Wouldn't all the bitcoin eventually become unreachable

[voorash]

I was thinking about this today and would like some others thoughts on the matter. 

Let's say I buy myself 1 BTC and am oh so happy with myself.  I send this BTC to a newly created wallet and promptly lose the key in some sort of horrible and irretrievable fashion.  Over time wouldn't events such as this lead to the majority of bitcoins being effectively taken out of circulation.  What made me think of this was the news story about the guy that bought 27 dollars worth of bitcoin and forgot about it.  He was able to remember his password but had he failed that would have been five thousand coins forever removed from circulation.

[1715237422]

1715237422

[asc366]

This is a very "real" fear and there are many cases already with this like the one posted 15 mins ago at https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=321054

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ#Won.27t_loss_of_wallets_and_the_finite_amount_of_Bitcoins_create_excessive_deflation.2C_destroying_Bitcoin.3F describes this as well:

Also, Bitcoin users are faced with a danger that doesn't threaten users of any other currency: if a Bitcoin user loses his wallet, his money is gone forever, unless he finds it again. And not just to him; it's gone completely out of circulation, rendered utterly inaccessible to anyone. As people will lose their wallets, the total number of Bitcoins will slowly decrease.

[edd]

This has been brought up countless times.

This is a very "real" fear and there are many cases already with this like the one posted 15 mins ago at https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=321054

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ#Won.27t_loss_of_wallets_and_the_finite_amount_of_Bitcoins_create_excessive_deflation.2C_destroying_Bitcoin.3F describes this as well:

Also, Bitcoin users are faced with a danger that doesn't threaten users of any other currency: if a Bitcoin user loses his wallet, his money is gone forever, unless he finds it again. And not just to him; it's gone completely out of circulation, rendered utterly inaccessible to anyone. As people will lose their wallets, the total number of Bitcoins will slowly decrease.

I wonder why you didn't quote this part:
 

In fact, infinite divisibility should allow Bitcoins to function in cases of extreme wallet loss. Even if, in the far future, so many people have lost their wallets that only a single Bitcoin, or a fraction of one, remains, Bitcoin should continue to function just fine. No one can claim to be sure what is going to happen, but deflation may prove to present a smaller threat than many expect.

[asc366]

I wonder why you didn't quote this part:

Because the part from the FAQ I just pasted confirms the actual question the OP posted, I guess. But your addition is interesting as well of course.

[voorash]

Thanks, the FAQ helped as I hadn't noticed before that a btc could be broken down to a smaller increment than a satoshi.

[notme]

I wonder why you didn't quote this part:

Because the part from the FAQ I just pasted confirms the actual question the OP posted, I guess. But your addition is interesting as well of course.

Yes, you confirmed the question, but questions are usually after answers, which is what edd provided.

[User705]

This could be considered one of bitcoin negatives as they are destructible in a sense.  However at a certain far of point in the future you can always attempt to brute force the private key so they aren't forever lost.

[notme]

This could be considered one of bitcoin negatives as they are destructible in a sense.  However at a certain far of point in the future you can always attempt to brute force the private key so they aren't forever lost.

If a weakness is found in ecdsa, you still need the public key, which is only known if coins have been spent from that address before.

[SquallLeonhart]

If everyone lost their wallet then yes, people always be extra careful when it comes to money so I would say only 1-2% lost in this way....

[BitchicksHusband]

In the "Distribution of wealth by owner" thread, it has been determined that there are about 11.5M coins in circulation (of 11.9M showing on Bitcoin Charts) meaning that about 4% of coins are lost.

[bits4books]

If everyone lost their wallet then yes, people always be extra careful when it comes to money so I would say only 1-2% lost in this way....

Everyone has to die someday..and they sure as hell won't know how to get in my wallet..

[BitchicksHusband]

If everyone lost their wallet then yes, people always be extra careful when it comes to money so I would say only 1-2% lost in this way....

Everyone has to die someday..and they sure as hell won't know how to get in my wallet..

And conversely, I trust my kids enough to have shown them how to get into ours in case of a horrible accident.

[Unluckyduck]

The more that people lose the higher in value everyone elses gets. Providing everyone doesn't lose their wallet that is. 

[nerFohanzo]

In the "Distribution of wealth by owner" thread, it has been determined that there are about 11.5M coins in circulation (of 11.9M showing on Bitcoin Charts) meaning that about 4% of coins are lost.

But how can you say if the Bitcoins are lost or just stored in cold paper wallet 

[edd]

In the "Distribution of wealth by owner" thread, it has been determined that there are about 11.5M coins in circulation (of 11.9M showing on Bitcoin Charts) meaning that about 4% of coins are lost.

But how can you say if the Bitcoins are lost or just stored in cold paper wallet 

You can't, which makes these types of discussions moot.

[BitchicksHusband]

In the "Distribution of wealth by owner" thread, it has been determined that there are about 11.5M coins in circulation (of 11.9M showing on Bitcoin Charts) meaning that about 4% of coins are lost.

But how can you say if the Bitcoins are lost or just stored in cold paper wallet 

Someone compiled a list of people on the internet saying they lost their coins and how many coins.  So this is verified losses.  The actual number is probably at least double that, given most people don't want to look like an idiot on the internet.