how Bitcoin will deal with lost tokens?

[Lorence.xD]

I suggest lost bitcoins to be allocated proportionally among all who hold bitcoins now 

If we know how to recover it then probably it will be a thing but no it isn't the thing. Lost coins are coins that can't be recovered, spent or transferred. Lost coins are also responsible for the permanent increase of the prices since they are part of the limited supply.

[Ludmilla_rose1995]

If we lose the wallet's private key and can't access it anymore, the bitcoins will remain in the wallet and won't move places. that's the uniqueness of bitcoin. a limited supply will increase the value of bitcoins, plus when someone loses their private key, they can no longer access their bitcoins. it will hold back the decline in value. the rarer bitcoins are, the more expensive they are.

Therefore. Take good care of your private keys so that your bitcoin is not lost. because if you lose your private key then you will lose money.

[indo1]

Well, it's like the natural burn experienced by such tokens, let alone bitcoin. We know that the bitcoin team no longer exists or is not shown. Now who's in control? yes I think those who go into it should be prepared to lose if they are careless about wallet keys.

[Ararbermas]

What happens to all the coins in lost wallets in the Bitcoin system? If there are only a finite number of coins, won't they become increasingly scarce as people lose them over time?

it keeps increasing of course.. Indeed i have lost wallet as well and it actually makes me feel sick when i always trying check it using explorer in the internet.. The amount is ridiculous that's why it hurt me so bad and now it increase more because of the uptrend in the market.. how sad. Lol

but despite i realise that probably its not fot me that's why i lost it.. Wherein maybe there's a big opportunity to come in the future where i can regain it or much more than that..

[nicecrypto]

I suggest lost bitcoins to be allocated proportionally among all who hold bitcoins now 

You understand the reason they are considered lost is because the owners could have misplaced their login details or dead, so, If this could be done by any body be it the team or whoever that also means any other Bitcoin wallet could also be logged into and assets reallocated to other wallets  which shouldn't be the case unless you have the login details. 

[ampu]

Bitcoin is stored in wallets and it is always in wallets. If you forget your password or recovery phrase, they'll still be there. No one can take the Bitcoins from the old wallets so the forgotten Bitcoin just doesn't circulate. In the past there were hundreds of Bitcoin wallets that were inactive. No one can touch these wallets.

[Woodie]

AFAIK lost bitcoin actually contribute to bitcoins value addition as they are pulled out of circulation to avoid say inflation, and what remains people have to compete for and its price goes up.

If I can make reference to how the fiat system works, if a central bank is in a habit of printing money, what happens next is inflation and loss of buying power which is a similar thing that happens with btc except you can't print /create new coins as the total supply is capped.

[Obito]

Bitcoin deals with lost tokens by making the price of itself go up and never go any lower than that because there is no way to recover them with our current keycracking technology, lost coins will forever be lost, frozen in these inaccessible addresses. To everyone, if you don't want to contribute to lost tokens then you should take care of your important information to access your wallets, never lose them.

[hazenyc]

Bitcoin deals with lost tokens by making the price of itself go up and never go any lower than that because there is no way to recover them with our current keycracking technology, lost coins will forever be lost, frozen in these inaccessible addresses. To everyone, if you don't want to contribute to lost tokens then you should take care of your important information to access your wallets, never lose them.

If you were able to recover lost coins because a private key is lost, it would be the end of Bitcoin because that means you could solve the one way encryption technology for a two way one. That'd be bad as you can imagine because that means someone could derive the private key from your public key.

[DarkDays]

What happens to all the coins in lost wallets in the Bitcoin system? If there are only a finite number of coins, won't they become increasingly scarce as people lose them over time?

These will just be lost coins. They'd still account for the circulating BTC coins but they won't be actively circulating.

This is why its so important to keep your private key safe and secure, because once it's gone it is gone forever.

[longyenthanh]

What happens to all the coins in lost wallets in the Bitcoin system? If there are only a finite number of coins, won't they become increasingly scarce as people lose them over time?

Well they are gone forever and there is no way to recover them. Most of coins were abandon by their owners in early days of bitcoin when price was almost zero. Also if you lose key of your coin they are gone forever. Thats what decentralization is about, there is no central authority.

[milewilda]

What happens to all the coins in lost wallets in the Bitcoin system? If there are only a finite number of coins, won't they become increasingly scarce as people lose them over time?

What would happen? That would be considered lost forever and there's nothing we can do about it because it isnt possible to access those coins back and would be redistributed because that will totally break the true essence of decentralisation of bitcoin and for sure lots eill really not be happy with that in case. Just let it be and that means total coins overall would be less in circulation which means the higher value it could possibly reached. Yes its just wasteful to think off but lets move on and forget those lost coin issues.

[seoincorporation]

Satoshi nakamoto already answered this question more than 10 years ago...

Lost coins only make everyone else's coins worth slightly more. Think of it as a donation to everyone.

And you can find that quote in a lot of sites right now... is one of the most famous quotes.

The only ones who will be sad about the lost coins would be the guys who lost them. But for the market is something good.

[Obito]

~snip

If you were able to recover lost coins because a private key is lost, it would be the end of Bitcoin because that means you could solve the one way encryption technology for a two way one. That'd be bad as you can imagine because that means someone could derive the private key from your public key.

It won't be that long before we can see a technology that will be able to do that but I am pretty sure that it will be for a long time and by that time it arrives, I am sure that bitcoin security is going to improve too since there is a lot of threats that bitcoin faces.

[AakZaki]

Satoshi nakamoto already answered this question more than 10 years ago...

Lost coins only make everyone else's coins worth slightly more. Think of it as a donation to everyone.

And you can find that quote in a lot of sites right now... is one of the most famous quotes.

The only ones who will be sad about the lost coins would be the guys who lost them. But for the market is something good.

which is good because the circulation of coins is decreasing and it will make the coins rarer and the price will increase. We also know that the supply of bitcoin is only 21 million and if there are some people who lose the keys to their wallets with a large amount of BTC, it will certainly reduce the supply in circulation. The wallet cannot be opened by anyone and becomes the grave of the coin.

[DrearyUrbanite]

There are also a lot of crazy stories about lost coins already. Just google it. There is a guy from New York who lost a password for a wallet with BTC that holds close to $100 million. He had 10 tries to type it in and now has only two tries left. That gives you the real sweat. 

[Zemomtum]

That should be negligence for losing BTC, you need to keep a private key safely and that is only way to gain access to BTC. Nobody will joke with this anymore when the price is skyrocketing and getting massive adoption.

[hazenyc]

~snip

If you were able to recover lost coins because a private key is lost, it would be the end of Bitcoin because that means you could solve the one way encryption technology for a two way one. That'd be bad as you can imagine because that means someone could derive the private key from your public key.

It won't be that long before we can see a technology that will be able to do that but I am pretty sure that it will be for a long time and by that time it arrives, I am sure that bitcoin security is going to improve too since there is a lot of threats that bitcoin faces.

If there was a technology that is able to recover lost coins then that technology can also "recover" coins that are in reality not lost, aka theft!
If ever there is a technology that can recover private keys for BTC, it is game over for all of us. Let's pray that lost coins will be lost forever!

[TheUltraElite]

What happens to all the coins in lost wallets in the Bitcoin system?

Those coins remain usable to anyone who is able to obtain the private keys to that wallet. If they are not found ever, then the coins are considered as good as lost and nothing happens to them.

If there are only a finite number of coins, won't they become increasingly scarce as people lose them over time?

Yes. This in turn makes every bitcoin owner more and more cautious about the number of coins that they own and secure their own assets. Lost coins end up raising the value of the coins that other people own and that is why one must guard their coins with proper measures or end up like the people who talk in chatboxes about their old hard disks with password of lost wallets.

[Obito]

~snip

If there was a technology that is able to recover lost coins then that technology can also "recover" coins that are in reality not lost, aka theft!
If ever there is a technology that can recover private keys for BTC, it is game over for all of us. Let's pray that lost coins will be lost forever!

No matter how much you wish it, there will be someone that is going to create that technology and the only way to combat is to innovate the security, why are you scared of breaching when I have said that when that happens, there is going to be an improvement in security.