Some old dormant wallets which are suspected to contain lost coins can suddenly become operational in the future.
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/--5514107 
Topic: [DISCUSSION] What will happen to the "lost" bitcoins? (Read 642 times)
I disagree because not all altcoins can be seized. For instance, when ETH was stolen during the DAO hack, they forked the chain because then it was so early and as such, very few moving parts.
"Not all altcoins can be seized", and in the next breath, you give Ethereum as an example? Of course not all altcoins can be seized (e.g., Monero), but Ethereum is the perfect example of pro-censorship altcoin. It happened in the past, and it can happen in the future; in fact, it's easier to redo it with Proof-of-Stake.If it has been done lately, why haven't the ETH in wallets that scammed or hacked from other users been seized? The only seizure in recent years has been largely on CEX and not on people's personal wallets itself. ETH is a $300B asset. Do you think they care about individual user balances enough to fork the network to get it back? The altcoins I was referring to in my earlier post was token contracts that have an explicit ban and ban list as methods/functions of their token contracts.
If there's been a recent case of this on ETH, do well point me in the right direction.
I disagree because not all altcoins can be seized. For instance, when ETH was stolen during the DAO hack, they forked the chain because then it was so early and as such, very few moving parts.
"Not all altcoins can be seized", and in the next breath, you give Ethereum as an example? Of course not all altcoins can be seized (e.g., Monero), but Ethereum is the perfect example of pro-censorship altcoin. It happened in the past, and it can happen in the future; in fact, it's easier to redo it with Proof-of-Stake. 
it will be 21 million minus the bitcoins lost in wallets, which according to studies, is almost 4 million lost coins. This value will probably increase significantly as the year goes on.
and along it so is the price of Bitcoin since as more Bitcoin is lost there will be less Bitcoin in circulation which will make it more scarce in the process(or at least that is what is supposed to happen)What could happen to these lost bitcoins? Will they continue to be lost in "limbo" 
yeah, that's basically it. no one has access to them so they cannot be spent. 
About this, I wasn't talking about altcoins but still, I disagree because not all altcoins can be seized. For instance, when ETH was stolen during the DAO hack, they forked the chain because then it was so early and as such, very few moving parts. Now, no longer likely or almost impossible to do same. The altcoins that can easily be seized due to ownership being retained by the deployer of the token contracts are mostly stablecoin projects. If ownership is renounced and no owner privileges to action or ban token holders, then it should be good to go.
It exists, but not all. That's something to keep in mind.
I don't say all altcoin wallets will be seized but the risk of misuse of smart contract is there. It does not mean anything helpful for you and your fund if you belong to a minority of cryptocurrency holders with seized funds even in your wallets.It exists, but not all. That's something to keep in mind.
See the existing risk from smart contracts and be more careful with altcoins. Smart contracts have mint function that allows scam developers to mint massive new tokens and dump token price. Generally you can see many risks converged with altcoins, so let's aware about these risks first, and make your decisions carefully to invest money in Bitcoin or altcoins.
Your example about ETH fork after The DAO Hack, is not related to a risk from smart contract and fund freeze mentioned in my post.
The popular phase — "Not your keys, not your crypto" can be rephrase to mean "Your crypto, your responsibility". So if you lose it, it's not the chain's fault.
It is true if you say "It's not your keys, it's not your bitcoins" but it can turn to be untrue if you say "It's not your keys, it's not your crypto".Because altcoins with smart contracts can help governments, developers to seize your altcoins, tokens in your own non custodial open source wallets too. They can use smart contracts for doing this. So with altcoins, if you have private keys, mnemonic seeds, it does not mean you own altcoins.
About this, I wasn't talking about altcoins but still, I disagree because not all altcoins can be seized. For instance, when ETH was stolen during the DAO hack, they forked the chain because then it was so early and as such, very few moving parts. Now, no longer likely or almost impossible to do same. The altcoins that can easily be seized due to ownership being retained by the deployer of the token contracts are mostly stablecoin projects. If ownership is renounced and no owner privileges to action or ban token holders, then it should be good to go.
It exists, but not all. That's something to keep in mind.
When something is lost, in some cases there are always chances of getting it back if there is careful retracing. The same is applicable to bitcoin. Someone can lose access to their holdings today and still regain access to them again in times to come. Only those coins that are sent to the burn address are what I consider to be what's lost forever.
If the lost thing is ever recovered, if it is lucky, it can be recovered, if not, it cannot be said. It seems to me that lost bitcoins can never be recovered because it's not like I'm leaving it somewhere and maybe I'll find it if I look for it. Bitcoin is a completely different system so I think if it is lost it can't be found again. If Bitcoin is transferred to someone's wallet by mistake, then it cannot be recovered.But you are right that if the coins are sent to a useless address it is never recovered it is completely destroyed. Many coins have been lost in this way that can never be recovered or come back.
When something is lost, it means you can not have access to it again, unless you luckily find what can grant you access to what you have lost. The possibility of losing your Bitcoin is if you no longer have access to your private key and it was an act that was very common years back, probably because Bitcoiners of that time didn't know that Bitcoin will become very appreciative to what it is today.
When something is lost, in some cases there are always chances of getting it back if there is careful retracing. The same is applicable to bitcoin.Someone can lose access to their holdings today and still regain access to them again in times to come. Only those coins that are sent to the burn address are what I consider to be what's lost forever.
The circulation limit of the asset will not be just 21 million (value estimated by the system), it will be 21 million minus the bitcoins lost in wallets, which according to studies, is almost 4 million lost coins.
There are no "studies". There are less than 5 thousand bitcoin provably lost; the rest are just bareless speculation. 4 million is extraordinary, even with bareless speculation. Where did you find that number?Quote
What could happen to these lost bitcoins? Will they continue to be lost in "limbo"
If you refer to non-provably lost (AKA, speculation), then either their owners will find access, or they will remain lost for a very long time. Those with public keys exposed can be brought into circulation when ECDLP can be solved within a reasonable time by quantum computers.I don't see the problem with coins being lost, though. The quantity of money does not matter. Even with just a thousand bitcoin in circulation, it can still be traded and used as money.
The popular phase — "Not your keys, not your crypto" can be rephrase to me "Your crypto, your responsibility". So if you lose it, it's not the chain's fault.
It is true if you say "It's not your keys, it's not your bitcoins" but it can turn to be untrue if you say "It's not your keys, it's not your crypto".Because altcoins with smart contracts can help governments, developers to seize your altcoins, tokens in your own non custodial open source wallets too. They can use smart contracts for doing this. So with altcoins, if you have private keys, mnemonic seeds, it does not mean you own altcoins.
https://chainsec.io/nyknyc/
Bitcoin Q&A: Not your Keys, Not your Coins
PSA: Most Stablecoins Can Be Frozen, Even in Your Own Wallets
Those coins are lost. As the term says, unless the owners of those Bitcoins manages to find the keys to their wallet and retrieve those coins, then it's gone forever. Bitcoin isn't just some small network that can be forked off to retrieve all lost coins. If anything, those lost coins reduces the supply which most economists will agree that is good for the tokenomics and demand.
The popular phase — "Not your keys, not your crypto" can be rephrase to me "Your crypto, your responsibility". So if you lose it, it's not the chain's fault.
The popular phase — "Not your keys, not your crypto" can be rephrase to me "Your crypto, your responsibility". So if you lose it, it's not the chain's fault.
What could happen to these lost bitcoins? Will they continue to be lost in "limbo"
I don’t think anything will happen to lost bitcoin, as long as your bitcoin is lost, then it’s going to be lost, and I don’t think there is any means by which lost bitcoin can be recovered. That’s why we are supposed to properly secure our bitcoin, we should make sure we make use of the right wallet to store our bitcoin, and we should properly secure our wallet private key. There are some scammers that do claim they can recover lost bitcoin. If you lose your bitcoin, it’s better you just move on, but don’t even try to pay anyone to recover your lost bitcoin for you because they are just going to scam you, and your loss will be more. There is nothing like a bitcoin recovery service after losing your bitcoin.
I've always had a big question about the bitcoins in wallets that were lost over time
This is a FAQ
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Help:FAQ#But_if_no_more_coins_are_generated,_what_happens_when_Bitcoins_are_lost?_Won't_that_be_a_problem?
They are lost to a good cause, basically.
I wouldn't really put it in this way, despite the fact that as Satoshi said: they make everyone's coins worth slightly more. However, you cannot call it a good cause when people lose their private keys or seed phrase and cannot recover their funds, or when people lose their hard drive, like James Howells did, and can no longer recover their coins, it is sad for the victims and unfair on them to call it a 'good cause'. I believe if bitcoin is sent to an address that is with a correct checksum that particular bitcoin isn’t lost because there is tendency of it been spent
A PKH address is a ripe160 hash of a sha256 hash of a pubkey, with a one-byte prefix and a 4-byte checksum suffix
But the prefix and the checksum are not stored in the TXO. Only the 20-byte RIPE hash is stored
Quote
The only validly lost bitcoin is that sent to a burn address, like using the the usual OP-return method which means the output can never be spent, this is the only way the coin is lost in my opinion
Correction. An OP_RETURN TXO does not have an address, so it's not "sent to a burn address"
Hello friends, this is my first discussion on the forum, and it's a pleasure to be part of this environment 
I've always had a big question about the bitcoins in wallets that were lost over time. Of course, this is not something to worry about right now, but when will the limit of bitcoins be mined be reached? The circulation limit of the asset will not be just 21 million (value estimated by the system), it will be 21 million minus the bitcoins lost in wallets, which according to studies, is almost 4 million lost coins. This value will probably increase significantly as the year goes on.
What could happen to these lost bitcoins? Will they continue to be lost in "limbo"
I've always had a big question about the bitcoins in wallets that were lost over time. Of course, this is not something to worry about right now, but when will the limit of bitcoins be mined be reached? The circulation limit of the asset will not be just 21 million (value estimated by the system), it will be 21 million minus the bitcoins lost in wallets, which according to studies, is almost 4 million lost coins. This value will probably increase significantly as the year goes on.
What could happen to these lost bitcoins? Will they continue to be lost in "limbo"
The short answer is... nothing will happen to the lost Bitcoins. They will remain untouched unless someone finds the wallets and restores the forgotten passwords/seed phrases. Just like Satoshi once said "all lost Bitcoins are a donation to the community", which means that lost BTC make Bitcoin more scarce and increase it's value. If we add quantum computing to the equation, things become a little bit different. Maybe someone could use quantum computers to brute force the passwords and seed phrases of all BTC wallets. This would make Bitcoin worthless, but I'm sure that the BTC developers will find a way to make Bitcoin quantum resistant.
they're gone forever but it also adds sense of scarcity towards the circulating BTC which is still a win for any bitcoin holders at the end of the day.
I think you don't need to worry about it, even if the lost BTC increases in number, market will compensate, BTC is deflationary currency, the value will always go up since total supply is hard capped, i'd say the longer you hold your bitcoin, the more scarce and rare it becomes, it's like holding treasure if i'm being honest.
this thing also what motivates some people into hoarding BTC, because it's just that good for investment.
I think you don't need to worry about it, even if the lost BTC increases in number, market will compensate, BTC is deflationary currency, the value will always go up since total supply is hard capped, i'd say the longer you hold your bitcoin, the more scarce and rare it becomes, it's like holding treasure if i'm being honest.
this thing also what motivates some people into hoarding BTC, because it's just that good for investment.
They are lost to a good cause, basically.
I wonder what if d5000's concept would come to life eventually, never heard or dug into some quantum and how they would be able to make something impossible - possible, but it's sure a ride to be interesting.
The lost bitcoin is part of the coin in circulation as it will add to the marketcap. But because they are lost, this will increase the value of bitcoin because it will make bitcoin to be more scarce.
That's actually true, lost coin can not be recovered but it add value to the market. Because one good quality of anything is scarcity, for anything to have value It must be relatively scarce. this was a quote from Satoshi Nakamoto about lost coin.Lost coins only make everyone else's coins worth slightly more. Think of it as a donation to everyone.
This implies that the more bitcoin lost the more it becomes more scarce and also more expensive. 
they're gone forever but it also adds sense of scarcity towards the circulating BTC which is still a win for any bitcoin holders at the end of the day.
I think you don't need to worry about it, even if the lost BTC increases in number, market will compensate, BTC is deflationary currency, the value will always go up since total supply is hard capped, i'd say the longer you hold your bitcoin, the more scarce and rare it becomes, it's like holding treasure if i'm being honest.
this thing also what motivates some people into hoarding BTC, because it's just that good for investment.
I think you don't need to worry about it, even if the lost BTC increases in number, market will compensate, BTC is deflationary currency, the value will always go up since total supply is hard capped, i'd say the longer you hold your bitcoin, the more scarce and rare it becomes, it's like holding treasure if i'm being honest.
this thing also what motivates some people into hoarding BTC, because it's just that good for investment.
Given enough time, lost coins will be reclaimed by technology that is able to claim them. Of course when the time comes non-lost coins will not be vulnerable to the same technology that claims lost coins.
This is indeed a possibility for those old miner coins nobody is spending (many of them are supposed to be Satoshi's) - think of quantum computers able to break ECDSA. The P2PK transactions could be "cracked" in theory.Just recently there was a discussion about the economic consequences of this scenario -- let's say quantum computers (or any other future computing technology) gets strong enough to break the keys because P2PK transactions expose the public keys, and Shor's algorithm could in theory calculate the private key taking the public key.
Once this becomes a possibility, opcodes for post quantum cryptography could be added and users be heavily recommended to transact their Bitcoins. And those who do not, have used P2PK and have re-used their address, would be vulnerable to this attack.
Altcoins have often already performed similar swaps, so it's no nuclear science. The only problem is that if there's much onchain activity and the change comes too late, then there could be a huge fee spike, so it would make sense to add post-quantum cryptography challenges relatively early.
And once these "presumed lost coins" which don't participate in this "swap" (not the "provably lost coins" like those burnt in OP_RETURN transactions!) are attacked, then they would be redistributed by the hackers (I don't believe they'll try to HODL).
Maybe even today with BitVM you could already create a post-quantum challenge? This would actually an interesting idea (Edit: I opened a thread about this for those interested).
The "quantum computer attack" is however a very remote possibility and also has been discussed several times here.
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