What happens if all Bitcoin is lost?

[Ale88]

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

I guess that at that point bitcoin would not exist anymore, that's it. You are mentioning bitcoin but it's the same with anything else: what happens if we extract all the oil available on our planet? It's done, no more oil. What happens if we kill all the elephants? No more elephants. And so on. Anyway a scenario like the one you are mentioning is extremely unluckily to happen, why would people choose to deliberately get rid of something that has a high value?

[bbigtart]

if 21 million bitcoins have been mined, that means there will be scarcity in the market, and increasing demand from the market will increase the value of bitcoin significantly.

and what do you mean about if all bitcoins are lost? this will not be possible because of the many bitcoin holders they will guard their bitcoins so that it will not be lost. but there are bitcoin assets that may be lost either because the owner has died or the owner no longer has access to them, so they can no longer be accessed and transacted.

If all bitcoins were mined, of course bitcoins would become a valuable asset because the supply of bitcoins is limited. especially if what the op means is that a small part of the bitcoin was lost because he forgot the password or because the wallet couldn't be accessed, but what is certain is that even though the bitcoin can't be accessed, it still can't be accessed. That doesn't mean the bitcoins are lost, but they are still stored on the ledger, they just can't be accessed. but this also does not increase or decrease the actual supply of bitcoin.

Bitcoin will not disappear completely because there are certainly many people who hold bitcoin well and correctly. thus keeping the assets safe even for a long time. Even if bitcoin loses value, if we continue to hold it and not sell it, then bitcoin is still there, not lost.

[Pi-network314159]

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.

LOLs if you can actually find a solution to the lost bitcon maybe you might even own %50 of it. The greatest invention that will shake the crypto space is providing a solution to lost Bitcoin which is either through lost seed phrase or which is send to a wrong address. But I doubt that it can be possible because if innovation is made people's wallet will be at risk the more because whatever that can recover a lost Bitcoin in lost wallet due to key misplacment can also be use to hack people wallet.

[oktana]

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.

13 million Bitcoin is quite a lot though. I am really surprised if it is true. Leaves me thinking what will happen if even half of it is recovered. I think it’ll be a dump because most people will sell it off to solves financial challenges or invest in other things. 100 Bitcoins is too much, 1 Bitcoin is just okay for me.

And OP, it isn’t possible for all Bitcoin to suddenly be lost. Not even gradually, considering that its value is too much to be played with.

[mv1986]

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.

13 million Bitcoin is quite a lot though. I am really surprised if it is true. Leaves me thinking what will happen if even half of it is recovered. I think it’ll be a dump because most people will sell it off to solves financial challenges or invest in other things. 100 Bitcoins is too much, 1 Bitcoin is just okay for me.

And OP, it isn’t possible for all Bitcoin to suddenly be lost. Not even gradually, considering that its value is too much to be played with.

It isn't true. I don't remember right now where there is a reasonable number calculated and published about the total lost Bitcoin, but it is far from the 13 million mentioned here. When you search for that number of google, what mostly pops up is something in the middle single-digit millions. Maybe something between 4-6 million although I think it is still not solved to a degree that it could be said with certainty that we are talking about millions here.

Some of the reports of these guys who threw away hard drives suggest that some of them alone supposedly threw away tens of thousands. I would assume this did indeed happen a couple of times.

But not all Bitcoin will ever be lost in the sense that people lost their PKs. I think there would be a highly positively correlated scarcity - security ratio. The less Bitcoin there are, the higher the price if all things are equal and the higher and stronger all the security requirements.

[Viscore]

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

All bitcoin that is lost are considered unrecoverable anymore. The reason is your bitcoin remains only as your possession if you can access it with your private keys but if someone is now accessing it, and you have no control over your coins anymore, then considered it as lost and will never be yours anymore.

Bitcoin is a highly valuable asset so we need to assure it's security from all hackers and stealers. Otherwise, if we fall on it, then prepare yourself since your bitcoin will now be someone elses possession.

[oktana]

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.

13 million Bitcoin is quite a lot though. I am really surprised if it is true. Leaves me thinking what will happen if even half of it is recovered. I think it’ll be a dump because most people will sell it off to solves financial challenges or invest in other things. 100 Bitcoins is too much, 1 Bitcoin is just okay for me.

And OP, it isn’t possible for all Bitcoin to suddenly be lost. Not even gradually, considering that its value is too much to be played with.

It isn't true. I don't remember right now where there is a reasonable number calculated and published about the total lost Bitcoin, but it is far from the 13 million mentioned here. When you search for that number of google, what mostly pops up is something in the middle single-digit millions. Maybe something between 4-6 million although I think it is still not solved to a degree that it could be said with certainty that we are talking about millions here.

Some of the reports of these guys who threw away hard drives suggest that some of them alone supposedly threw away tens of thousands. I would assume this did indeed happen a couple of times.

But not all Bitcoin will ever be lost in the sense that people lost their PKs. I think there would be a highly positively correlated scarcity - security ratio. The less Bitcoin there are, the higher the price if all things are equal and the higher and stronger all the security requirements.

Aha! Because I thought as much that 13 Million is too much. But even with the 4-6 million you speak of, I still think that the amount is still a lot if it were to come back to circulation. May not be a big dump but price would definitely be impacted. For those who threw away their hard drives I can’t imagine how they feel right now seeing that they throw away money that would have changed their financial status for generations.

[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.

13 million Bitcoin is quite a lot though. I am really surprised if it is true. Leaves me thinking what will happen if even half of it is recovered. I think it’ll be a dump because most people will sell it off to solves financial challenges or invest in other things. 100 Bitcoins is too much, 1 Bitcoin is just okay for me.

And OP, it isn’t possible for all Bitcoin to suddenly be lost. Not even gradually, considering that its value is too much to be played with.

It isn't true. I don't remember right now where there is a reasonable number calculated and published about the total lost Bitcoin, but it is far from the 13 million mentioned here. When you search for that number of google, what mostly pops up is something in the middle single-digit millions. Maybe something between 4-6 million although I think it is still not solved to a degree that it could be said with certainty that we are talking about millions here.

Some of the reports of these guys who threw away hard drives suggest that some of them alone supposedly threw away tens of thousands. I would assume this did indeed happen a couple of times.

But not all Bitcoin will ever be lost in the sense that people lost their PKs. I think there would be a highly positively correlated scarcity - security ratio. The less Bitcoin there are, the higher the price if all things are equal and the higher and stronger all the security requirements.

Aha! Because I thought as much that 13 Million is too much. But even with the 4-6 million you speak of, I still think that the amount is still a lot if it were to come back to circulation. May not be a big dump but price would definitely be impacted. For those who threw away their hard drives I can’t imagine how they feel right now seeing that they throw away money that would have changed their financial status for generations.

It's more like 2-3 million, not 4-6 million. And the point of lost Bitcoin is that they are lost, and irretrievable, so would not ever be coming back on the market. So, likely 10% of total bitcoin are lost, which is fine. That doesn't cause any problems, just like lots of gold being lost at sea over the centuries didn't cause a problem for gold usage.

[Riginac111]

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

Nothing will happen and secondly have you asked yourself that all the bitcoin you expected to lost where do you think that all the bitcoin will go that is not traceable,  and secondly you have to understand that all the bitcoin can never be lost same time even though the technology of blockchain is very weak to the level we have happen to see a sudden disappearance of bitcoin it will be traceable because is a general issues,  the situation bitcoin can sudden disappear is when hackers attack your wallet address through you depositing in wrong address or exposing your seed phrase you can experience a sudden disappearance of your bitcoin but ordinarily if it happens to general its a blockchain issue and it can be traceable

[FinePoine0]

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

In the past when the price of Bitcoin was very low, Bitcoin was worthless to investors. Many have died with bitcoin wallets, hardware wallets have been thrown into the ocean, all these bitcoins will never be recovered. The supply however is low and the price of these bitcoins will continue to rise as lost bitcoins are not recovered. 3-4%  of the original Bitcoin lost.

[boyptc]

In the past when the price of Bitcoin was very low, Bitcoin was worthless to investors. Many have died with bitcoin wallets, hardware wallets have been thrown into the ocean, all these bitcoins will never be recovered. The supply however is low and the price of these bitcoins will continue to rise as lost bitcoins are not recovered. 3-4%  of the original Bitcoin lost.

That is right, during the early days. Many didn't thought that Bitcoin could be this big and far.

Those people have never thought of it so, they feel that it was just totally fine to lost them and remove their interest on it.

But years later, we have seen many of them regret their actions and even wanting to dig on the sanitary fill to find their old hard drives that contains sums of BTCs there.

[vjudeu]

What happens if all Bitcoin is lost?

It is possible to test that scenario. First, mine all coins in regtest into OP_TRUE. Then, start spending them, and claiming zero reward. And then, it is possible to end up with a single UTXO with zero satoshis, on some block number. What then?

Well, then Proof of Work is still there. Which means, coins with zero amount can still be created, and the Script will still work as intended. Which means, the only thing that would be disabled, would be related to amounts. Which means, the system will no longer function as P2P Cash, but will become just a "P2P Contract Platform".

But it is very unlikely. As long as a single satoshi is spendable, it can be divided into smaller parts, by applying multisig on that. Which means, 2-of-2 multisig on a single satoshi, could allow splitting it in half, 3-of-3 multisig could allow taking one-third on that, and so on. And also, the proportions could be splitted arbitrarily, and it would be a valid soft-fork.

Also, it is quite unlikely to burn the latest spendable satoshi, because miners will have a huge incentive to do a chain reorganization, to make that last coin spendable again. Another thing is that burning coins can be used as a way to teleport them from one chain to another. Which means, that it is possible to burn all coins on BTCv1, and claim them back on BTCv2, if Proof of Burn would be a part of the new consensus.

[Zigabel]

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

I don't know for sure the kind of answer your expect to get from this question because it's a question that obviously answers itself, there was once upon a time in the human existence when there was no Bitcoin in existence and people did lived well and were good same will happen if Bitcoin is gone after it's existence. It's not in doubts how Bitcoin has helped some lives and aswell improved people's standard of living but then it still doesn't mean if it's not there people wouldn't look for alternatives.

But then I would like to take you OP this question what is it that will make all Bitcoin to be lost just like that, why did you think such can happen and is the possibilities you see that influenced such taught in you.

[AnonBitCoiner]

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

According to an article by Blockchain Council, all 21 million of Bitcoins will be mined by the year 2140. almost 120 years from now. Bitcoin supply will be completed and then miners will only earn money by confirming transactions. and earn fee from the fees.

This article is very interesting you can read it here: https://www.blockchain-council.org/cryptocurrency/how-many-bitcoins-are-left

Now for your second question. I don't think there is any point in thinking about that. because that's not realistic. I don't think all bitcoins will be lost. there will always be Bitcoin in circulation. it will just get harder to get it because it's price may increase so much with time.

[Rabata]

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

No new bitcoins will be added after total Bitcoin coin mining which was designed by its creator Satoshi Nakamoto since the invention of Bitcoin. Currently a miner receives BTC and transaction fees as block reward. When all bitcoins are mined the miners will receive the transaction fee as their reward. But it's still a long time before all bitcoins are mined. It is estimated that more than 1 century is needed to mine all the Bitcoins.

In 2140 all Bitcoin mining will probably end. If miners can make profit then they must continue their activities. So it is pointless to think that Bitcoin will crash. As long as there is demand for Bitcoin, there will be value for Bitcoin. Bitcoin will have no value when demand runs out. As people grow, everyone will try to keep a very small amount of Bitcoin under their control. The value of Bitcoin today will multiply its demand in the next 1 decade so there is no chance of Bitcoin being destroyed or lost.

[BitcoinsGreat]

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

I guess that at that point bitcoin would not exist anymore, that's it. You are mentioning bitcoin but it's the same with anything else: what happens if we extract all the oil available on our planet? It's done, no more oil. What happens if we kill all the elephants? No more elephants. And so on. Anyway a scenario like the one you are mentioning is extremely unluckily to happen, why would people choose to deliberately get rid of something that has a high value?

I do not understand why people think such useless things that have no head or foot and it is just a waste of time if we just keep on thinking what will happen if all the Bitcoin is lost and all such stuff ?
Bitcoin is there for the last 10 years and nothing has happened to Bitcoin credibility so why people are still worried and keep on asking such things ?
I mean seriously don't have any other important thing to think about or if they have nothing to think about they can at least think of all they can accommodate bitcoins and invest in bitcoins other than thinking of this useless thoughts.

[0t3p0t]

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

It is really possible that all Bitcoins will be lost most specially if nuclear war will happen, the much more devastating EMP wars, the solar flare situation becomes worst or an asteriod will hit our planet because yeah we'll never know. And with that situation I think it will surely be lost forever. If Bitcoin is all mined, maybe price will go high or low depending on the situation.

[macson]

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

- if all bitcoins are mined;
i'm sure there won't be a significant impact here, many say the rewards miners receive come from bitcoins that haven't been mined, but if all the bitcoins are successfully mined, the price will be stuck at the last price bitcoin was at and the miners will still be able to operate, however with other methods cmiiw

- if all bitcoins are lost;
i don't know what exactly will happen next to bitcoin if all of it is lost, but what comes to my mind is that if all of the bitcoin is really lost then bitcoin will become a dead asset and cannot be used at all for transactions ^{(this is just my guess, impossible to experience this because bitcoin will continue to exist even if everything is mined)}

[_BlackStar]

-snip-

It is really possible that all Bitcoins will be lost most specially if nuclear war will happen, the much more devastating EMP wars, the solar flare situation becomes worst or an asteriod will hit our planet because yeah we'll never know. And with that situation I think it will surely be lost forever. If Bitcoin is all mined, maybe price will go high or low depending on the situation.

You've answered the second question well - I agree with some of the statements, but you haven't answered the first question correctly. If all bitcoin are mined – then miners will likely not get rewards from each block as before, but they will only earn bitcoin from user transaction fees. That's what's happening if I understand it correctly - but the price of bitcoin likely won't fluctuate as much as it does now.

[snipie]

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

According to an article by Blockchain Council, all 21 million of Bitcoins will be mined by the year 2140. almost 120 years from now. Bitcoin supply will be completed and then miners will only earn money by confirming transactions. and earn fee from the fees.

This article is very interesting you can read it here: https://www.blockchain-council.org/cryptocurrency/how-many-bitcoins-are-left

Now for your second question. I don't think there is any point in thinking about that. because that's not realistic. I don't think all bitcoins will be lost. there will always be Bitcoin in circulation. it will just get harder to get it because it's price may increase so much with time.

Even if we assume that all Bitcoin was lost and only a fraction remains, let's say 1 Bitcoin, then since it is rare, then its price will be astronomical and we will talk about fractions of it to be worthy, maybe there will be micro-satoshi or something like that.
The worst scenario is to have a hard fork and to get a recovery from months or years before the losses so there will be a possibility of retrieval.
Anyway this is very hypothetical and it will not happen in the current century at least.