What about the lost BTC?

[roller33]

I was reading about some cases of people who had many BTC at a time when it has low or no value at all, and didn't care about it, so they eventually lost their security phrases, or hard wallets and now it is lost probably forever.

I've read that the amount that is considered lost can be up to 5 million BTC. That is about 1/4 of the total amount available.

Knowing that BTC has a limit, and we're getting there soon, isn't it possible to have some compensation for those lost BTC?

Something like adding more BTC in an equivalent amount for those lost BTC, or something similar.

Would it be positive for the currency or could bring some caos?

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No, lost bitcoin are gone forever. If you want to recover any lost bitcoin, try all possible way to recover back the private key or the seed phrase.

Something like adding more BTC in an equivalent amount for those lost BTC, or something similar.

Just like what centralized ripple (XRP) developers wants to do. It is not making any sense. Private key or seed phrase are used to prove the ownership of an address and that is also needed to spend the coins, which is enough.

[Nwada001]

isn't it possible to have some compensation for those lost BTC?

Compensation, like, how? Do you mean rewarding those who have lost their bitcoin or adding those back to the supply? Whichever the case might be, it won't work as you can't add more to the supply, nor is anybody willing to donate his or her bitcoin to those who lost theirs.

adding more BTC in an equivalent amount for those lost BTC, or something similar.

One thing that makes Bitcoin unique is its limited supply. It was possible that it could have been manipulated long ago, and the limited supply is what contributes to its price value as demand increases, so it will become scarce in the market.

Would it be positive for the currency or could bring some caos?

If that is ever made possible to increase the supply for whatever reason, there will only be negative impacts on the network. Those lost bitcoins, according to Satoshi, are a contribution to the network; they're considered a donation for the rest of the holders to gain more value.

[roller33]

Compensation, like, how? Do you mean rewarding those who have lost their bitcoin or adding those back to the supply?

I mean adding it back to the supply to be available for mining again.

Giving it back to the owners would be impossible, or if possible, it would be ridiculous, as each owner should take care of their BTC.

[0t3p0t]

No, lost bitcoin are gone forever. If you want to recover any lost bitcoin, try all possible way to recover back the private key or the seed phrase

Exactly, and adding more Bitcoin in the total supply will destroy and bring chaos to it's existence. If someone can possibly gues the private keys or seed phrases of those lost Bitcoins he or she got that one in a trillion luck.

[Dunamisx]

I was reading about some cases of people who had many BTC at a time when it has low or no value at all, and didn't care about it, so they eventually lost their security phrases, or hard wallets and now it is lost probably forever.

Any bitcoin lost is not going to be recovered anymore, though it is believed that such has been released back to the bitcoin network and we all benefited a share of its fragments in the market volatility when the price increase.

I've read that the amount that is considered lost can be up to 5 million BTC. That is about 1/4 of the total amount available.

Not possible, there's no evidence to proof this, we still have a lot of bitcoin in circulation and even the whales couldn't made this happens by holding their asset.

Knowing that BTC has a limit, and we're getting there soon, isn't it possible to have some compensation for those lost BTC?

compensation in what form again, are you not making interest upon your asset when you hodl and the market pumps, where do you think part of those funds are coming from.

Something like adding more BTC in an equivalent amount for those lost BTC, or something similar.

No, that 21 million bitcoin cannot be altered just as the white paper cannot be.

[jossiel]

Those lost Bitcoins and forgotten are totally forgotten and lost forever. That's the compensation for us that it becomes scarcer and the supply limit is even lower because of them.

That means, with the number of many investors in the market and with a lot of lost Bitcoins totally. There are limited Bitcoins that are in circulation.

This is why holding bitcoin is good for the long term investors.

[Ambatman]

I mean adding it back to the supply to be available for mining again.

Not all coins that haven't been moved for years are lost forever
Some are just holding or temporary have no access to their wallet and this are usually branded as lost.
The number of lost coin are estimated not fully known
So even if Bitcoin protocol could enable such (the community ain't foolish to do such ) it would be nigh impossible to get the right number to add.

If the supply of Bitcoin could be easily altered then what differentiate it from shit coins.
It's limited supply plays a central part in it's value.
Lost Bitcoin despite the pains it would cause would increase the value of Bitcoin as goes on
And unfortunately more coins would be lost within the mining years of Bitcoin.

Lost Bitcoin can still be found if the private key lost or wallet password was found.


Even in the case of Fiat.  If you lost your money at your personal disposal the government ain't compensating you
This also applies with Bitcoin
I see no reason for compensation for something they have no fault in.

[btc78]

I was reading about some cases of people who had many BTC at a time when it has low or no value at all, and didn't care about it, so they eventually lost their security phrases, or hard wallets and now it is lost probably forever.

I do wonder how those people feel right now that bitcoin is gaining more and more in demand hiking its price even more. I am thinking maybe they have bought bitcoin again despite the wasted opportunity

Knowing that BTC has a limit, and we're getting there soon, isn't it possible to have some compensation for those lost BTC?

Something like adding more BTC in an equivalent amount for those lost BTC, or something similar.

Would it be positive for the currency or could bring some caos?

The supply of bitcoin is capped at 21 million nothing more, nothing less. It is highly unlikely for the system of bitcoin to change just so it can add more. Plus, the supply being limited helps in case of inflation and this allows to drive up the demand more.

If bitcoin were unlimited, its demand might not be as high right now.

[Hamza2424]

What's gone is gone it won't be back anytime, but my fellow you should focus on the available supply to accumulate the maximum possible number to secure your standing in this digital currency era. As you feel sad for those lost coins haha, anyway more supply and lesser demand = lower valuation, on the same time if supply is limited and higher demand = higher valuation in the market.

Some of the people use to say are we late or its too late to own Bitcoins now, I would say you should need to realize that its never late still we in the single digit of the halving count so how it can be late.

[dlightag]

Any lost Bitcoin wallet password, private key or phase code is gone forever and is consider it as burned token until the world end, it can not be trade or transfer, it only remains in the wallet that is not active and it only counts as among the Bitcoin holders wallet.

[Inwestour]

I was reading about some cases of people who had many BTC at a time when it has low or no value at all, and didn't care about it, so they eventually lost their security phrases, or hard wallets and now it is lost probably forever.

I've read that the amount that is considered lost can be up to 5 million BTC. That is about 1/4 of the total amount available.

Knowing that BTC has a limit, and we're getting there soon, isn't it possible to have some compensation for those lost BTC?

Something like adding more BTC in an equivalent amount for those lost BTC, or something similar.

Would it be positive for the currency or could bring some caos?

There are many discussions on this topic, I even read in some sources about mutch more large estimated quantities of lost coins, but you know, I won’t say that I can trust any of them enough to accept this information as truth. It doesn’t matter that Bitcoin was once not so expensive, if the coin has value, then the owner will care about maintaining access to his coins in any case.

Another thing is that I admit cases when the owner could, simply out of caution, or simply did not have time, hand over the keys to someone close to him, and these coins could be lost forever, but it’s hard for me to believe that the number of lost coins can be calculated millions.

[dzungmobile]

I've read that the amount that is considered lost can be up to 5 million BTC. That is about 1/4 of the total amount available.

It is an estimation which is based on inactive UTXOs. You can make different estimations by using different age threshold of considered lost bitcoins. If you consider 5year+ inactive UTXOs are for lost bitcoins, you have estimation A. If you consider 7year+ inactive UTXOs are for lost bitcoins, you will have an estimation B. Estimation A would be bigger than estimation B.

Knowing that BTC has a limit, and we're getting there soon, isn't it possible to have some compensation for those lost BTC?

Something like adding more BTC in an equivalent amount for those lost BTC, or something similar.

It can not be done because Bitcoin transactions can not be reversed. Bitcoin blockchain can not be rolled back.

If there is any proposal to create more bitcoins, to make total supply is bigger than 21M, the majority will support that proposal.

Lost bitcoins are donation to everyone.

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

[Marvelman]

Compensation, like, how? Do you mean rewarding those who have lost their bitcoin or adding those back to the supply?

I mean adding it back to the supply to be available for mining again.

But why? Lost bitcoins are lost, for whatever reason.  Why would we want to reintroduce them back into circulation? To increase supply? But why? It would just mean that all other bitcoins would be worth less. This is exactly what we have with fiat currency printing, where increasing the money supply can lead to inflation.

Giving it back to the owners would be impossible, or if possible, it would be ridiculous, as each owner should take care of their BTC.

Giving them to someone else would be even more ridiculous. What if you mistakenly take someone's long-term hodl for lost coins? How would you define "lost" coins anyway?

[thecodebear]

OP,

The lost bitcoin are not nearly 5 million. People like to exaggerate the number of lost bitcoin. It's probably about 2 million, maybe slightly over 2 million. The way people get really exaggerated numbers is they just assume any coins that haven't been moved in a certain number of years are lost, so with time these estimates will continue getting higher even if no more coins are lost, because lots of people hold long term for many years without touching their bitcoin. So it's more like one tenth of the supply is lost, not one quarter.


And no the lost bitcoins will never be added back to the supply.

First off, there is no way to know how many bitcoin are lost, so it would just be guesswork.

But the real reason of course is that this is not how Bitcoin works. The 21 million supply cap is one of the most fundamental things about Bitcoin. And so is its decentralization. You lose those things and you pretty much lose the value of Bitcoin. And to start adding coins to the supply you would lose both of those things, because obviously adding new coins means the supply is not capped anymore, and that suggests that now people are able to control the supply of bitcoin, no different than fiat currencies, which also means people could decide to add more bitcoin for other reasons. If Bitcoin were centralized you could technically do it, pretty much any other cryptocurrency could make this sort of change, but Bitcoin is decentralized and nobody can just decide to make some change in the protocol, the community must agree to it and the community would never agree to such a thing. You ask if it would cause chaos, well it would basically destroy much of the value proposition of Bitcoin, making it much more like altcoins or fiat currencies, so yeah I'd call that chaos, in addition to the fact that it can't even be technically done!

And the other main reason is there is no reason to do this in the first place. It's not like there has to be 21 million bitcoin in circulation. There is nothing wrong with some bitcoins being lost. So even if it were possible to do it (which as just explained, it isn't), and even if it wouldn't completely destroy some of the fundamental tenets and value of Bitcoin (which as just explained, it would), and if it was even possible to know how many bitcoin are lost (which it isn't), there is simply no logical reason why it should be done. There is no reason to create new bitcoins to replace lost bitcoins. Hell, not even fiat currencies work this way - if you burn a $100 bill you don't contact the central bank and tell them to print an extra $100 because you burnt it.

So it is neither practical, possible, desired, nor logical to do this.

[PrivacyG]

Knowing that BTC has a limit, and we're getting there soon, isn't it possible to have some compensation for those lost BTC?

Something like adding more BTC in an equivalent amount for those lost BTC, or something similar.

How do you determine which Coins are lost and which are not?

I have Addresses I have not used in MANY years.  I likely have a few Private Keys or Seeds hidden somewhere in the middle of some random note book.  These Coins are not lost.

Think about it.  Some body may have died a decade ago with a Seed hidden between two pages of a book.  Their relatives may decide to read that book in 2050.  Would that be lost Coins?

There are dormant Addresses since 2010 and the likes which have moved recently.  This is why we rather call it DORMANT Addresses and not Lost.

And then it does not make any sense.  Why would there be a compensation for the lost Bitcoin.  With Bitcoin you are responsible for your own actions.  You decided to not take care of the Bitcoin?  It is what it is.  The Coins are lost.  Move on.  I bet there are many who do not even remember they ever had Bitcoin back in 2009 on their computer.  Their Hard Disk is laying somewhere in the middle of a giant pile of trash and will probably never be retrieved ever.

Why would Miners earn more Bitcoin and why would we all have more Inflation for others mistake.

Lost Coins are just never going to be moved.  That is all.

[spiker777]

Knowing that BTC has a limit, and we're getting there soon, isn't it possible to have some compensation for those lost BTC?

Something like adding more BTC in an equivalent amount for those lost BTC, or something similar.

I don't think that is possible to add more BTC in total supply means mint or mine additional btc. that's not doable.
that might be possible in term of development and coding. but that's not enough. everyone in bitcoin ecosystem have to agree on that to make that happen which I don't think will ever happen.
But lets say that happens and additional bitcoins are added to total supply. how do you think we can compensate them to those who lost them? how will they prove their ownership of those btc? I don't see anyway of doing that.

[Sim_card]

I was reading about some cases of people who had many BTC at a time when it has low or no value at all, and didn't care about it, so they eventually lost their security phrases, or hard wallets and now it is lost probably forever.

I've read that the amount that is considered lost can be up to 5 million BTC. That is about 1/4 of the total amount available.

Knowing that BTC has a limit, and we're getting there soon, isn't it possible to have some compensation for those lost BTC?

Something like adding more BTC in an equivalent amount for those lost BTC, or something similar.

Would it be positive for the currency or could bring some caos?

No bitcoin is lost, the bitcoin are only locked up in the users wallet address in the blockchain, and if the users can have their private keys to those wallets, the bitcoin will be unlock with the private keys. However, those bitcoin cannot be replaced because they are not missing but the owners still have them locked up in the blochain, and it will be useless to compensate them because who will give out his own bitcoin to them. 21million bitcoin cannot be added to or reduced from. This is why we need to secure our seed phrase and have back ups, so that we will have access to them anytime we want.

[lombok]

Knowing that BTC has a limit, and we're getting there soon, isn't it possible to have some compensation for those lost BTC?

Something like adding more BTC in an equivalent amount for those lost BTC, or something similar.

How do you determine which Coins are lost and which are not?

I have Addresses I have not used in MANY years.  I likely have a few Private Keys or Seeds hidden somewhere in the middle of some random note book.  These Coins are not lost.

Think about it.  Some body may have died a decade ago with a Seed hidden between two pages of a book.  Their relatives may decide to read that book in 2050.  Would that be lost Coins?

There are dormant Addresses since 2010 and the likes which have moved recently.  This is why we rather call it DORMANT Addresses and not Lost.

And then it does not make any sense.  Why would there be a compensation for the lost Bitcoin.  With Bitcoin you are responsible for your own actions.  You decided to not take care of the Bitcoin?  It is what it is.  The Coins are lost.  Move on.  I bet there are many who do not even remember they ever had Bitcoin back in 2009 on their computer.  Their Hard Disk is laying somewhere in the middle of a giant pile of trash and will probably never be retrieved ever.

Why would Miners earn more Bitcoin and why would we all have more Inflation for others mistake.

Lost Coins are just never going to be moved.  That is all.

It's true that in my opinion Bitcoins are simply not or have not been accessed again by their owners. Bitcoin holders or owners who lose their phrase actually only lose the private key used to access Bitcoin. Losing the private key does not mean losing Bitcoin. Bitcoins will remain in the wallet forever and cannot be taken by anyone or even lost.

Maybe the owner just forgot or hasn't found the private key yet.

[Knight Hider]

isn't it possible to have some compensation for those lost BTC?

Something like adding more BTC in an equivalent amount for those lost BTC,

I lost a million BTC myself. I'll be waiting for my compensation

If this were implemented, everybody on the planet would claim it.