The Lost Coins and Its Contribution

[flash12i]

A lot has shared how they or others they know lost access to their wallets. And unfortunately, it has been well stated that lost wallets are lost bitcoins forever.

According to estimates by Forbes, lost bitcoins are roughly between 2.7 million to nearly 4 million.  That's roughly 17% to 23% of the total 21 million unearthed bitcoins by the year 2040. And many of these bitcoins were lost in the early stages of our most favored cryptocurrency.

This situation is actually a sad lost for those who failed to keep their wallet access (though a big part of this estimate are dormant wallets who does not reflect any transactional activities for the past couple of years could also indicate wallets of hodlers).

Rumors of Satoshi Nakamoto's wallets amounting to nearly 1 Million bitcoins that has remained untouched till date are a big percentage of lost bitcoins already.

Up until today, there has been a large attempt to retrieve lost bitcoins but there were no definitive & reliable reported means to do so.

But in a way, we have to be thankful for this lost bitcoins.  It was a substantial contributing factor of bitcoin's current price strength as it lowered the total number of bitcoins in circulation and it ensures that the total amount of coins will be well below 21 million after the last bitcoin has been unearthed.

So the next time you lost your wallet (which i sincerely hope you don't), may the thought that you made everyone else a bit more richer cheer you up.

As Satoshi Nakamoto said "Lost coins only make everyone else's coins worth slightly more. Think of it as a donation to everyone."

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[hugeblack]

According to estimates by Forbes, lost bitcoins are roughly 2.7 million to nearly 4 million.  That's roughly 17% to 23% of the total 21 million unearthed bitcoins by the year 2040. And many of these bitcoins were lost in the early stages of our most favored cryptocurrency.

I do not know how these numbers guessed, but it seems exaggerated.
It is also difficult to verify the loss of coins since it can only be known by confirming the owner's claims to lose access to those addresses "Pvt keys."

Rumors of Satoshi Nakamoto's wallets amounting to nearly 1 Million bitcoins that has remained untouched till date are a big percentage of lost bitcoins already.

Maybe Satoshi will back, so can't be counted with the lost coins.

So the next time you lost your wallet (which i sincerely hope you don't), may the thought that you made everyone else a bit more richer cheer you up.

The lost coins are not affected because many of the new coins will be produced.
Perhaps in the future make up a difference after the impossibility of mining.
I do not think the number "21M" will make a big difference as bitcoin can be divided up to Satoshi, the only winners are those who joined early.

[davis196]

the only winners are those who joined early.

This sounds like a ponzi scheme.Only early participants get any profit from ponzi scams.I refuse to believe that bitcoin is such type of scam.Anyway,the "lost bitcoins" topic has been discussed so many times on this forum.I don't want to comment on this clickbait Forbes article.2.7M to 4M bitcoins is far away from the truth.
Imagine someone having lots of btc in some wallet and forgetting it's password and not saving the private key.Really?People aren's that stupid

[Pursuer]

usually when  these estimations are made they consider coins that haven't moved for a long time as "lost" but they are not lost, and that makes the estimation unlikely to be accurate.

as for the "contribution to others", yeah you are correct but the effects of it is not big enough in my opinion to be considered a big deal. for instance usually nowadays people who lose bitcoin don't own that much of it to begin with and they usually don't lose their private keys, they lose it to some scam. and that is a different loss.
not to mention that price won't go up with lack of supply, price goes up with increase of demand!

[aoluain]

There is no way to get an accurate figure on the amount of lost or not lost bitcoins.
We do know for sure that there are lost coins through various actions like,
Forgetting wallet passwords and keys,
Disposal of hard drives and computers in the early days,
Sending bitcoin to non bitcoin addresses,
Seemingly frozen or abandonned wallets,
Wallets containing minute amounts of Satoshi's which are uneconomical to move.

It is through though the total amount of 21million coins is diminished, and can
only add to the value.

[Sutters Mill]

Not all the addresses that have money in and that have sat dormant for a while or even years means that they're lost without a doubt. Many might just be long term holders looking to cash out eventually. You don't even know if satoshi plans to do that at one point. I agree that the more coins that are lost and out of circulation is better for all of us though.

the only winners are those who joined early.

This sounds like a ponzi scheme.Only early participants get any profit from ponzi scams.I refuse to believe that bitcoin is such type of scam.

Yeah, putting it like that is misleading. Sure, many of the early adopters did profit well, but many also sold at amounts like $10 and $100 as well and missed out on huge gains. People are still profiting from bitcoin and will continue to do so for some time so it's not just for the early adopters.

[Wendigo]

I am not sure if the lost coins will remain lost forever by the way. Current computer machines might not be up to the task of breaking Bitcoin's cryptographic security, but future high-powered quantum computers might be able to recover long-lost wallets with lots of coins on them or  God forbid, even be used to brute force one's way into other people's wallets. Now this might sound like something from a sci-fi movie, but in the distant future Bitcoin might get compromised. Nothing is future-proof.

[Gozie51]

But in a way, we have to be thankful for this lost bitcoins.  It was a substantial contributing factor of bitcoin's current price strength as it lowered the total number of bitcoins in circulation and it ensures that the total amount of coins will be well below 21 million after the last bitcoin has been unearthed.

My view is that I don't totally succumb to the believe in OP's hypothesis that lost bitcoin are more like the reason that bitcoin gained value. We have coins that are not close to 21m in maximum supply and are not close to the price of bitcoin too. I think the technology, use and community are responsible for that.

[12tribes]

The 'lost' bitcoins as it were are not really lost but a way of deciphering lost keys to these wallets will be the tech needed to unlock certain wallets when the owners can prove beyond reasonable doubt that they own such wallets.... You may say that's impossible or very difficult. But when the tech comes, it will become possible....

[ralle14]

I wanted to read more about the article that OP copied so I did a quick search and found the article on fortune. The estimate came from Chainalysis I don't know how they've come up with such number but if the estimate is nearly accurate that's just crazy. Lost Bitcoin can still be retrieved though who knows someone might end up generating an address with some Bitcoins inside.

My view is that I don't totally succumb to the believe in OP's hypothesis that lost bitcoin are more like the reason that bitcoin gained value. We have coins that are not close to 21m in maximum supply and are not close to the price of bitcoin too. I think the technology, use and community are responsible for that.

I agree those lost Bitcoins won't boost the price for now but in the future once the block reward goes to 0 that might be the time where the lack of supply kicks in that is if Bitcoin is still one of the top coins after a hundred years.

[talkbitcoin]

the only winners are those who joined early.

true but the real winners are those who understand what bitcoin as a  decentralized currency means. otherwise those who only see the "profit" and the "price rising" as their only goal will surely do irrational things such as panic selling. for instance someone who doesn't even know what bitcoin power is will panic as soon as he hears the first FUD about bitcoin and someone tells him it is "dead"

[gentlemand]

usually when  these estimations are made they consider coins that haven't moved for a long time as "lost" but they are not lost, and that makes the estimation unlikely to be accurate.

Yes. And those who pop up here fairly often proposing forks to 'reclaim' lost coins are arses. I still can't believe it's still proposed.

There's no way of knowing how many are lost apart from verifiably burnt ones which only amounts to a few thousand. As for lost coins being some sort of 'contribution' that's just as hard to tell really and impossible to know what the financial effect is.

Better to concentrate away from the what ifs as they're all on the pointless side.

[GoldOrBTC]

Well, it is quite difficult to figure out the accurate amount of lost not lost bitcoins. But there are some actions to know the lost coins, like- sending of BTC to non BTC addresses, disposal of computers, forgetting the passwords and keys of wallet and others. But when the technology is there, nothing is impossible to gain lost coins!

[WindowsRepuX]

There are so many coins which are being produced newly so lost coins not really have large impact on crypto. To be profitable as investor in crypto market the most essential thing is to be patient and learning.

[ShakingCoin]

It is not easy to know the actual amount of lost coins. But there are some actions available to know about the coins, like- disposal of hardware, forgetting the keys or passwords of wallet, and others. But nothing is impossible if there is technology.

[ajuelnah akun]

meaning that currently there is only a quarter of bitcoin in circulation, half of which is in satoshi wallets, another quarter is being mined.

[CripplesPlazma]

It is quite difficult to know the actual amount of lost or not coins. But you can know about your coins by following some actions, like- computer disposal, sending of BTC to non BTC addresses and others. But with the help of lost coins you can get your coins hopefully!

[donhill]

it is actually very sad that we have to hear so many news about coin losing but we still not sure about this validity it can be just a rumors as well but yes if it actually happening then it is our responsibility to stay  conscious and help the authority to prevent it soon cause they are trying their best to stop this.

[pooya87]

it is a bad thing to see bitcoin purely as an investment and nothing else. and you talking about lost coins contribute to others pockets shows that you are only focusing on the investment part.
the fact is bitcoin is a currency and as a currency it doesn't make a difference if a small amount of its total is lost or a large amount. it is still functioning well enough based on its design.

[Aleshia696]

A big sorry for the lost wallet issue and the people faced it. But I do not think there will be any lost coin, there will be more advanced tech and as the BTC price grows high, people will be dying to get a key, by trade or by hacking. Yes! Then hacking also might possible.