If bitcoin is lost in a wallet can it ever be recovered

[I_Anime]

The reason for this question is that I just wanted to know if after losing one's bitcoin, will it be accredited to the number of Bitcoin mine even if the wallet can never be recovered

If Yes then can't the wallet be trace back Afterall it is possible to see the number of Bitcoin own by an unknown individual through bitcoin Blockchain and with the years of dormancy of the address its possible to know if the wallet address might be lost and if the address as been long (like 2010, 2011 or 2012) such address could easily be hacked because it likely an Hot wallet and security was not that strait

[1714992270]

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[1714992270]

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[rat03gopoh]

If you mean self-custody(hot or cold) wallet, it can't. The only recovery is manually, by going directly to the thief and making him willing to send it back. However it is hard to imagine, your address only shows traces of tx input-output in the explorer, meaning it can be traced but not easily identified as to who it belongs to.

[NeuroticFish]

The reason for this question is that I just wanted to know if after losing one's bitcoin, will it be accredited to the number of Bitcoin mine even if the wallet can never be recovered

If Yes then can't the wallet be trace back Afterall it is possible to see the number of Bitcoin own by an unknown individual through bitcoin Blockchain and with the years of dormancy of the address its possible to know if the wallet address might be lost and if the address as been long (like 2010, 2011 or 2012) such address could easily be hacked because it likely an Hot wallet and security was not that strait

1. No matter a wallet is lost or not, the coins will remain on the address they belong to, no matter what. And that's because there are many cases that addresses from very long ago are actually not lost (one example is collectibles / funded Casascius coins). And if bitcoin would implement a way to get those coins, that would be stealing.
2. You say that those addresses can be easily hacked, still, I've didn't hear of any such hack. Do you actually have any proper info that can back this assumption of yours?

[Pmalek]

You seem very confused and it shows in the way you asked your questions. It's difficult to follow your thought process.

To spend bitcoins, you need the signing keys - the private keys for the address they are on. Nowadays with HD wallets, we use seeds and don't have to worry about individual private keys. The software takes care of that. If you don't have your keys/seed, you can't spend your coins. A completely lost seed or private key is unrecoverable. If some characters or words are missing, you might be able to bruteforce it.

The only way you could spend coins where you no longer possess the keys/seed is it you still have access to to the wallet they are imported in. If everything is lost, your coins are out of your reach.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

The reason for this question is that I just wanted to know if after losing one's bitcoin, will it be accredited to the number of Bitcoin mine even if the wallet can never be recovered

If Yes then can't the wallet be trace back Afterall it is possible to see the number of Bitcoin own by an unknown individual through bitcoin Blockchain and with the years of dormancy of the address its possible to know if the wallet address might be lost and if the address as been long (like 2010, 2011 or 2012) such address could easily be hacked because it likely an Hot wallet and security was not that strait

LOL, you are completely wrong in your assumptions mate,
First, the number of years a wallet is left for dormancy does not tell whether that wallet has been abandoned or not, there are many who are really good holders, they can buy, withdraw to their private wallet and forget they ever bought bitcoin, until several years to come.

Secondly, non-custodial wallets are not easy to hack, infant, a hacker can not hack into a non-custodial wallet without having access to the wallet's private keys or seed phrase, so if the real Owner of the wallet have lost his or her wallet private keys, the hacker must have to have the same lost private keys to gain access into the wallet.

And to answer the question in general, bitcoins that are truly lost cant be recovered, except by miracle, someone comes in contact with the correct private keys or seed phrase that unlocks the wallet that contains the supposed lost bitcoin.

[mk4]

Knowing how possible it is to recover a bitcoin wallet will totally depend on how much info we have concerning the private keys. If we know literally nothing and without having access to the owner's previous device, then the chances is pretty much zero.

[FatFork]

OP, there are a lot of misconceptions in your question. So, let me try and explain it in simpler terms for you.

Basically, if a wallet is lost and the private keys cannot be recovered, then the bitcoins allocated to that wallet are essentially lost forever. They cannot be credited to any other account or used in any way.

Now, you also asked about tracing the wallet back. While transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain are public and can be traced, it's still really hard to figure out who a lost wallet belongs to, especially if it hasn't been used in years. That's why, for example, we can't know for sure which wallets belonged to Satoshi.

I see you also mentioned something about hot wallets. But just to let you know, that's not necessarily true. There are actually different kinds of "cold" wallets out there, not just hardware wallets, if that's what you meant. And lastly, Bitcoin wallets cannot be easily hacked, no matter how old they are.

[Cantsay]

The reason for this question is that I just wanted to know if after losing one's bitcoin, will it be accredited to the number of Bitcoin mine even if the wallet can never be recovered

Even before the coin got to your possession it has already been added to the number of mined coin so whether you loss your private key or not doesn't affect the number and again Blockchain does not identify a wallet whose key has been misplaced and then just remove it from record. Op that's not how it works Bitcoin is immutable.

If Yes then can't the wallet be trace back Afterall it is possible to see the number of Bitcoin own by an unknown individual through bitcoin Blockchain and with the years of dormancy of the address its possible to know if the wallet address might be lost and if the address as been long (like 2010, 2011 or 2012)

Your public address tells you nothing about your private key so you can search through the Blockchain and see previous transactions and trace whatever you want to trace but that's still not going to take you to your private key you'll only just end up wasting your time and even if your public address fall into the hands of hacker all they are going to do is to monitor your transaction; what goes in and what leaves nothing more than that.

[CryptSafe]

The reason for this question is that I just wanted to know if after losing one's bitcoin, will it be accredited to the number of Bitcoin mine even if the wallet can never be recovered
If Yes then can't the wallet be trace back Afterall it is possible to see the number of Bitcoin own by an unknown individual through bitcoin Blockchain and with the years of dormancy of the address its possible to know if the wallet address might be lost and if the address as been long (like 2010, 2011 or 2012) such address could easily be hacked because it likely an Hot wallet and security was not that strait

The issue of accreditation is not an issue, there are 21million bitcoin mined already these are the numbers that will ever exist and nothing more nothing less  Nevertheless, all bitcoin can be traced or tracked via bitcoin explorer which is built on the bitcoin blockchain. This explorer enables individual to have a clue of transaction destination which stands or serves as evidence of payment or issuance however the case maybe. However dormant wallet addresses are mostly accounts holding for long. Some of those wallet you see that has big volume of bitcoin in them and have not done any traceable transaction can likely be seen as a hodler account in which the owner have been holding for a long time. Off lately there have been series of accounts hodling bitcoin for long that have been activated with bitcoin transferred. You should not be worried about that as it does not affect the total supply of bitcoin.

[un_rank]

The reason for this question is that I just wanted to know if after losing one's bitcoin, will it be accredited to the number of Bitcoin mine even if the wallet can never be recovered

No, once a wallet is lost the coins contained in them cannot be returned into the bitcoin circulation. No one has control over the network to access lost Bitcoins recirculate them.

If Yes then can't the wallet be trace back Afterall it is possible to see the number of Bitcoin own by an unknown individual through bitcoin Blockchain and with the years of dormancy of the address its possible to know if the wallet address might be lost and if the address as been long (like 2010, 2011 or 2012) such address could easily be hacked because it likely an Hot wallet and security was not that strait

The wallet can be traced and the funds checked, but without the private keys no one can access the Bitcoins in them.
And no, you cannot determine an address to be lost cause of certain years of dormancy.

- Jay -

[serjent05]

The reason for this question is that I just wanted to know if after losing one's bitcoin, will it be accredited to the number of Bitcoin mine even if the wallet can never be recovered

Obviously, it is already included in the number of Bitcoin mined.  Mined Bitcoin will always appear on the circulating coins, whether it is active or idle.

If Yes then can't the wallet be trace back Afterall it is possible to see the number of Bitcoin own by an unknown individual through bitcoin Blockchain and with the years of dormancy of the address its possible to know if the wallet address might be lost and if the address as been long (like 2010, 2011 or 2012) such address could easily be hacked because it likely an Hot wallet and security was not that strait

The wallet address can be traced back and is recorded on the blockchain explorer.  But I do not think that someone can crack your private key or seed phrases once it is lost.  About knowing whether a wallet address is lost or not , I can say no one will know but the owner who lost the access himself.

[BlackHatCoiner]

You can only spend bitcoin if there is access to the private key. If you don't have that, then no matter where you send it and how you send it, it cannot be recovered.

Also, lost coins don't reenter the circulation. They wouldn't be called lost if they were. And to extend it further, you can't prove someone accidentally lost his coins, because you can't prove inaccessibility to certain private key; only the opposite.

[Dunamisx]

OP this can mean two different things on each scenario, the first is that if you got scammed of your bitcoin on the wallet you're using due to poor management or handling of your keys or using a low reputable centralized exchange that turn a scam, here your fund cannot be recovered when stolen, lost or hacked, the second one is that if you sent your bitcoin to a wrong wallet address, just forget it as well because it is not recoverable as well, so in general, any lost bitcoin us not recoverable.

[Fatunad]

The reason for this question is that I just wanted to know if after losing one's bitcoin, will it be accredited to the number of Bitcoin mine even if the wallet can never be recovered

If Yes then can't the wallet be trace back Afterall it is possible to see the number of Bitcoin own by an unknown individual through bitcoin Blockchain and with the years of dormancy of the address its possible to know if the wallet address might be lost and if the address as been long (like 2010, 2011 or 2012) such address could easily be hacked because it likely an Hot wallet and security was not that strait

One the wallet had lost its seed by its owner then there's no way on accessing or getting back and it would really be lost forever and considering on how many lost coins in the entire chain then there's nothing we could do about it.Tending to bruteforce it? If its possible then lots had already that tried but still failed on this one.This is why when you do own a wallet then you should really be that mindful about keeping those keys
as much as possible and away from other people because hacking and losing funds could really be in result into those lots of possible reasons.
This is why we should really be that careful.

[Ryker1]

The reason for this question is that I just wanted to know if after losing one's bitcoin, will it be accredited to the number of Bitcoin mine even if the wallet can never be recovered

If Yes then can't the wallet be trace back Afterall it is possible to see the number of Bitcoin own by an unknown individual through bitcoin Blockchain and with the years of dormancy of the address its possible to know if the wallet address might be lost and if the address as been long (like 2010, 2011 or 2012) such address could easily be hacked because it likely an Hot wallet and security was not that strait

No, it will be forever lost.
If bitcoins are lost and cannot be recovered, they will remain on the blockchain forever. This means that they will not be accessible to anyone, and they will not be able to be used or spent. Over time, these lost bitcoins will become increasingly rare, which may have an impact on the value of the remaining bitcoins in circulation because they will be stuck forever in that wallet not unless someone has a private key stored on a backup, the user may be able to restore the wallet and regain access to their bitcoins. So at this this point --the private key is the most important of storing bitcoin.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

The reason for this question is that I just wanted to know if after losing one's bitcoin, will it be accredited to the number of Bitcoin mine even if the wallet can never be recovered

If you lost your private key, you lost your bitcoins, forever. Bitcoin is not a centralized project and blockchain like altcoins so it is impossible to revert the bitcoin blockchain, ban an address or seize it to credit to another one. It's impossible.

It was asked in 2010 and Satoshi Nakamoto aka satoshi in bitcointalk, answered it as follows

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

[Yaunfitda]

The reason for this question is that I just wanted to know if after losing one's bitcoin, will it be accredited to the number of Bitcoin mine even if the wallet can never be recovered

If Yes then can't the wallet be trace back Afterall it is possible to see the number of Bitcoin own by an unknown individual through bitcoin Blockchain and with the years of dormancy of the address its possible to know if the wallet address might be lost and if the address as been long (like 2010, 2011 or 2012) such address could easily be hacked because it likely an Hot wallet and security was not that strait

Difficult to understand what you are saying here, but yes if you get hack and your bitcoin is transferred to another wallet then the custody belongs to the hackers already. Although you can see it in blockchain and trace it, but if the hackers knows how to obfuscated then you will come to a dead end. Remember that addresses doesn't have the name, so even if you have the address of the hackers, their identity will remain hidden.

[pgbit]

If someone loses their Bitcoin by losing access to their wallet or private keys, those Bitcoin are not credited to the number of Bitcoin mined.
It is possible to trace transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain, but if someone loses access to their wallet or private keys, it is unlikely that the lost Bitcoin can be recovered. Even if an address has been dormant for a long time, it does not necessarily mean that the wallet has been lost.

[joniboini]

if the address as been long (like 2010, 2011 or 2012) such address could easily be hacked because it likely an Hot wallet and security was not that strait

I believe we saw more hacks from phishing compared to private key brute forcing. Unless you're talking about brain wallet, which has been abandoned/discouraged from long ago. Also, why did you assume the security is not that good in the past? Did you assume we improve the way we generate private keys/seeds or something? Even if that is true unless the hacker obtains an unencrypted wallet file, he still needs a lot of time cracking them and it is probably not worth their time. Sending fake e-mails are more cost-effective for them afaik.

[alik111]

If you lost Bitcoin in a wallet you can't recover it because you have no access to your wallet. So always we should keep our private keys in a safe place where there is no risk to be hacked or stolen or forgotten.