Topic: how Bitcoin will deal with lost tokens? (Read 643 times)
That's what's going to make bitcoin prices go up much higher and never go low at a certain point because the limited supply is reduced because of lost coins. I don't think that there's no way to recover those coins but it's not a thing to worry because it will make you coins much more valuable.
They are lost forever in thin air. I think there happened a time where a lot of people lost their coins and wallets? I don't know, maybe bad luck just turned on others and have them unlucky to lose their currencies.
~snip
If there was a technology that is able to recover lost coins then that technology can also "recover" coins that are in reality not lost, aka theft! If ever there is a technology that can recover private keys for BTC, it is game over for all of us. Let's pray that lost coins will be lost forever!
You can't know whether there is an improvement in security. Do you know what the most problematic issue in security information and technology is? That in almost any case you find out about fatal weaknesses when that fatal weakness has been or is being exploited. How do you know how much your supervision camera on your front door is worth? How do you know that? Is it worth $100? Or the $500 you paid? Nobody ever breaks in because you have that camera, or someone easily shuts it down and still breaks in. Security is difficult because the attacker has the advantage of 360 attack angles. The defender doesn't know where the attack will come from and what it will be like.
Think about the following scenario: Satoshis wallet possesses a million Bitcoins, roughly, we agree on that. Satoshi is dead, we assume that. An attacker develops a technology to reverse engineer the private key. What would the attacker do? He would pretend to be Satoshi. Maybe he would move small amounts from those wallets. We all would get excited, oh my god Satoshi moves his coins! But it's an attacker who succeeded. We wouldn't even realize what's going on.
What happens to all the coins in lost wallets in the Bitcoin system? If there are only a finite number of coins, won't they become increasingly scarce as people lose them over time?
Sometimes I have thought of this and what can be a possible solution to it, but I can’t imagine any means that this can be solved. Except that we are just going to continue with what we have and not bother about whether there are coins getting missed. I think the only thing that’s going to do is that it is going to reduce the rate of supply, and by reducing the rate of supply available, we are going to see the price of bitcoin go higher since there wouldn’t be enough to fit the level of demand.But in the past, we have seen issues where there are kind of errors (or maybe hacks) that caused the number of Bitcoins available to increase more than the twenty one million there is. So that shows that there is the possibility of increasing it in future if the developers wants to, but I am not certain that they will do that kind of thing.
What happens to all the coins in lost wallets in the Bitcoin system? If there are only a finite number of coins, won't they become increasingly scarce as people lose them over time?
Let me tell what happens. They are all gone forever.
Because there is no way to recover the necessary information to get access if one forgets where he/she keeps it. However, they will still maintain their existence as they won't be destroyed automatically. Because they aren't burned or so in the end. 
It will lost forever. But I think the value wil not lost. The value or price of bitcoin is depend on supply and demand so when there is less supply then the valueor price will be increase. It's very different with fiat, although you still hold the money you will still lost a percentage of the value because of inflation.
~snip
If there was a technology that is able to recover lost coins then that technology can also "recover" coins that are in reality not lost, aka theft! If ever there is a technology that can recover private keys for BTC, it is game over for all of us. Let's pray that lost coins will be lost forever!
What happens to all the coins in lost wallets in the Bitcoin system?
Those coins remain usable to anyone who is able to obtain the private keys to that wallet. If they are not found ever, then the coins are considered as good as lost and nothing happens to them.Quote
If there are only a finite number of coins, won't they become increasingly scarce as people lose them over time?
Yes. This in turn makes every bitcoin owner more and more cautious about the number of coins that they own and secure their own assets. Lost coins end up raising the value of the coins that other people own and that is why one must guard their coins with proper measures or end up like the people who talk in chatboxes about their old hard disks with password of lost wallets. ~snip
If you were able to recover lost coins because a private key is lost, it would be the end of Bitcoin because that means you could solve the one way encryption technology for a two way one. That'd be bad as you can imagine because that means someone could derive the private key from your public key.If there was a technology that is able to recover lost coins then that technology can also "recover" coins that are in reality not lost, aka theft!
If ever there is a technology that can recover private keys for BTC, it is game over for all of us. Let's pray that lost coins will be lost forever!
That should be negligence for losing BTC, you need to keep a private key safely and that is only way to gain access to BTC. Nobody will joke with this anymore when the price is skyrocketing and getting massive adoption.
There are also a lot of crazy stories about lost coins already. Just google it. There is a guy from New York who lost a password for a wallet with BTC that holds close to $100 million. He had 10 tries to type it in and now has only two tries left. That gives you the real sweat. 
Satoshi nakamoto already answered this question more than 10 years ago...
And you can find that quote in a lot of sites right now... is one of the most famous quotes.
The only ones who will be sad about the lost coins would be the guys who lost them. But for the market is something good.
which is good because the circulation of coins is decreasing and it will make the coins rarer and the price will increase. We also know that the supply of bitcoin is only 21 million and if there are some people who lose the keys to their wallets with a large amount of BTC, it will certainly reduce the supply in circulation. The wallet cannot be opened by anyone and becomes the grave of the coin. Lost coins only make everyone else's coins worth slightly more. Think of it as a donation to everyone.
And you can find that quote in a lot of sites right now... is one of the most famous quotes.
The only ones who will be sad about the lost coins would be the guys who lost them. But for the market is something good.
~snip
If you were able to recover lost coins because a private key is lost, it would be the end of Bitcoin because that means you could solve the one way encryption technology for a two way one. That'd be bad as you can imagine because that means someone could derive the private key from your public key.
Satoshi nakamoto already answered this question more than 10 years ago...
And you can find that quote in a lot of sites right now... is one of the most famous quotes.
The only ones who will be sad about the lost coins would be the guys who lost them. But for the market is something good.
Lost coins only make everyone else's coins worth slightly more. Think of it as a donation to everyone.
And you can find that quote in a lot of sites right now... is one of the most famous quotes.
The only ones who will be sad about the lost coins would be the guys who lost them. But for the market is something good.
What happens to all the coins in lost wallets in the Bitcoin system? If there are only a finite number of coins, won't they become increasingly scarce as people lose them over time?
What would happen? That would be considered lost forever and there's nothing we can do about it because it isnt possible to access those coins back and would be redistributed because that will totally break the true essence of decentralisation of bitcoin and for sure lots eill really not be happy with that in case. Just let it be and that means total coins overall would be less in circulation which means the higher value it could possibly reached. Yes its just wasteful to think off but lets move on and forget those lost coin issues.
What happens to all the coins in lost wallets in the Bitcoin system? If there are only a finite number of coins, won't they become increasingly scarce as people lose them over time?
Well they are gone forever and there is no way to recover them. Most of coins were abandon by their owners in early days of bitcoin when price was almost zero. Also if you lose key of your coin they are gone forever. Thats what decentralization is about, there is no central authority.
What happens to all the coins in lost wallets in the Bitcoin system? If there are only a finite number of coins, won't they become increasingly scarce as people lose them over time?
These will just be lost coins. They'd still account for the circulating BTC coins but they won't be actively circulating. This is why its so important to keep your private key safe and secure, because once it's gone it is gone forever.
Bitcoin deals with lost tokens by making the price of itself go up and never go any lower than that because there is no way to recover them with our current keycracking technology, lost coins will forever be lost, frozen in these inaccessible addresses. To everyone, if you don't want to contribute to lost tokens then you should take care of your important information to access your wallets, never lose them.
If you were able to recover lost coins because a private key is lost, it would be the end of Bitcoin because that means you could solve the one way encryption technology for a two way one. That'd be bad as you can imagine because that means someone could derive the private key from your public key.
Bitcoin deals with lost tokens by making the price of itself go up and never go any lower than that because there is no way to recover them with our current keycracking technology, lost coins will forever be lost, frozen in these inaccessible addresses. To everyone, if you don't want to contribute to lost tokens then you should take care of your important information to access your wallets, never lose them.
AFAIK lost bitcoin actually contribute to bitcoins value addition as they are pulled out of circulation to avoid say inflation, and what remains people have to compete for and its price goes up.
If I can make reference to how the fiat system works, if a central bank is in a habit of printing money, what happens next is inflation and loss of buying power which is a similar thing that happens with btc except you can't print /create new coins as the total supply is capped.
If I can make reference to how the fiat system works, if a central bank is in a habit of printing money, what happens next is inflation and loss of buying power which is a similar thing that happens with btc except you can't print /create new coins as the total supply is capped.
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