Author

Topic: Are lost bitcoins lost for ever? Really? (Read 1098 times)

legendary
Activity: 1078
Merit: 1003
February 27, 2013, 06:51:07 PM
#7
Here's a graph that shows this: http://statistics.ecdsa.org/

Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be current.
sr. member
Activity: 476
Merit: 250
February 27, 2013, 06:39:48 PM
#6
Lost coins only make everyone else's coins worth slightly more.  Think of it as a donation to everyone
legendary
Activity: 1122
Merit: 1017
ASMR El Salvador
February 27, 2013, 06:36:49 PM
#5
Coins that are not circulating - either because they are lost/inaccessible or because the owner doesn't spend them and holds to them - drive the bitcoin price up. Basically, the law of 'demand and supply' at work.
If too much bitcoins were lost it would urge the protocol adapted to have more than eight decimals, because the price could become too high.

It is certainly possible to find out how many coins have not been used during a certain time, and sort out information from the blockchain in all sorts of ways and with all sorts of parameters in analysis.
legendary
Activity: 3598
Merit: 2386
Viva Ut Vivas
February 27, 2013, 03:56:33 PM
#4
Forever is a long time. You can grab the private key for any of the addresses before then.
sr. member
Activity: 294
Merit: 250
You are a geek if you are too early to the party!
February 27, 2013, 03:18:59 PM
#3
Thank you!

Maybe I should have pressed the search button - I will do next time!

Smiley
hero member
Activity: 518
Merit: 500
February 27, 2013, 03:16:07 PM
#2
Being new to this, I may have misunderstood an element of the infrastructure of bitcoins, so with that disclaimer, here is my query.

I assume that all coins appear on the blockchain at least once when they have been mined, so, would it be possible to highlight coins which have not been used for a long time or even more than once?

Is this possible?

If not, I would love someone to link me to a tutorial explaining the blockchain in a way that I may understand! Wink

Thanks



Quick answer before everyone flips out:

No, they are not forever lost. They still live where ever they were sent and it is "theoretically" possible to retrieve them but borders impossible.

No, there will never be a way to force move "inactive" coins as they maybe stored there on purpose as savings, ect Plus, do you really want people to have to power to forcibly steal your bitcoins? This has been discussed ad nauseum, so if you'd like to know more about this do a few searches on this forum.
sr. member
Activity: 294
Merit: 250
You are a geek if you are too early to the party!
February 27, 2013, 03:03:37 PM
#1
Being new to this, I may have misunderstood an element of the infrastructure of bitcoins, so with that disclaimer, here is my query.

I assume that all coins appear on the blockchain at least once when they have been mined, so, would it be possible to highlight coins which have not been used for a long time or even more than once?

Is this possible?

If not, I would love someone to link me to a tutorial explaining the blockchain in a way that I may understand! Wink

Thanks

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