Let's add up the KNOWN lost bitcoins

[unclemantis]

38669.33589602

Hello!

I noticed that this thread is lacking Stefan Thomas's great loss of 7000 BTC. With this included, the new total is:

45669.33589602

I'll come clean too, I got into this when CPU mining was the way (0.2 client).   I don't want to go into details be here is the damage:

27,000 BTC


New Total:  BTC72,669.33589602

OMG I feel for you. Must suck knowing that you threw away at CEILING Half a million dollars

Here... You may use my vomit bucket. Just please don't jump off a building!

[Dalkore]

38669.33589602

Hello!

I noticed that this thread is lacking Stefan Thomas's great loss of 7000 BTC. With this included, the new total is:

45669.33589602

I'll come clean too, I got into this when CPU mining was the way (0.2 client).   I don't want to go into details be here is the damage:

27,000 BTC


New Total:  BTC72,669.33589602

OMG I feel for you. Must suck knowing that you threw away at CEILING Half a million dollars

Here... You may use my vomit bucket. Just please don't jump off a building!

Nah, I am good.  First thing I did was do a forensic data scan on the drive to look for fragments.  I only found 5BTC literally.   What it told me is that Bitcoin was getting serious and I told myself I am going to make a second go at it.    BTC were worth .002 USD at the time so I didn't pay much attention.   

[SgtSpike]

38669.33589602

Hello!

I noticed that this thread is lacking Stefan Thomas's great loss of 7000 BTC. With this included, the new total is:

45669.33589602

I'll come clean too, I got into this when CPU mining was the way (0.2 client).   I don't want to go into details be here is the damage:

27,000 BTC


New Total:  BTC72,669.33589602

OMG I feel for you. Must suck knowing that you threw away at CEILING Half a million dollars

Here... You may use my vomit bucket. Just please don't jump off a building!

Nah, I am good.  First thing I did was do a forensic data scan on the drive to look for fragments.  I only found 5BTC literally.   What it told me is that Bitcoin was getting serious and I told myself I am going to make a second go at it.    BTC were worth .002 USD at the time so I didn't pay much attention.   

I'll buy that drive from you... well, if you haven't used it since then. 

[unclemantis]

38669.33589602

Hello!

I noticed that this thread is lacking Stefan Thomas's great loss of 7000 BTC. With this included, the new total is:

45669.33589602

I'll come clean too, I got into this when CPU mining was the way (0.2 client).   I don't want to go into details be here is the damage:

27,000 BTC


New Total:  BTC72,669.33589602

OMG I feel for you. Must suck knowing that you threw away at CEILING Half a million dollars

Here... You may use my vomit bucket. Just please don't jump off a building!

Nah, I am good.  First thing I did was do a forensic data scan on the drive to look for fragments.  I only found 5BTC literally.   What it told me is that Bitcoin was getting serious and I told myself I am going to make a second go at it.    BTC were worth .002 USD at the time so I didn't pay much attention.   

I'll buy that drive from you... well, if you haven't used it since then. 

I'll place a bid on that drive too.

SgtSpike you bid first.

[jl2012]

Based on this thread and other sources, I have complied a list of all known loss: https://docs.google.com/a/ij.hk/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ahdy3Je_nYdOdFVocm4yTzhZOW1waWd6SFJIVHUwYUE#gid=0

Events are included if coins are recoverable only with blockchain hard-fork, burst-forcing of private key, or exploiting flaws in bitcoin protocol (including hash algorithms and public key encryption). The following events are excluded:

• Thefts which the coins are spendable by the thief
• Loss of password to a service, where the service provider holds the private key
• Sending coins to a wrong address, unless evidence shows that private key of the address is unknown to anyone
• Without basic information, e.g. "I lose coins but do not want to explain"

Events are classified into 5 major categories:

• Unverifiable claim: an user claimed he/she lost bitcoin without showing related transaction/address. The amount could be an estimation. The user may have recovered the coins without telling the forum.
• Suspicious claim: an unverifiable claim without a matching event on the blockchain.
• Verifiable claim: transaction id / address is known. If it is spent in the future, it will be removed from the list.
• Permanent loss: usually for output with an unspendable script. It is not recoverable without a hard fork.
• Address with unknown private key: the address is created without knowing the private key. It is recoverable only with brust-forcing or exploiting flaws in bitcoin protocol

Amounts are exact except for unverifiable claims.

Amount of lost coins:

• Total confirmed loss = permanent loss + unknown private key: 2,731.84195637
• Total unverifiable claimed loss: 59,465.76900000
• Total verifiable claimed loss: 9,006.66100000
• Total loss: 71,204.27195637
• Total suspicious claims: 7,208.00000000
• Total loss minus suspicious claims: 63,996.27195637

I am sure there are cases missing. Please help me to complete the list!

If you like this list, please give some tips to 1CiZPrEJdN4FJcqdLdgVLzT8tgCXxT5ion . Thank you!

[SgtSpike]

Nicely done jl2012!

[mb300sd]

You can also add the unspendable bitcoins in transactions such as these.

http://blockexplorer.com/tx/81f591582b436c5b129f347fe7e681afd6811417973c4a4f83b18e92a9d130fd
http://blockexplorer.com/tx/111291fcf8ab84803d42ec59cb4eaceadd661185242a1e8f4b7e49b79ecbe5f3
http://blockexplorer.com/tx/ddddf9f04b4c1d4e1185cacf5cf302f3d11dee5d74f71721d741fbb507062e9e
http://blockexplorer.com/tx/305fbc2ec7f7f2bc5a21d2dfb01a5fc52ab5d064a7278e2ecbab0d2a27b8c392
http://blockexplorer.com/tx/aa62bdd690de061a6fbbd88420f7a7aa574ba86da4fe82edc27e2263f8743988

Theres quite a few of them if you look through strange transactions.

[jl2012]

You can also add the unspendable bitcoins in transactions such as these.

http://blockexplorer.com/tx/81f591582b436c5b129f347fe7e681afd6811417973c4a4f83b18e92a9d130fd
http://blockexplorer.com/tx/111291fcf8ab84803d42ec59cb4eaceadd661185242a1e8f4b7e49b79ecbe5f3
http://blockexplorer.com/tx/ddddf9f04b4c1d4e1185cacf5cf302f3d11dee5d74f71721d741fbb507062e9e
http://blockexplorer.com/tx/305fbc2ec7f7f2bc5a21d2dfb01a5fc52ab5d064a7278e2ecbab0d2a27b8c392
http://blockexplorer.com/tx/aa62bdd690de061a6fbbd88420f7a7aa574ba86da4fe82edc27e2263f8743988

Theres quite a few of them if you look through strange transactions.

These are the well-known mtgox loss and already included.

[jerfelix]

You have a spectrum of losses here, ranging from definitely lost to possibly lost.  You are starting to cross into the territory where you can take some educated guesses at "possibly lost".

Not to totally derail this thread, but there was a thread last week that talked about the fact that the most popular amounts held in a Bitcoin Address are 1 satoshi and 50 BTC.  If I recall correctly, there were 2 Million BTC held in Bitcoin Addresses with 50 BTC.  Since 50 BTC almost certainly means that it was a mined coin with no transaction fees, then these must have been in the early days.

This would definitely be something I would have done... hear about Bitcoin, download the client with the built-in miner.  Run it for a few days, generate 50 Bitcoins, decide that was a worthless project and move on to the next idea.  I'm sure other people did that back in early 2009 too.  I would bet that the vast majority of 50 BTC accounts that are the result of CPU-based mining with no transaction fees are lost.

I would bet that 15-20% of coins are lost permanently.

[dserrano5]

That might be why the limit is 21 millions. Satoshi would expect 1 million coins to get lost, so the remaining coins in circulation would make a nice round number. Just saying.

[sublime5447]

I have 5 coins stuck on a hard drive. I cleaned out the computer with compressed air and it quit working. I was told that the drive is good just the motherboard was bad.

[knight22]

I have just lost 1 btc by sending it to a wrong instawallet address...   

[payb.tc]

I have just lost 1 btc by sending it to a wrong instawallet address...   

instawallet's owners have control of that wallet, so that coin is not lost.

sucks for you though.

[sublime5447]

I forgot but I also sent a coin to a wallet that cant be accessed. The customer sent a address that they couldnt get to. I lost the coin and they charged back. So I have 5 stuck on a hard drive and 1 that I believe cant be recovered.  

[SgtSpike]

I forgot but I also sent a coin to a wallet that cant be accessed. The customer sent a address that they couldnt get to. I lost the coin and they charged back. So I have 5 stuck on a hard drive and 1 that I believe cant be recovered.  

Well, the 5 on the hard drive can be recovered so we cannot add to the list.  The 1, however, can be added.  Use the format as designated in the beginning of this thread to add it...!

[jl2012]

I forgot but I also sent a coin to a wallet that cant be accessed. The customer sent a address that they couldnt get to. I lost the coin and they charged back. So I have 5 stuck on a hard drive and 1 that I believe cant be recovered.  

Well, the 5 on the hard drive can be recovered so we cannot add to the list.  The 1, however, can be added.  Use the format as designated in the beginning of this thread to add it...!

No, "The customer sent a address that they couldnt get to" does not mean no one could get to that address.

[payb.tc]

No, "The customer sent a address that they couldnt get to" does not mean no one could get to that address.

yeah that actually could be in exactly the same category as the above "instawallet user couldn't get to coins, but instawallet owners can".

[jl2012]

That might be why the limit is 21 millions. Satoshi would expect 1 million coins to get lost, so the remaining coins in circulation would make a nice round number. Just saying.

That's because on average we have 210384 blocks in every 4 years, and rounding up to 210000.

[SgtSpike]

No, "The customer sent a address that they couldnt get to" does not mean no one could get to that address.

yeah that actually could be in exactly the same category as the above "instawallet user couldn't get to coins, but instawallet owners can".

Ah, good point.  It could be someone else's legitimate address.  We'd need clarification from sublime on tha.

[Doctor Mushies]

Could it be possible to send coins to an unused address, so that someone gets a surprise when they generate a new address? hmm...