What happens if all Bitcoin is lost?

[Rampagoe004]

What would happen if all Bitcoin is mined and all Bitcoin is lost?

I'm still trying to think what you mean by all the Bitcoins gone. Is it like magic magic that removes something instantly? Or maybe you mean suddenly the Bitcoin network for some reason collapsed and lost all its chains? Honestly I don't know what you mean. Maybe you mean the time when there are no more coins that can be mined? if that happens then there are some answers from other users above me. That's if you live until 2140, so I don't like to assume that something impossible will happen.

[ImThour]

I mean as we go more into time, more and more Bitcoin will be lost. Most of the people who have Bitcoin stored in cold wallets / hardware wallets never share passwords with any of the family member and on their passing away, those Bitcoins are forever lost. The amount of Bitcoin lost in the first 10 year will be always high as people used to get 25-50 Block rewards on mining compared to now.

[mamesso]

This question is too general, you will get a different answer from every comment made in this thread. Try making more specific questions that can add insight to you after re-reading comments from other users. Lost Bitcoins can never be recovered and the more Bitcoins lost the less supply there is. Bitcoin loss cases mostly occurred in the past when it was still trading at low prices. Now every individual who has Bitcoin will keep the Seed Phrase well because Bitcoin has a high price.

[Negotiation]

What would happen if all Bitcoin is mined and all Bitcoin is lost?

All bitcoins will never be lost you think if bitcoin is lost forever no one can recover it but no one will easily let bitcoin be lost forever everyone tries to keep their private key safe because everyone knows that bitcoin will reach its high value. For those wondering what will happen when all the bitcoins are mined the supply of bitcoins will stay the same if you google for the answer and that's partly because anecdotal research shows that bitcoin halving happens. Most likely if the halving trend continues and everything else remains unchanged bitcoin's supply limit will approach its far upper limit.

[lombok]

What would happen if all Bitcoin is mined and all Bitcoin is lost?

I'm still trying to think what you mean by all the Bitcoins gone. Is it like magic magic that removes something instantly? Or maybe you mean suddenly the Bitcoin network for some reason collapsed and lost all its chains? Honestly I don't know what you mean. Maybe you mean the time when there are no more coins that can be mined? if that happens then there are some answers from other users above me. That's if you live until 2140, so I don't like to assume that something impossible will happen.

Same as you, I also feel confused by OP's statements and questions regarding this matter. This is impossible and very ambiguous. Lost how? lost value? If it loses value, it means that it's simple, people are no longer interested and don't use Bitcoin and its network anymore. Worthless and of course abandoned.

[kryptqnick]

What would happen if all Bitcoin is mined and all Bitcoin is lost?

It's a situation that isn't likely to occur naturally. Some things I can think of are the collapse of the global Internet, or perhaps a huge leap in quantum computing, but I don't expect those things to happen. If nobody, for some reason, can access their BTC, Bitcoin loses all of its liquidity, and the price kind of freezes because nobody can sell and make it lower, but BTC becomes worthless because you can't buy it, can't sell it, can't do anything with it. But then, in reality, it all depends on a cause. If the cause has to do with the Internet or even electricity worldwide, it's probably the end of cryptos. If it's quantum computing, new coins with stronger encryption can appear, and it would be the end of Bitcoin (assuming that all BTC is lost), but not the end of cryptos.

[thecodebear]

It's lost forever and there's no way to recover it. That's it. The Bitcoin has a limited supply and it's not like paper money that they can create unlimitedly. I think there's a lot of lost Bitcoin, as per my simple search on google, it stated that there's at least 13 Million Bitcoin that is lost right now it's worth 565 Billion USD, I'm really surprised when I found out about it. I was hoping that at least I could have 100 Bitcoins from those lost Bitcoins.

Not sure where you looked that up but no there are not 13 million Bitcoin lost! You got some extremely bad information there. It's more like 2-3 million bitcoin lost, and that includes Satoshi's ~1 million bitcoin.



Anyway, to answer the question if all bitcoin were mined and lost then bitcoin would simply stop. There would be no transactions and therefore no reason to mine. Nobody would be using bitcoin nor holding bitcoin nor mining bitcoin. Of course the only way all bitcoin got lost would be if there were some sort of apocalyptic event that destroyed nearly all the world and all the people in the world, in which case nobody would be worrying about Bitcoin anyways haha

[Games.Bitcoin]

Already many bitcoins are lost through various means. When Bitcoin was almost worthless many people deliberately deleted their wallets and did not keep any kind of recovery seed. Again, despite the reluctance of many, the wallet has been lost and there is no way to recover it. Many bitcoins are lost in this way. Keep your bitcoins as safe as possible.

[someone703]

As Bitcoin becomes more valuable, people will naturally become more cautious. Security protocols will tighten, backups will be multiplied like rabbits, and recovery plans will be as detailed as a blueprint for a spaceship.

The future of Bitcoin, and any digital currency for that matter, is a wild card. It could become the golden ticket to a decentralized utopia or a cautionary tale of digital dust. But one thing's certain: the journey will be fascinating, and even if all the Bitcoins disappear, the lessons learned and the technology forged will be invaluable treasures in their own right.

So, let's keep exploring, keep questioning, and keep pushing the boundaries of this digital frontier. Who knows, maybe one day we'll be the ones writing the next chapter in the epic saga of Bitcoin!

[Faisal2202]

If all btc will be mined, then it does not mean they will be lost, because then the 100% supply will be in the market, and we can see no mining, but I recently learned that validation is also necessary, which means these are two different things, like validators validating our transaction, and then this transaction is mined into block by miners.

And when they created new blocks, new BTC came into being, which increased the supply and area rewarded to the miners as a reward block. But when all the BTC is mined, there will be no block reward but only the transaction fee reward for the miners, and validation is still needed, as is mining.

Which means both things will never stop, therefore the mining will never stop. And BTC will not be gone, and to be honest, I'm not afraid of it because the ending date is predicted to be around 2140, and I might be dead by then hehe.

[Crypto Library]

What would happen if all Bitcoin is mined and all Bitcoin is lost?

By losing mined bitcoins, do you mean losing a person's individual bitcoins loss? Or do you mean the whole 19.5 million bitcoins?
If a person loses his mined bitcoins due to his carelessness i.e. becomes a victim of hacking, then there is nothing to be done here only the hackers will benefit. On the other hand, if he lost the recover phrases, I mean if he lost the bitcoins like this, it would be a donation or a gift to all the bitcoiners in the world.
Also if you are talking about losing the whole 19.5 million bitcoins then it is never possible because these 19.5 million mined bitcoins are held by countless people. Maybe the holding amount of each person here is different, but I can say that Bitcoin will not be easily lost to such a large number of people.

[Gladitorcomeback]

What would happen if all Bitcoin is mined and all Bitcoin is lost?

When all Bitcoin will be mined then almost all supply (except lost or dead wallet supply)will be live in the market. We experienced that after every halving the btc price make ATH. After every year the adoption will be increase and the most possibly big institute will use btc for different purpose. One Satoshi rate may be more than any country currency. In 14 years almost 10% population of the world taking interest in btc, some countries regulated btc, ETF approval is close then you can think what achievement will btc get in 130 years.

In short when btc mining stop, supply will become greater in the market which often lead to price dumping but hence the adoption will also increase there will be no negative effect on it and any amount of btc holder will be lucky one

[cozytrade]

What would happen if all Bitcoin is mined and all Bitcoin is lost?

I think mining all bitcoins, and losing bitcoins, is an impossible thought for you. Nowadays Bitcoin has become so much popular to everyone and started using Bitcoin. In that, it is unprecedented to imagine Bitcoin disappearing. Time has passed for Bitcoin to disappear. The event that all bitcoins were lost could have happened when bitcoins had no value at all. And now the demand of Bitcoin has increased so much to people. So I don't think in case of bitcoin, such thing as disappearing can happen. But if all the bitcoins were ever lost, there would be a huge crash in crypto

[majeed]

Imagine all Bitcoin disappearing, like "What if all the gold in the world suddenly vanished?" The hypothetical is nearly impossible. Let's play this game. If all Bitcoin were lost, a tremendous digital asset would be destroyed.

Losing all Bitcoins would make the entire currency inaccessible. It's no longer about mining since mining creates new Bitcoins, not recovers lost ones. We're talking long-term - the last Bitcoin will be minted in 2140. But we only concentrate the now. The cryptocurrency economy would change drastically if Bitcoin disappeared. Alternative cryptocurrencies may rise as investors search for the next digital gold.

But now it gets fascinating. Scarcity creates economic value. Even though lost Bitcoin is useless if it can't be recovered, its perceived value may rise. It's an interesting theory to consider, but let's be honest: it's quite improbable. It's best to expect the unexpected in bitcoin but also understand its risks and rewards.

[tjtonmoy]

What would happen if all Bitcoin is mined and all Bitcoin is lost?

Imaginary things do not have value. Me imagining a ton of gold in my mind does not make me billionaire because I don't own that cold thus it has no value. The same thing will happen with Bitcoin if all the Bitcoin is lost. When you have nothing in your hand it becomes an imaginary thing. As imaginary things have no value, Bitcoin will also become worthless.

Many will lost their assets invested into Bitcoin other than that nothing will happen.

[Natsuu]

For me it's highly unlikely due to the decentralized and redundant nature of the blockchain technology that underlies Bitcoin. The system is designed to prevent the loss of all bitcoins by distributing the transaction history across a network of nodes, making it challenging for a single point of failure or loss.

But individual users can lose access to their bitcoins through various means such as forgetting private keys or passwords, hardware failures, or losing access to wallets. Such instances contribute to "lost bitcoins" but are typically not widespread enough to jeopardize the entire supply. The resilience of the blockchain system is a key factor in preventing the total loss of all bitcoins.

[Japinat]

What would happen if all Bitcoin is mined and all Bitcoin is lost?

Well, everything will be unspendable as they have lost their value and all bitcoin wallets and private keys will be useless. With that, people might be leaving bitcoin for good as lost bitcoins will be hard to recover again. Recently, there have been reported 3.7 million lost bitcoins and they will probably be lost forever. That's why as long as there are still bitcoins that are left for us, then we should take advantage while they're still intact.

However, for now it's hard to assume that all bitcoins will be lost. If that happens, I guess bitcointalk will never serve its purpose anymore.

[Dr.Bitcoin_Strange]

What would happen if all Bitcoin is mined and all Bitcoin is lost?

LOL. That is a useless unnecessary question. This is never going to happen. Even if it happens, You and I won't be there to see it.

The question is just laughable. Like you, @LearnBitcoin, said as an assumption, even if it is possible, I don't see such happening. OP forgot that there are bitcoins in the possession of different people, and there is no way that everyone can just lose all the bitcoins in their possession. This discussion is just a fallacy; there is no way to even think about how such a thing can happen.

Some people have Bitcoin in their wallet and no one is aware of it; some will die, and their Bitcoin will be trapped in their wallet for ever because no one will have access to it unless they themselves, but that's not going to happen the same for Bitcoiners. Some people will still transfer their Bitcoin to their loved ones, and they will continue to be in possession of their Bitcoin.

According to the OP's assumptions, don't even think about it because it has a 0.5% chance of happening. Why? Because the only way such a thing will be possible is if everyone on earth who has Bitcoin in their possession dies and there is no way to recover their Bitcoin. That's only when such a thing can be possible, but the truth is that everyone will not die at once without passing their Bitcoin to their loved ones.

[South Park]

What would happen if all Bitcoin is mined and all Bitcoin is lost?

Even if we were to assume the worst scenario possible and somehow all our technology stopped working for some reason, our coins will still not be lost, as you are supposed to have your seed words written down on a piece of paper somewhere, so our coins will simply be inaccessible, and if at some point society recovered and the internet was back online then the bitcoin network could be back too and you could use your coins as usual, so the scenario you are bringing forward is incredibly unlikely to happen.

[Hamza2424]

What would happen if all Bitcoin is mined and all Bitcoin is lost?

Haha, What the hell,
What kind of weird fantasy is it ?

OP please make sure to put some context in whatever you are trying to say or ask because it seems like you are not in full consciousness (not a toxic comment) just saying maybe you are feeling sleepy or just waking up. Simply if no one can access the Bitcoin now the network will be considered dead, but how's it possible that every single Bitcoin is lost?

There is only one possibility of network being dead if the entire worlds Network collapse, as the entire Internet faces some kind of war type situation which directly disconnect every ISP port. It will be also temporary Becasue sooner or later Internet will recovver.