Lost Bitcoins

[Inedible]

I remember this thread from awhile ago: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=7253.0

That thread might be of some use if your going to honestly sit down and try to track each address. I would make a share on google docs maybe so we all can edit

That's the actual thread I'm referring to (juuuuust over 20 Bitcoin). Google docs spreadsheet is a good idea. I'll get that done.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/166lXkfm_FeaNPvJI40rZjd-7e_k9_g_h8cXB4XdXmTY

[Inedible]

This is never going to be remotely accurate. I am sure there will be reports from scam artists, trolls , or just people wanting to avoid taxes claiming "lost" bitcoins.

This list is going to be incredibly hard to have accurate. Good luck none the less.

I think it's going to be difficult but hopefully we can lower the risk of false claims with dates and checking for new outbound transactions since the date of when the wallet was 'lost'.

[Inedible]

It would be impossible to get a good figure. but, rest assured, there are thousands of lost coins. Like someone already said that at the beginning they just "messed" around with it to get the code, plus at the beginning, bitcoins werent worth anything, so there wasn't a real need to save any. I think most people really started to save them when they had a value, i believe it was around 60 cents on mt.gox, Im just guessing. I've heard many stories of early miners "forgetting" about the coins and have no idea where they are and others that have spent days looking for them. Some with success. But, I bet more coins have been stolen than those that were just lost at the beginning. The first theft that I heard of was around in the summer of 2011, the guy had 500k worth of coins stolen and thats when btc was just at a few dollars, I believe he committed suicide.

But, it would be interesting to know the "Exact" amount that are missing. I think when we see a massive dump is possibly due to a thief dumping his coins. Mt. gox has a few hundred k gone, the numbers could actually be quite big...(which is actually good, less coins should raise the value I think) But, we better get more secure or the threat of loss because of theft will deter many people from adopting.

I doubt we'll ever get to an exact figure and I reckon this is why this database will upset purists. People want definite numbers. They want certainty but this isn't going to be possible. At best, this will be an approximation of lost coins.

It could be said that a lot of currently non-lost wallets will be lost over time because the people that own them will eventually forget about them or when they die, they haven't made provision for access to their next of kin. They'll never spend another Bitcent from that wallet but it's not yet 'lost' until they've passed on. This will result in the value of 'lost' Bitcoins being rather uncertain.

[Inedible]

Does the coins was really lost ??
 i lost my a little on C-CEX  because of my careless,Click  the' dump' button,but i don't think that it really lost.

I don't know what the 'dump' button is but for the purposes of this database, a Bitcoin is lost when access to the wallet is no longer possible by anyone.

[Inedible]

I lost about 1/4 of a bitcoin when bitcoin first came out, computer crashed and I did not have it backed up :/

Don't suppose you can add that to: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/166lXkfm_FeaNPvJI40rZjd-7e_k9_g_h8cXB4XdXmTY

[Inedible]

i think there's nothing we can do for those bitcoins lost so what the list is for?

The list is purely for information/fun/facts.

[teukon]

I remember this thread from awhile ago: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=7253.0

That thread might be of some use if your going to honestly sit down and try to track each address. I would make a share on google docs maybe so we all can edit

That's the actual thread I'm referring to (juuuuust over 20 Bitcoin). Google docs spreadsheet is a good idea. I'll get that done.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/166lXkfm_FeaNPvJI40rZjd-7e_k9_g_h8cXB4XdXmTY

The format of that thread is of a running total.  The 20.0001 BTC figure was simply used as an example of how SgtSpike wanted posters to report their lost bitcoins.  They're up to 134 582.378 646 59 BTC, just over 1% of the total current bitcoin supply.

[lucasjkr]

What about that guy whose bitcoins were on a dead hard disk discarded into a landfill? That's 7500 BTC right there, as I recall.

It's interesting that lost bitcoins can likely never be recovered. That seems like additional deflationary pressure over time.

They can't ever be proven as lost either. You just need to trust someones word that they lost their coins. Unless coins are sent to an address for which no corresponding private key could be generated, there's really no way to verify that coins whether coins are lost or if coins could be declared "lost" in an attempt to manipulate the value of the remaining coins (in an extreme instance). The economy shouldn't attempt to "reprice" bitcoin in an attempt to account for coin losses.

[Bit_Happy]

What about that guy whose bitcoins were on a dead hard disk discarded into a landfill? That's 7500 BTC right there, as I recall.

It's interesting that lost bitcoins can likely never be recovered. That seems like additional deflationary pressure over time.

They can't ever be proven as lost either. You just need to trust someones word that they lost their coins. Unless coins are sent to an address for which no corresponding private key could be generated, there's really no way to verify that coins whether coins are lost or if coins could be declared "lost" in an attempt to manipulate the value of the remaining coins (in an extreme instance). The economy shouldn't attempt to "reprice" bitcoin in an attempt to account for coin losses.

True, we will not ever know the accurate numbers. We can guess "at least half" of the BTC still exist (for example), but there will always be a mysterious uncertainty about the actual supply.

[btcxyzzz]

I'd like to create a definitive list of lost Bitcoins.

It's ridiculous if you think it's possible to do, especially this way.

[Inedible]

I remember this thread from awhile ago: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=7253.0

That thread might be of some use if your going to honestly sit down and try to track each address. I would make a share on google docs maybe so we all can edit

That's the actual thread I'm referring to (juuuuust over 20 Bitcoin). Google docs spreadsheet is a good idea. I'll get that done.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/166lXkfm_FeaNPvJI40rZjd-7e_k9_g_h8cXB4XdXmTY

The format of that thread is of a running total.  The 20.0001 BTC figure was simply used as an example of how SgtSpike wanted posters to report their lost bitcoins.  They're up to 134 582.378 646 59 BTC, just over 1% of the total current bitcoin supply.

Hadn't realised it was still being updated. It looked like OP hadn't updated for a while.

[Inedible]

I'd like to create a definitive list of lost Bitcoins.

It's ridiculous if you think it's possible to do, especially this way.

By definitive, I mean the best source, not that everything listed will be absolutely confirmed lost (as there's no way to do this).

[pitham1]

What about bitcoins destroyed in "Proof of Burn"?
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Proof_of_burn

[ANTIcentralized]

What about that guy whose bitcoins were on a dead hard disk discarded into a landfill? That's 7500 BTC right there, as I recall.

It's interesting that lost bitcoins can likely never be recovered. That seems like additional deflationary pressure over time.

They can't ever be proven as lost either. You just need to trust someones word that they lost their coins. Unless coins are sent to an address for which no corresponding private key could be generated, there's really no way to verify that coins whether coins are lost or if coins could be declared "lost" in an attempt to manipulate the value of the remaining coins (in an extreme instance). The economy shouldn't attempt to "reprice" bitcoin in an attempt to account for coin losses.

True, we will not ever know the accurate numbers. We can guess "at least half" of the BTC still exist (for example), but there will always be a mysterious uncertainty about the actual supply.

The only bitcoin that is truly "lost" are the bitcoin that was sent to outputs that are not able to be spent, for example bitcoin sent to an address that is valid but has no valid private key.

It would be possible to recover any bitcoin in the future via forensics as forensic technology is evolving and would be potentially be possible to recover a lost private key that one existed on a computer but is not "gone"