What happens to those Bitcoins that the owners have passed away?

[Lamtel]

Bitcoin being a decentralized digital asset, there is this intriguing question that made me felt uncomfortable ever since the thought came on my mind.

Those wallets owned by individuals whose private keys and recovery seed phrase have been forgotten and those individuals that have passed away, knowing that the Bitcoin blockchain security makes recovery of wallets impossible when private keys/recovery phrase are forgotten, does it now mean that those Bitcoin owned by such individuals are no longer in circulation/use, hence reducing the Bitcoin trading volume?

Can't the nodes recover them or are they automatically erased from the blockchain since they might not be probably in use?

I believe this question and every of the answers that will be provided by members here will help a lot of newbies including myself to know the importance of private keys/recovery phrase.

[Hypnotizer]

Bitcoin being a decentralized digital asset, there is this intriguing question that made me felt uncomfortable ever since the thought came on my mind.

Those wallets owned by individuals whose private keys and recovery seed phrase have been forgotten and those individuals that have passed away, knowing that the Bitcoin blockchain security makes recovery of wallets impossible when private keys/recovery phrase are forgotten, does it now mean that those Bitcoin owned by such individuals are no longer in circulation/use, hence reducing the Bitcoin trading volume?

If an individual forget his private key and recovery seed phrase then the coins he or they possess are no longer in circulation and yes that will reducing the trading volume thereby increasing scarcity.

Right now there are around 2.3-4 million bitcoins that are permanently lost

Can't the nodes recover them or are they automatically erased from the blockchain since they might not be probably in use?

Nodes cannot recover them and the coins will still be in their respective addresses just that without the private key the coins cannot be spent or moved.

So no matter the case the blockchain cannot erase any coin not in circulation, they are just dormant.

[sheenshane]

Since you're newbie, consider it first searching before creating a post like this, it has been discussed here so many times in fact, here are recent threads that already discussed similar to this topic.

• What happens to your crypto if something happens to you?
• What happens to my bitcoin if I die today?

A simple line that will answer your question.
Not your key, Not your coin.

If you passed away and no one will know your key, it's impossible to recover.
From time to time, circulating supply of Bitcoin will become less, due to losing of key.

[Odusko]

Lost Bitcoin as satsoshi Said is a bonuse to every other Bitcoin holder's since those Bitcoin are considered dead and inactive although available on the blockchain but no longer in active cyculating volumes, means more scarcity for the market increase demands and generally increasing the value of those available cyculating Bitcoins.

[aoluain]

Bitcoin being a decentralized digital asset, there is this intriguing question that made me felt uncomfortable ever since the thought came on my mind.

Those wallets owned by individuals whose private keys and recovery seed phrase have been forgotten and those individuals that have passed away, knowing that the Bitcoin blockchain security makes recovery of wallets impossible when private keys/recovery phrase are forgotten, does it now mean that those Bitcoin owned by such individuals are no longer in circulation/use, hence reducing the Bitcoin trading volume?

yes!

Are Satoshi's coins accessible? no

The same goes for anyone else's coins which have been "Forgotten" - without the private keys/seed phrase
those wallets are not accessible. Those coins /Satoshi's can be considered a gift to us all because they reduce
the accessible supply further.

I sometimes imagine somewhere, sometime in the future somebody comes across a deceased relatives copy
of their old seed phrase and is able to unlock the old wallets . . . Imagine someone finding a folded sheet of paper
with 24 unconnected words written on it stuck inside the front cover of an obscure book on a bookshelf of 100 other
books and they have the knowledge that those words unlock a Bitcoin wallet?

[ColdLava40]

Those wallets owned by individuals whose private keys and recovery seed phrase have been forgotten and those individuals that have passed away, knowing that the Bitcoin blockchain security makes recovery of wallets impossible when private keys/recovery phrase are forgotten, does it now mean that those Bitcoin owned by such individuals are no longer in circulation/use, hence reducing the Bitcoin trading volume?

Yes they will no longer be in circulation but will all be counted amongst the total number of bitcoin that has been mined. They have been lost doesn't mean they will sieze to play a role in bitcoin supply.

As a matter of fact, I consider such coins to be burned because in a way they further reduce the amount of bitcoin active total supply and that will drive up scarcity.

Can't the nodes recover them or are they automatically erased from the blockchain since they might not be probably in use?

No, the nodes have no access to any ones coins. bitcoin is decentralised meaning even satoshi himself cannot wake up one day and choose to unlock any wallet without owning the keys. Once they are lost, it's no longer in supply and remains dormant on the network.

[Dunamisx]

Nothing happens, they are there on the network and will remain except you have the keys to claim their ownership, same applies to anyone who dies or those alive, we only choose to claim them when we are direct owners with the access to them on the blockchain, this is why we are being informed that bitcoin in not stored on the wallet or our device used, instead on the blockchain.

[fikrett]

They are basically gone and are there to make the Bitcoins that are in circulation even more demanded and wanted, and used

[viljy]

Bitcoin being a decentralized digital asset, there is this intriguing question that made me felt uncomfortable ever since the thought came on my mind.

Those wallets owned by individuals whose private keys and recovery seed phrase have been forgotten and those individuals that have passed away, knowing that the Bitcoin blockchain security makes recovery of wallets impossible when private keys/recovery phrase are forgotten, does it now mean that those Bitcoin owned by such individuals are no longer in circulation/use, hence reducing the Bitcoin trading volume?

Can't the nodes recover them or are they automatically erased from the blockchain since they might not be probably in use?

I believe this question and every of the answers that will be provided by members here will help a lot of newbies including myself to know the importance of private keys/recovery phrase.

These coins can be considered withdrawn from circulation. I don't remember where I read such estimated information that about 4 million coins are considered lost at the moment. I don't know how accurate this estimate is. So we can consider these "lost" coins as "treasures" for those who can find the keys to them. Unless the coins really have a legitimate owner who can prove their ownership rights. Of course, the chance to find the keys is extremely unlikely, but not impossible.

[Mia Chloe]

~snip

Nodes are only a form of data bank for the bitcoin network's public ledger, even if they can propagate your transactions and broadcast them they can only see your public keys and not your private keys so there's no way for them to access your bitcoins. Except you can directly link an address to an individual you can't really tell if it's a dormant hodling wallet or the person has passed.

There are countless dormant wallets out there that it's still very uncertain if the owners are alive or not. If I turns out they are not, you can consider them burned coins or according to Satoshi "A token of contribution to the network."

[Ishicryptic]

Lost Bitcoin as satsoshi Said is a bonuse to every other Bitcoin holder's since those Bitcoin are considered dead and inactive although available on the blockchain but no longer in active cyculating volumes, means more scarcity for the market increase demands and generally increasing the value of those available cyculating Bitcoins.

In another word you can say that such Bitcoin that cannot be recovered have become donations to the network, there is nothing we can do about it because it is the way the system is designed. Every advantage of lost Bitcoin like creating more scarcity in circulation that will will increase the value because of reduced supply cannot benefit the loser directly. This means that everybody that is holding Bitcoin must take the security of their asset very seriously, if you lose your keys you lose your Bitcoin forever, it'll be there in the Blockchain but you cannot access it. The feeling must be very devastating because you will feel helpless, like they say ' not your keys not your coins, newbies should take note.

[henry_of_skalitz]

Bitcoin being a decentralized digital asset, there is this intriguing question that made me felt uncomfortable ever since the thought came on my mind.

Those wallets owned by individuals whose private keys and recovery seed phrase have been forgotten and those individuals that have passed away, knowing that the Bitcoin blockchain security makes recovery of wallets impossible when private keys/recovery phrase are forgotten, does it now mean that those Bitcoin owned by such individuals are no longer in circulation/use, hence reducing the Bitcoin trading volume?

Can't the nodes recover them or are they automatically erased from the blockchain since they might not be probably in use?

I believe this question and every of the answers that will be provided by members here will help a lot of newbies including myself to know the importance of private keys/recovery phrase.

These coins can be considered withdrawn from circulation. I don't remember where I read such estimated information that about 4 million coins are considered lost at the moment. I don't know how accurate this estimate is. So we can consider these "lost" coins as "treasures" for those who can find the keys to them. Unless the coins really have a legitimate owner who can prove their ownership rights. Of course, the chance to find the keys is extremely unlikely, but not impossible.

I don't see these coins to be found yet again even someday in the future, rather, it's like a sunken treasure, and all of them form the Atlantida of sorts..Which probably won't be found by usual human eyes

[m2017]

Those wallets owned by individuals whose private keys and recovery seed phrase have been forgotten and those individuals that have passed away, knowing that the Bitcoin blockchain security makes recovery of wallets impossible when private keys/recovery phrase are forgotten, does it now mean that those Bitcoin owned by such individuals are no longer in circulation/use, hence reducing the Bitcoin trading volume?

These wallets can be considered as frozen for an indefinite period (until technologies like a quantum computer become available to access these wallets), and the wallet balances are not involved in the circulation of bitcoin, which makes it possible to actually own and use fewer btc than was originally intended (this creates a shortage of BTC-circulating and value).

Can't the nodes recover them or are they automatically erased from the blockchain since they might not be probably in use?

This is (technically) impossible.

[tbct_mt2]

Can't the nodes recover them or are they automatically erased from the blockchain since they might not be probably in use?

bitcoins can be lost by many reasons, by a sudden accident, memory loss, technical devices broken or died and can not recover, no wallet backups and many other reasons including no information for other people to inherit bitcoins from you.

If you don't have any wallet backups, your bitcoins lost even you are alive, not yet a more severe situation like you passed away.

Your lost bitcoins or anyone's lost bitcoins are donations for everyone.

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

[Ziskinberg]

If it’s no longer accessible for whatever reason, then it’s basically no longer in circulation and just stays locked. But don’t get this wrong, it doesn’t really affect day-to-day trading volume that much. There’s already a significant amount of Bitcoin that isn’t meant for trading anyway, it’s being held long term by investors who believe in HODL. So yes, we can measure regular or average trading volume, but you can’t count coins that are sitting in wallets meant for long-term holding.

That’s actually one of the unique things about Bitcoin. The lower the circulating supply, the higher the price tends to go as demand increases. If someone loses access due to death or a forgotten private key, those coins are effectively removed from supply, which in theory helps increase Bitcoin’s overall value.

Of course, it’s sad for the people who lose access to their funds, they’re basically sacrificing for everyone else’s gains. That’s why it’s important to have a proper plan, so whatever we’re holding as an investment doesn’t get wasted or lost if something happens to us. I’m sure there are already guides out there on how to do this safely.

[Sticky Bomb]

when private keys/recovery phrase are forgotten, does it now mean that those Bitcoin owned by such individuals are no longer in circulation/use, hence reducing the Bitcoin trading volume?

Yes, it is no longer in circulation and is considered lost unless their successors somehow find the private keys and seed phrases to unlock the UTXO in those addresses.

Can't the nodes recover them or are they automatically erased from the blockchain since they might not be probably in use?

Your private keys or seed phrases are not stored on the blockchain, only transactions are recorded there and the nodes validate the transactions. wallet owners sign the transactions with their keys to prove they own the coins and have the right to spend them, this does not expose the private keys in any way but produce only a digital signature proving your ownership of the coins and your private keys cannot be retrieved from such signatures. The nodes cannot help in recovering the seed phrases or private keys.

I believe this question and every of the answers that will be provided by members here will help a lot of newbies including myself to know the importance of private keys/recovery phrase.

recovery phrases is very important because it is what gives you access to your UTXO(bitcoins) on the blockchain, without it your wallet addresses cannot be recovered and your coins are gone. Additionally if these phrases/ priv keys gets into the hand of a third party, such a person has the right to spend your coins as they wish. More reason you are advised to store your seed phrases/ private keys offline and securely.

[Findingnemo]

~
Can't the nodes recover them or are they automatically erased from the blockchain since they might not be probably in use?

I believe this question and every of the answers that will be provided by members here will help a lot of newbies including myself to know the importance of private keys/recovery phrase.

If nodes can recover a coin then bitcoin network won't be resilient to any attack, and there is no way one can verify that the keys are lost so the coins will be unmoved which makes the remaining Bitcoin more valuable. In the early days people mined bitcoin with CPU for fun and those are the one who lost their coins and there are cases with corrupt CPU, mistakenly dumped in garbage but whatever if there is no  keys, the funds will stay there forever.

[promise444c5]

Can't the nodes recover them or are they automatically erased from the blockchain since they might not be probably in use?

To understand what Nodes is basically all about read this: https://learnmeabitcoin.com/beginners/guide/node/
In short it’s been answered already, full nodes can’t recover them.
Technically they are not erased /automatically erased from the blockchain either, they are just there sitting in the blockchain waiting for someone with keys that can possibly access them. If the keys are lost then they sit there forever(maybe), contributing to scarcity…

[DubemIfedigbo001]

Can't the nodes recover them or are they automatically erased from the blockchain since they might not be probably in use?

Nope the nodes cannot recover your coins because the nodes don't have your private keys/seed phrases. No record is erased from the Blockchain and the Bitcoin still exists in the wallet address on the Blockchain but can only be accessed with the correct seed phrases or private keys.

If it was possible for the nodes to recover bitcoins, then the Bitcoin network would not be safe and secure since a fraudulent node can decide to steal people's funds on the Blockchain at any time.

There is no way to know that a wallet recovery phrases is lost by a user. Most wallets address that aren't touched for a long time are interpreted as dormant pending the time the owner chooses to move his coins.

[Renampun]

Bitcoin being a decentralized digital asset, there is this intriguing question that made me felt uncomfortable ever since the thought came on my mind.

Why is that so uncomfortable for you? it wasn't your bitcoin in the first place, so there's no reason for you to care about it. and those bitcoins are actually lost bitcoins, so they no longer belong to anyone, they're locked away forever in those wallets, it's not really a loss in the traditional sense because the Bitcoin is still there and still has value, so just let it be part of the scarcity of Bitcoin itself, because lost coins actually strengthen the value of Bitcoin.