Is the amount of bitcoins the amount that have been found, or is it the total amount and we just have not been allocated them yet? When somebody mines a block, have they increased the number of bitcoins? Does losing bitcoins affect the total, like the 20000 added up in the counting lost bitcoin thread?
Does the total number of bitcoins affect the price you are willing to pay for them?
Does the total number of bitcoins affect the price you are willing to pay for them?
Yes the amount is the amount that have been found (ie. mined). Right now that amount is about 6.5-7 million. The final amount is 21 million coins, but this amount won't ever be reached. Yes, when someone mines a block they get 50 NEW bitcoins. If bitcoins are, "lost" then they are gone forever. Well they aren't lost, they are just in a wallet that will never be spent/traded. Therefor you can say that the total amount is the total amount of bitcoins that have been mined MINUS the amount that have been lost.
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Does the total number of bitcoins affect the price you are willing to pay for them?
Nope. The price is entirely dictated by buyers and sellers negotiating (indirectly) what they are willing to sell for and what they willing to buy for. Its the supply and demand for the bitcoins on the exchanges that dictate the price.
