the maximum number of bitcoins will decrease over time

[BitGo]

We're supposed to end up with 21 million bitcoins. But actually this can never be true since bitcoins are easy to lose permanently. All it takes is for someone to lose their private key and zap! BTC disappears forever. Apparently in the beginning of the BTC realm, many people lost their private keys because a lot of people didn't take bitcoin seriously. And what if the Winklevii lost their private keys? Sure would reduce down the number of BTC quite a bit (no pun intended).

What do you think this means for a future world operating in bitcoin? Do you think Satoshi considered this problem when he wrote up his formulas? Do you think there's any way to counter-act the diminishing supply? 

[Peter Lambert]

We're supposed to end up with 21 million bitcoins. But actually this can never be true since bitcoins are easy to lose permanently. All it takes is for someone to lose their private key and zap! BTC disappears forever. Apparently in the beginning of the BTC realm, many people lost their private keys because a lot of people didn't take bitcoin seriously. And what if the Winklevii lost their private keys? Sure would reduce down the number of BTC quite a bit (no pun intended).

What do you think this means for a future world operating in bitcoin? Do you think Satoshi considered this problem when he wrote up his formulas? Do you think there's any way to counter-act the diminishing supply? 

I think this has already been discussed much before.

As bitcoins go up in value, the incentive to not lose them also increases, so people will take better care of their bitcoins.

The bitcoins are not gone forever (forever is a very long time) they are just unusable at the moment. If bitcoins continue, maybe someday a lucky person will generate the keypair needed for those old bitcoins and be instantly wealthy.

[QuestionAuthority]

We're supposed to end up with 21 million bitcoins. But actually this can never be true since bitcoins are easy to lose permanently. All it takes is for someone to lose their private key and zap! BTC disappears forever. Apparently in the beginning of the BTC realm, many people lost their private keys because a lot of people didn't take bitcoin seriously. And what if the Winklevii lost their private keys? Sure would reduce down the number of BTC quite a bit (no pun intended).

What do you think this means for a future world operating in bitcoin? Do you think Satoshi considered this problem when he wrote up his formulas? Do you think there's any way to counter-act the diminishing supply? 

Depends on what you believe about Bitcoins main purpose. If you think it's supposed to be the up and coming "one world currency" then it's a problem. If you think it's a ledger system to transfer value worldwide for a reduced cost vs Western Union then it's not an issue. I don't see it as an issue because I see a transfer system like Western Union/ACH/EFT that can be operated by private individuals without the middle man.

[Buffer Overflow]

Yeah they are easy to lose. But they are also very easy to backup in multiple locations, so you don't lose them.

[CurbsideProphet]

We're supposed to end up with 21 million bitcoins. But actually this can never be true since bitcoins are easy to lose permanently. All it takes is for someone to lose their private key and zap! BTC disappears forever. Apparently in the beginning of the BTC realm, many people lost their private keys because a lot of people didn't take bitcoin seriously. And what if the Winklevii lost their private keys? Sure would reduce down the number of BTC quite a bit (no pun intended).

What do you think this means for a future world operating in bitcoin? Do you think Satoshi considered this problem when he wrote up his formulas? Do you think there's any way to counter-act the diminishing supply? 

I think this has already been discussed much before.

As bitcoins go up in value, the incentive to not lose them also increases, so people will take better care of their bitcoins.

The bitcoins are not gone forever (forever is a very long time) they are just unusable at the moment. If bitcoins continue, maybe someday a lucky person will generate the keypair needed for those old bitcoins and be instantly wealthy.

Not impossible but highly improbable.  You're probably more likely to hit the Powerball lottery a few times.

[nameface]

In the future will people be able to crack out old lost coin by brute forcing an address with a faster machine?

[Littleshop]

The bitcoins are not gone forever (forever is a very long time) they are just unusable at the moment. If bitcoins continue, maybe someday a lucky person will generate the keypair needed for those old bitcoins and be instantly wealthy.

That is so far beyond improbbible that the light from improbbible will take 100 trillion years to reach you.

Those coins are indeed lost.

[Elwar]

1 Bitcoin could be the full monetary system for an entire country.

[Lauda]

The bitcoins are not gone forever (forever is a very long time) they are just unusable at the moment. If bitcoins continue, maybe someday a lucky person will generate the keypair needed for those old bitcoins and be instantly wealthy.

That is so far beyond improbbible that the light from improbbible will take 100 trillion years to reach you.

Those coins are indeed lost.

Impossible chance. Yup will never reach the max amount of coins. Supply will be much lower than demand eventually.

[BitGo]

1 Bitcoin could be the full monetary system for an entire country.

Maybe this is the true answer? Since even 1 BTC can be divided as many times as we need.

[Lauda]

1 Bitcoin could be the full monetary system for an entire country.

Maybe this is the true answer? Since even 1 BTC can be divided as many times as we need.

Using decimals is not efficient at all.

[QuestionAuthority]

Americans spend $52,000,000,000.00 each year on their pets. The US annual budget is nearly $4,000,000,000,000.00. U.S. motorists spend $491,000,000,000.00 for gasoline annually. I think the US might need more than 1 btc.

[niko]

Gold is easy to lose. Gold recovery processes are never 100% efficient. There is always a certain rate of loss, and once there is no more gold to be mined economically, the total supply will be gradually decreasing. Losing jewlery, accidentally melting it with other alloys, leaching of gold salts from processing plants, dispersing it through crematoriums, fine dust blown away by the wind, evaporation...

And yet, nobody is worried about all that.

I'm going out for a drink now. I'll pay with bitcoins. Seriously.

[hacknoid]

The actual number is irrelevant - its the value of the bitcoins in circulation that matters.

There could be 1 bitcoin with a value of $1M, or 1M bitcoins with a value of $1 each.  Same total value.


After all, there are only ever going to be 21 MBTC (MegaBitcoins) created.  Can 21 of these things ever be enough to be useful?

[Altoidnerd]

Looking this far ahead probably isn't worth your time.  It's more likely bitcoin will be succeeded, at least in some manner, by the time this bothers anyone.

Also, the number 21M bitcoins isn't somehow essential to the bitcoin economy.  It's not a terrible problem if some of them are simply unspent.

[Lauda]

Looking this far ahead probably isn't worth your time.  It's more likely bitcoin will be succeeded, at least in some manner, by the time this bothers anyone.

Also, the number 21M bitcoins isn't somehow essential to the bitcoin economy.  It's not a terrible problem if some of them are simply unspent.

Yeah, this.
If 1mil get lost, and 20mil are in circulation, it's fine.

[oleganza]

In the future will people be able to crack out old lost coin by brute forcing an address with a faster machine?

If you are going to crack pubkeys, it doesn't matter if they are "lost" or simply stashed. Pick any key you like and start cracking today, because it'll be a very long journey.

[gollum]

We're supposed to end up with 21 million bitcoins. But actually this can never be true since bitcoins are easy to lose permanently. All it takes is for someone to lose their private key and zap! BTC disappears forever. Apparently in the beginning of the BTC realm, many people lost their private keys because a lot of people didn't take bitcoin seriously. And what if the Winklevii lost their private keys? Sure would reduce down the number of BTC quite a bit (no pun intended).

What do you think this means for a future world operating in bitcoin? Do you think Satoshi considered this problem when he wrote up his formulas? Do you think there's any way to counter-act the diminishing supply?  

I assume that over time 99% of the potential bitcoin users will be noobs, therefore they should use IOUs of bitcoins rather than real bitcoins since they dont have the knowledge or tools to protect real bitcoins against theft or data loss.

[Lauda]

In the future will people be able to crack out old lost coin by brute forcing an address with a faster machine?

If you are going to crack pubkeys, it doesn't matter if they are "lost" or simply stashed. Pick any key you like and start cracking today, because it'll be a very long journey.

Quantum computing? No?

[Elwar]

Americans spend $52,000,000,000.00 each year on their pets. The US annual budget is nearly $4,000,000,000,000.00. U.S. motorists spend $491,000,000,000.00 for gasoline annually. I think the US might need more than 1 btc.

Not if 1 Bitcoin is worth $1 Quadrillion.

It has been stated several times that more decimal places can be added easily.