase>

Bitcoin is also programmable money, so it can be divided into smaller units. A Satoshi might have little babies, called miniSatoshi or even microSatoshi. ^smile^ <This will not influence the total supply>

You just have to love this technology.