Lost Bitcoin?

[Outhue]

If we want crypto currency to be a currency we have to keep spending right? But at the same time it's something worth keeping too since I do the same with my fiat in bank for more than 2years without touching it. Is it possible to say that Bitcoin in every wallets for the past 2years without moving are considered lost due to death or lost recovery keys? It's pretty hard to believe that anyone won't come back for their Bitcoin after 2years with no activities on the wallet.

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[Charles-Tim]

If we want crypto currency to be a currency we have to keep spending right? But at the same time it's something worth keeping too since I do the same with my fiat in bank for more than 2years without touching it.

Keeping fiat in savings for 2 years? When fiat do depreciates in value.

Is it possible to say that Bitcoin in every wallets for the past 2years without moving are considered lost due to death or lost recovery keys? It's pretty hard to believe that anyone won't come back for their Bitcoin after 2years with no activities on the wallet.

Even bitcoin mined in earliest time of bitcoin creation can not be considered as lost bitcoin, it is possible that the owner do not just want to spend it yet or do not want to spend it but still has the key.

[Despairo]

A wallet without any transaction for 2 year is considered as the owner is death or lost seeds? no way, there are many people are holding Bitcoin for more than 2 years without moving it because they're trying for long term holding.

Bitcoin is still 13 years old which is same like a child enter junior high school, I would say Bitcoin is really lost when the age of Bitcoin is exceed the average person lifespan, around 60-80 years old. It's just my assumption though, there's still a little chance those Bitcoin will be moved because we don't know what the next technology or the previous owner hide their seeds.

[hd49728]

If we want crypto currency to be a currency we have to keep spending right?

Having chances to move and trade your cryptocurrency is one of most important reasons we invest, trade, speculate in one cryptocurrency. If we can not sell after buying, we should not buy at beginning.

But at the same time it's something worth keeping too since I do the same with my fiat in bank for more than 2years without touching it.

If that bank is bankrupted, you won't be able to touch your fiat after more than 2 years but with Bitcoin, no bank controls it, no damage from any bankruptcy.

Is it possible to say that Bitcoin in every wallets for the past 2years without moving are considered lost due to death or lost recovery keys? It's pretty hard to believe that anyone won't come back for their Bitcoin after 2years with no activities on the wallet.

2 years are too short time but some inactive UTXOs 2years+ can be lost bitcoins but some others are not lost bitcoins. It is just owners did not move it after 2 years +. Especially strong hodlers who want to invest more than 4 or 8 years.

[yudi09]

If for two years fiat is kept in the bank, they keep rotating our money and it looks like it will be profitable because of interest when it is just a wind of heaven sold by them to get customers. If we keep a large amount of fiat, then one day when we need it and want to withdraw it, the bank will make excuses by telling us to come back in the next few days. That's my experience.
Not to mention the decline in value.

It's different from keeping Bitcoin in a wallet for years. Whenever the owner needs it, then we can use it. If Bitcoin was stored for 1 year ago, maybe the benefits we can get have made us a rich man, especially those who store in a wallet before Bitcoin has the current price.

Not lost, but don't want to use it. Maybe this is the same as what was said above.

[m2017]

If we want crypto currency to be a currency we have to keep spending right? But at the same time it's something worth keeping too since I do the same with my fiat in bank for more than 2years without touching it. Is it possible to say that Bitcoin in every wallets for the past 2years without moving are considered lost due to death or lost recovery keys? It's pretty hard to believe that anyone won't come back for their Bitcoin after 2years with no activities on the wallet.

In part, it is. For bitcoin to remain a currency, it must be used as a currency that circulates among p2p people. In part, this is what happens, but the cryptocurrency also began to be used as an investment instrument. Therefore, some of them are in sleep mode and don't move at all. It is impossible to say for sure which of the immobile btc are currently dormant and which are lost. 2 years no transactions or 20 years - time is not a determining factor. About a year ago there was news that btc were moved, which were immobile since it were mined over 10 years ago and which didn't move anywhere. As you can see, this happens, but many might think that those same bitcoin are irretrievably lost.

[Maus0728]

It's pretty hard to believe that anyone won't come back for their Bitcoin after 2years with no activities on the wallet.

You can't truly consider it lost as long as that person has access to their private keys. Additionally, since it is their bitcoin, they are free to do whatever they want with it, including holding onto it or spending it elsewhere.

Remember the term sovereignty, which Bitcoin is also known for? That's that.

[witcher_sense]

If we want crypto currency to be a currency we have to keep spending right? But at the same time it's something worth keeping too since I do the same with my fiat in bank for more than 2years without touching it. Is it possible to say that Bitcoin in every wallets for the past 2years without moving are considered lost due to death or lost recovery keys? It's pretty hard to believe that anyone won't come back for their Bitcoin after 2years with no activities on the wallet.

First, a single individual can have dozens of bitcoin addresses on multiple wallets,  which he may use for different purposes, including daily expenses, paying bills, and long-term hodling. In other words, you can't determine whether a particular person is dead or alive just by looking at blockchain activity; for this, you need to know all his accounts and all his bitcoin addresses, which is impossible. Second, if a person doesn't spend his bitcoin, it usually means he has a job or other source of income that enables him to successfully fight the urge to spend the scarcest asset on planet Earth: he can even buy more bitcoin with money he earns on fiat job. Third, why do even care what people do with their own money? Their inactivity doesn't prevent you from using bitcoin as a means of exchange because there are many people who live off bitcoin and spend it on a daily basis. You surely will find with whom to transact, and this way you can promote the usage of bitcoin.

[serveria.com]

If we want crypto currency to be a currency we have to keep spending right? But at the same time it's something worth keeping too since I do the same with my fiat in bank for more than 2years without touching it. Is it possible to say that Bitcoin in every wallets for the past 2years without moving are considered lost due to death or lost recovery keys? It's pretty hard to believe that anyone won't come back for their Bitcoin after 2years with no activities on the wallet.

Dude, I personally know at least a handful of guys who have been hodling for 5, 8 years and longer. I'm hodling since 2011 myself. I don't think that coins sitting in a wallet untouched for 2 years can be considered lost or abandoned. Of course, there are case of owners forgetting passwords, disk drive failing, owner dying or going missing but these make up a small part of all older wallets/addresses with balance.

[livingfree]

If we want crypto currency to be a currency we have to keep spending right? But at the same time it's something worth keeping too since I do the same with my fiat in bank for more than 2years without touching it.

Have you checked the policy of the bank where you've kept your savings for 2 years without even touching it? In all banks, they have a policy about account dormancy and that might be too long already so, I suggest you to check it once in a while.

Is it possible to say that Bitcoin in every wallets for the past 2years without moving are considered lost due to death or lost recovery keys? It's pretty hard to believe that anyone won't come back for their Bitcoin after 2years with no activities on the wallet.

Nope. Not really, there have been dormant wallets that have even moved after more than 5 years. We can just ignore that thing as most of us are holding for so long.

As long as we know how to keep our keys safe, we can leave it there for so many years being untouched and will just have to get back on it eventually if we're satisfied on the price and if we want to spend or sell it already.

[ajiz138]

If for two years fiat is kept in the bank, they keep rotating our money and it looks like it will be profitable because of interest when it is just a wind of heaven sold by them to get customers. If we keep a large amount of fiat, then one day when we need it and want to withdraw it, the bank will make excuses by telling us to come back in the next few days. That's my experience.
Not to mention the decline in value.

Saving money in a bank is like that what we have saved to the bank then it will be rotated by them with the various benefits they offer or loaned back to other customers, so it is clear that when we ask for a large amount of withdrawal it will not be direct disbursement and the bank will definitely be looking for cash to collect in a few days.
Well because of inflation so depreciation occurs frequently even in the recession that we have been facing so far, so in this case it is different from bitcoin which we know with a value that will tend to continue to rise.

I'm hodling since 2011 myself. I don't think that coins sitting in a wallet untouched for 2 years can be considered lost or abandoned. Of course, there are case of owners forgetting passwords, disk drive failing, owner dying or going missing but these make up a small part of all older wallets/addresses with balance.

I also don't think a wallet that hasn't moved for 2 years is considered lost even with as you said there are many who have more than 2 years of wallets without moving they can still access it as long as the sheed phrase, the password with a safe store, because for me no matter how many years we leave the wallet without moving it will not be lost.

[NeuroticFish]

Is it possible to say that Bitcoin in every wallets for the past 2years without moving are considered lost due to death or lost recovery keys?

No. Not at all. Whoever wants people think like that have malicious intentions. No matter for how long the money is not touched, if one has ideas to get that money away - under whatever reasons - that's plain theft.

* There are people and institutions holding for at very least 5 years.
* There are people using paper wallets, collectible items holding bitcoin and other things for many years. The coins are not moved, but they're most probably regularly checked.
* I expect successful LN channels stay open for many years.

And there are just few examples people have bitcoins not moved for many years. And 2 years? That's nothing. Even with 10 years time frame I would not be certain (!), since in 2011 there were already made Casascius coins.

[jeraldskie11]

There are many users who hold Bitcoin but their keys were not lost. No one can transfer Bitcoin on that address if you don't know the private key and that's what we really like in Bitcoin. Billionaires really trust holding Bitcoin because of its anonymity and security, and it's just a cent for them and it don't really bothers them that's why they can hold it for a longer period of time. But that doesn't mean there's no one lost their keys.

[MusaPk]

A wallet without any transaction for 2 year is considered as the owner is death or lost seeds? no way, there are many people are holding Bitcoin for more than 2 years without moving it because they're trying for long term holding.

We cant say that a wallet that is dormant for two years has no owner. In Mar 2022, there is a wallet from Satoshi era that suddenly woke up as 489 BTC were moved from that wallet Transaction Details on Whale Alert. There is no confirmation whether that was Satoshi or someone else.  If someone can move his bitcoin after 11 years then 2 years is very small time limit. Bitcoin is mostly seen as an asset of investment so its very obvious that people will HODL bitcoin for a long time in coming days.

Bitcoin from Satoshi-era wallet suddenly activates after 11 years.

[Lucius]

If we want crypto currency to be a currency we have to keep spending right?

That was some kind of idea in the beginning, but when people realized that Bitcoin works better for them as an investment than as a currency, we got what we have today.

Is it possible to say that Bitcoin in every wallets for the past 2years without moving are considered lost due to death or lost recovery keys? It's pretty hard to believe that anyone won't come back for their Bitcoin after 2years with no activities on the wallet.

I thought that those geniuses from various companies dealing with blockchain analysis had strange ideas in the past when they said that all BTC that has not been moved for 4 years is lost, but now I see that there are those who have even stranger ideas. For someone who has been on the forum for a long time, where long-term investing is discussed dozens of times every day, you really have strange thoughts - and not only when it comes to this topic.

[BenCodie]

Bitcoin can only be lost if the owner loses the accessibility to it. If you lose your private key or if you lose your seed phrase, then you lose your coins. If you keep your private key or seed phrase, you don't lose your coins. You could create a wallet, write down the seed phrase or print the private key, keep it in a safe place for 5, 10, 100 years even, and that seed phrase/private key will always have those bitcoins.

[maydna]

As long as they don't lose the recovery key, the bitcoins will still be in their wallet, and they can access them whenever they want. Many people still keep their bitcoins in their personal wallets and haven't wanted to transfer or sell them to exchange for some reason. And bitcoin holders in those wallets may still be waiting to see the price reach their desired price target, and then they will sell it.

But to make cryptocurrency a currency, it will depend on your government policy. For now, we can use bitcoin as an online payment for goods we buy from the internet.

[TheUltraElite]

If we want crypto currency to be a currency we have to keep spending right? But at the same time it's something worth keeping too since I do the same with my fiat in bank for more than 2years without touching it. Is it possible to say that Bitcoin in every wallets for the past 2years without moving are considered lost due to death or lost recovery keys? It's pretty hard to believe that anyone won't come back for their Bitcoin after 2years with no activities on the wallet.

Spending or storing crypto is a personal choice, no one made it obligatory to spend bitcoin in order to keep its status as currency instant. That would be silly to think of.

Keeping bitcoin as a store of asset is being done my many people. They will use that money when they need it. It is not that those wallets which remains inactive for a few years have seen their owners demise. It is possible but can only be speculated at this point, not proved.

Forget about getting access to keys for lost wallets, those offers are scams, trying to lure you by using your greed.

[Yatsan]

If we want crypto currency to be a currency we have to keep spending right? But at the same time it's something worth keeping too since I do the same with my fiat in bank for more than 2years without touching it. Is it possible to say that Bitcoin in every wallets for the past 2years without moving are considered lost due to death or lost recovery keys? It's pretty hard to believe that anyone won't come back for their Bitcoin after 2years with no activities on the wallet.

Not all stagnant or stored Bitcoin are considered lost; it will only be if the owner won't have any access into that particular wallet. Also, we are not required to use it continuously but rather only use it if you'll be needing to do so. But indeed there are instances wherein owners of Bitcoin reaoly forgot their crypto asset in their wallet. Remember that guy who accidentally thrown his flashdrive containing huge amount of Bitcoin and recently spending huge amount of money by trying to recover it? I believe there are other instances having the same point. If you are one of people who are curious of why they became negligent at a certain point, it is because this technology has not yet shown its potential before, unlike with the present werein we saw how huge its market price increase became.

[JoyMarsha]

Depending on the owner's plans, a bitcoin asset can be used as a value store for years. He has the option of trading it for currency or holding onto it for future use. As long as a person has his private keys on him, he is free to do whatever he wants with his bitcoin. If a person frequently leaves their bitcoin untouched for long periods of time, you won't likely assume they are no longer around.