Can lost Bitcoins be traced?

[Austin_Lord]

no bitcoins are ever 'lost' 'deleted' every coin still exists and is trackable on bitcoins ledger

however there are reasons where some UTXO's (unspent balances) are not moved, used, circulated between users regularly.

all bitcoin can be tracked. there is nothing secret or special. so tracking bitcoins is not a question.
the question should be judged as which bitcoins should be deemed as unusable currently, meaning what defines 'lost'

many come up with different lists such as:
UTXO's linked to public keys which have an obvious sign that the key does not have a private key someone knows of
UTXO's with dust amounts so small,, to move/spend them would cost more than the value of the UTXO
UTXO's coin-age is more than 6 year old

however even these cases are not 100% proof of those coins being 'lost'. thus when tracking the bitcoins that meet the criteria list of what most would deem as 'lost' should not be treated as a guaranteed lost value, but more of a idea/suggestive stat/estimate.

after all some UTXO's are of only 1sat. meaning people dont bother including them in spends. but in a few years if 1 sat is worth more than a chewing gum. people might want to spend it. thus bringing it back into regular use

It means we could technically   trace the bitcoin.. thats really amazing.. very informative post...

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[Abiky]

You can traced your bitcoin by looking for the hackers address but you can't retrieve it when it is stolen. It is possible to retrieve or get back your coins when it was stolen from your wallet. Always be careful when it comes to your funds there is a lot of phishing sites that can monitor your wallet funds and your emails. When someone is attempting to hack your wallet make an extra wallet address and put your funds there quickly.

It has to be this way, otherwise Bitcoin wouldn't be a Blockchain after all. Immutability as we know it, is the main feature of Bitcoin and any other Blockchain-based cryptocurrency. Reverting or rolling back transactions (like Ethereum did with the DAO hack), will defeat the purpose of the Blockchain. This makes Bitcoin similar to physical cash, since it's nearly impossible to return it (unless the other end decides to give your money back). If you just want to protect your Bitcoin at all costs, then you could choose either a cold storage or hardware wallet. As for credit cards, you can easily open a dispute in order to retrieve your lost/stolen funds as they're centralized and audited by their underlying Banks.

Despite this, Bitcoin's decentralization does well in maintaining immutability, and censorship-resistance. Thanks to the openness of this revolutionary cryptocurrency, one can easily browse the Blockchain's addresses and balances without restrictions. As such, this allows us to track our lost/stolen coins even if we cannot do anything about it. Hence, Satoshi may have designed Bitcoin as a transparent cryptocurrency on purpose. Just my opinion

[BitHodler]

Nonetheless, lost Bitcoin would add some benefit to the Blockchain, as the supply of coins in circulation will be lesser over time. Which means, that prices will become a lot higher as Bitcoin becomes scarcer each day. Just my opinion

It definitely helps, but we're at a stage where more Bitcoin is being mined than lost, while that at the very beginning might have been different when things were still very experimental.

Medium term speaking, when the bear market kicks in, it doesn't matter how many coins have been lost, because due to the lack of liquidity in the spot market the price will be sold down effortlessly.

People buy what they see pump, and sell what they see go down, regardless of how strong the fundamentals are. Irrational markets have brutally rekt even the best investors in the world, even Warren Buffett with a few of his investments.

[poodle63]

Well this is very difficult to trace any bitcoin.. but i am sure that all bitcoin has saved any database.. there should be a proper system in which we can trace any lost bitcoin..

Tracing is an easy thing, you will always be able to see where your coins go to any address because it's blockchain basically a system where it saves data of many blocks as a whole and never deletes but tracing to whom the bitcoin has sent to is definitely another different things even harder is recover your bitcoin back to your address because once you lost control over it meaning it's impossible to take it back without the controls.

[Iceblast]

I think to track lost bitcoin is difficult, maybe there is a way that I think is crazy. that is, by asking the address of the bitcoin wallet to the final exchange destination for the exchange team, but I am not sure if it can easily overcome the problem.

[Abiky]

It definitely helps, but we're at a stage where more Bitcoin is being mined than lost, while that at the very beginning might have been different when things were still very experimental.

Medium term speaking, when the bear market kicks in, it doesn't matter how many coins have been lost, because due to the lack of liquidity in the spot market the price will be sold down effortlessly.

People buy what they see pump, and sell what they see go down, regardless of how strong the fundamentals are. Irrational markets have brutally rekt even the best investors in the world, even Warren Buffett with a few of his investments.

That's certainly true, mate. Unfortunately, people don't seem to care that much about Bitcoin's sustainability. Instead, they're focused on making money with it within the shortest time possible. In the event that some Bitcoin get lost, it adds up a certain level of scarcity towards the cryptocurrency. However, knowing that most Bitcoins are being mined right now (and most people are becoming aware of how Bitcoin works), the number of lost coins are being reduced over time.

I agree that the lack of liquidity, has prevented Bitcoin's true value to reveal itself to the world. That's why, Bitcoin is still highly volatile, and not as valuable as we thought it would be within a short time-frame (like $1m per coin). Despite this, Bitcoin's transparency is one of the best features it has, since it allows people to keep track of their coins no matter what. Whenever they're lost or stolen, we could easily determine the origin and destination of our funds 24/7. That's not widely possible with privacy-oriented coins, leaving us vulnerable to loss or theft of our hard-earned money.

Nonetheless, several analysis tools have provided both governments and individuals the ability to easily track Bitcoin across the Blockchain. Which means, that lost Bitcoin can be traced (without knowing the person's ID) but cannot be recovered in any way. If Bitcoin would've implemented reversible transactions, then it wouldn't be a Blockchain. Ethereum did this with the DAO hack, thinking that it would save investors' funds, but it defeated the purpose of the Blockchain. Hence, it's good for Bitcoin to stay as an immutable and transparent cryptocurrency for the world. Just my thoughts

[rdluffy]

Nonetheless, lost Bitcoin would add some benefit to the Blockchain, as the supply of coins in circulation will be lesser over time. Which means, that prices will become a lot higher as Bitcoin becomes scarcer each day. Just my opinion

It definitely helps, but we're at a stage where more Bitcoin is being mined than lost, while that at the very beginning might have been different when things were still very experimental.

Medium term speaking, when the bear market kicks in, it doesn't matter how many coins have been lost, because due to the lack of liquidity in the spot market the price will be sold down effortlessly.

People buy what they see pump, and sell what they see go down, regardless of how strong the fundamentals are. Irrational markets have brutally rekt even the best investors in the world, even Warren Buffett with a few of his investments.

I came with a question some time ago about lost BTC and how they will affect in a long term
All people said it's good because of scarcity, but honestly I'm not convinced and I think there will be more consequences, because people will lost a LOT of BTC

[Koobtcgal]

Depending on the kind of things you have available. If you still have your computer available, it is easy for some people to recover your wallet for you. When the lost is from a lost password, you can try making as many guesses as you can. I remember I did this some time ago which helped my recover my ether wallet.

[Abiky]

Depending on the kind of things you have available. If you still have your computer available, it is easy for some people to recover your wallet for you. When the lost is from a lost password, you can try making as many guesses as you can. I remember I did this some time ago which helped my recover my ether wallet.

That depends if the private key or seed has been encrypted with a password that's not too complex by design. If you use a heavily secure password, then no matter how many guesses you make, it'll be nearly impossible to recover Bitcoin from a lost password. Still, if your Bitcoin is completely lost (without owning the keys at all), then there's virtually no way to get them back. The immutability of the Bitcoin blockchain, makes this possible, greatly reducing the chances of corruption and fraud.

Despite this, many people tend to lose their Bitcoin because of misuse. Without the proper knowledge, they could easily lose access to their wallet within an instant. Which is why, the best approach to prevent Bitcoin from being lost or stolen is by using a multi-signature wallet. A multi-signature wallet which requires 2 out of 3 keys to unlock it sounds ideal to help secure your funds in case you lose access to one of the 3 keys assigned to it. All you'd need is to keep two keys secure, in order to gain access to your Bitcoin at anytime.

Nonetheless, it's very easy to track lost or stolen Bitcoin nowadays, as Blockchain explorers have expanded their capabilities over time. But, if you deal with privacy-oriented coins like Monero and Zcash, then it'll be nearly impossible to track down your lost or stolen coins. Which is why, Bitcoin's transparency is its best feature yet. Just my thoughts

[Alijiindahaus]

Depending on the kind of things you have available. If you still have your computer available, it is easy for some people to recover your wallet for you. When the lost is from a lost password, you can try making as many guesses as you can. I remember I did this some time ago which helped my recover my ether wallet.

If you take the example of MEW, then everything is very difficult.  Loss of private key will lead to loss of funds.  If you have forgotten your password, then you also need a key file that cannot be recovered.  And not all wallets are available for recovery.

[jjbanks994]

Yes btc and wallet activity can be traced through blockchain forensics companies like Ciphertrace who have the proper technology to do so

[KacperBTCrypto]

You won't get them back anyways.

[spacehopper]

You can't the trace the lost bitcoins.Simple thing to understand is when you lose control of your bitcoin.Don't think about that again.Its gone forever. Its better to secure your cryptos before its stolen by hackers or thieves.Best option is buy a hardware wallets.Be careful when choosing.Just order directly from the web site.

[seramania]

I think it will be difficult to track lost bitcoin. now it is difficult to detect whoever owns the wallet, there is no official identity so I think it will be difficult

[MonsterV]

I don't think it's possible to track lost bitcoin, I haven't even found a case of losing bitcoin and someone can track it. Therefore it is very important to maintain the wallet before losing bitcoin.

I think it's difficult to track bitcoin, maybe it can if there are certain methods of tracking bitcoin. or maybe you can ask for the help of the admin exchange that is the destination of the coin to be traded and buy who owns the coin of course the exchange must apply Kyc to users so they can track through registered identities.

Maybe that can be done, but I don't think hackers are as stupid as possible in committing a crime. Usually the hackers will break into several coins to make tracking difficult.
btw, if indeed it can be done, the police should have been able to track hacking that occurred during the bitgrail exchange at that time.

[archi.gucci]

This is exactly my struggle as well! Living in the UK., please let me know if you do find a EU-based option!

[fiulpro]

Well if one can steal , one can make out a finger print out of a picture and defy the apple security mere moments after launched product you know it is actually possible to do anything, anything at all in this online world , but you must be rarely intelligent , you know like a prodigy ..

Anything is possible , but we just need to wait for the right person to figure it out someday.

We should actually employ hackers to go further down on these stuff.

[Abiky]

I don't think it's possible to track lost bitcoin, I haven't even found a case of losing bitcoin and someone can track it. Therefore it is very important to maintain the wallet before losing bitcoin.

It's still largely possible if you have managed to store your public key. By placing the public key within any block explorer, you could easily track your lost or stolen Bitcoin. But, if you lose the public key, then there's no way to determine where your coins went. Preventing the loss of Bitcoin, often requires you to secure your private keys properly. Losing that key, means losing access to your Bitcoin balance at any time. Not to mention, if a hacker gets a hold of your private key, then he/she could spend your coins without you even noticing it.

Despite all this, Bitcoin's immutability prevents anyone to revert transactions at any point in time. That's somewhat a feature of the Blockchain, although quite a flaw for people who've lost their hard-earned coins.

Which is why, it's important to keep your seed or private keys safe at all costs to prevent undesired losses. An offline cold storage solution, seems to be the best way to go towards protecting your crypto for the long term.

Maybe that can be done, but I don't think hackers are as stupid as possible in committing a crime. Usually the hackers will break into several coins to make tracking difficult.
btw, if indeed it can be done, the police should have been able to track hacking that occurred during the bitgrail exchange at that time.

Yes. It would be obvious for hackers to make a stunt that can be easily noticed by people observing the Blockchain. With many privacy solutions nowadays such as tumblers and mixers, hackers could easily alter the trail of coins in order to prevent tracking from either the authorities or the victim itself.

As such, this renders tracking our lost Bitcoin virtually impossible. The situation becomes even worse with full-fledged privacy coins like Monero and Grin. But in the bright side, it's possible to prevent the situation by securing your private key as much as possible. A multi-sig wallet which requires 2 out of 3 keys would be the most ideal one to prevent losses of any kind. But, it's your responsibility to protect your coins from any undesired situations as Bitcoin is decentralized (which means that there's no middleman that can handle disputes, etc). Just my thoughts

[Best Dreams]

Well if one can steal , one can make out a finger print out of a picture and defy the apple security mere moments after launched product you know it is actually possible to do anything, anything at all in this online world , but you must be rarely intelligent , you know like a prodigy ..

Anything is possible , but we just need to wait for the right person to figure it out someday.

We should actually employ hackers to go further down on these stuff.

Yes you are right now as our generation has become very fast so the same way now hackers has become very sharp so we will have to stay careful to keep our investment safe,. We know it is new era so better use wallet as suffering then thinking about how to escape is not good idea crypto currency is unrecoverable, don’t share your info related to bitcoin with anyone.

[kyle.korwry]

This is exactly my struggle as well! Living in the UK., please let me know if you do find a EU-based option!

Dude, i feel you. Lucky for you, I'm , being from London and tied up with the same legal etc issues as you am using a service just like the one you're looking for - called TRASTRa, offers everything you're looking for at a somewhat reasonable price