Topic: Is there a long-term strategy to deal with "lost" bitcoins? (Read 1074 times)
You just need to be smart about what you do. Keep your passwords safe and don't get into any disagreements. It is pretty simple.
hearing about this from the people but not conform. i think it will take a little more time to do so. i have a friend who is really expert in bitcoin i think he will know better about this.
That's the plan, they get lost, more valuable the rest of our coins are.
Think of it as a donation to the rest of us.
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.1647
Think of it as a donation to the rest of us.
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.1647
Thanks all, good replies, esp. franky1. I agree tail emissions or other ways of creating additional BTC in the future should not be created.
It sounds like the consensus answer to my OP is essentially "nothing should be done because the value of the 'free' BTC should increase since it would be more scarce."
Sounds good to me. Thanks all!
It sounds like the consensus answer to my OP is essentially "nothing should be done because the value of the 'free' BTC should increase since it would be more scarce."
Sounds good to me. Thanks all!
thats honestly the biggest problem I have in getting new people involved
with bitcoin.
Everyone is so worried they will lose the wallet or not back it up properly
with bitcoin.
Everyone is so worried they will lose the wallet or not back it up properly
Why should there be any strategy? People need to take care of their property. BTC lost means less BTC in the market which translates to a higher price.
One of the biggest strong BTC points is scarcity and limited number.
So, PLEASE make sure to protect your property.
One of the biggest strong BTC points is scarcity and limited number.
So, PLEASE make sure to protect your property.
Unfortunately, every way to store your Bitcoins is not fail safe. The data can be destroyed or stolen. You could try redundancy, so that your risk of it being totally destroyed is negligible, however; each copy that you make increases the chance of theft...
Also, if you make it too safe, if you die unexpectedly, no one will be able to recover your coins. However, if you share the access of coins with other(s), betrayal can be a bitch. Remember, the person in the best position to betray you, is the one you trust the most.
People will forget/lose their wallet passwords. For some multisig wallets, some funds will never be released due to disagreements. Over time, the number of BTC in circulation will decrease because of these things. I don't want to use the word "risk" because this is more like an inevitability, but has a mitigation strategy been planned for this?
i think this strategy should work: check your wallet everyday or atleast once in a week but dont spend anything from it. it will help you remember your password every week you log in. i follow this strategy for long term holding. 
Why should there be any strategy? People need to take care of their property. BTC lost means less BTC in the market which translates to a higher price.
One of the biggest strong BTC points is scarcity and limited number.
So, PLEASE make sure to protect your property.
One of the biggest strong BTC points is scarcity and limited number.
So, PLEASE make sure to protect your property.
This will not even be a problem for quite sometime since the amount of new coins mined will exceed the amount possibly being lost for quite a while. The first problem may very well be the time when computing becomes so fast, that using a brute force attack, generating private keys to steal coins, actually becomes feasible.
Sounds like its actually a good idea to open up some sort of business helping people with lost passwords ect. You could charge a fortune but is it even possible. How long can it take to try and crack the wallet.
I don't think passwords can be randomly brute-forced without providing a hint first for a combination of possible words used in the creation of the password. Forgetting the password would mean the Bitcons in that wallet are simply not recoverable with conventional means unless people use the immense calculating power of quantum computing. However right now we can't do much to rescue the 'lost' Bitcoins ourselves but we could use the services of people who specialize in lost data recovery. I believe there was one guy particularly skilled in Bitcoin wallet recovery but I can't remember what his website was called. He has done some gigs for a lot of Bitcoin companies though and his website was posted here before.
passwords are indeed brute forcable..
however the "entropy" (amount of characters) of a private key is far far far larger then most people use for a password
passwords are weak
passwords that only let you have access to your "credit" while the service providor holds the real private keys makes it even worse
this is why you should store your private keys.. and why HDwallet seeds are much better. because you only need to store one high entropy collection of words once, to have access to a whole supply of more private keys then youll ever need
they are a good donation to the comunity, they increase the value of the remining coins, soit's not a bad thing
now if the whole majority would be lost, that another thing, problably it would start to be a problem, if millions of coins were lost
now if the whole majority would be lost, that another thing, problably it would start to be a problem, if millions of coins were lost
I'm not aware of all online wallet's policies but my guess is that some of them will open their users accounts after some years of inactivity anb get their coins.
if you hand over funds to an online service. the funds are no longer your "property".. but instead "credit" held on an sql database
imagine it this way
imagine you had FIAT in your checking account. but you decided to let someone 'manage' it for you. first deposit into their account
then later
you do not personally reach into their pocket and sign the checks for them to just to post. instead you tell them (withdrawal request) how much you want to move and where you want it moved.
they then check their little book to make sure you have credit(sql database). and then they sign the check with their handwriting moving funds from their holdings to the destination..
if they cannot identify you as the credit holder(forgot password). you will not be able to request funds moved. and you definitely cant sign a transaction because the funds are on only recognised by signatures made by the other person. not you
in short
do not rely on online services. dont rely on passwords.. unless you have the private keys, you have nothing
Sounds like its actually a good idea to open up some sort of business helping people with lost passwords ect. You could charge a fortune but is it even possible. How long can it take to try and crack the wallet.
I don't think passwords can be randomly brute-forced without providing a hint first for a combination of possible words used in the creation of the password. Forgetting the password would mean the Bitcons in that wallet are simply not recoverable with conventional means unless people use the immense calculating power of quantum computing. However right now we can't do much to rescue the 'lost' Bitcoins ourselves but we could use the services of people who specialize in lost data recovery. I believe there was one guy particularly skilled in Bitcoin wallet recovery but I can't remember what his website was called. He has done some gigs for a lot of Bitcoin companies though and his website was posted here before.
I'm not aware of all online wallet's policies but my guess is that some of them will open their users accounts after some years of inactivity anb get their coins.
This shouldn't be an issue in the short term or even relatively long term. But yea if we keep losing coins, over 100s of years this problem will eventually require attention from the devs. I'm sure they'll figure something out when the time comes. For the immediate future though, it'll only boost the value of the remaining coins.
I was just trying to say that new bitcoins wont be available but breakdowns of btc will be. Still not new coins.
you do realise that the mechanics of the system are actually from satoshi's UP.. not bitcoin DOWN
though you may see on the front end a bitcoin as being 1btc
underneath, a bitcoin in the code is actually, technically and realistically.. displayed, calculated, validated and treated as 100,000,000
the 1btc is just a "userfriendly" visual aid that people have got used to seeing
so if you wanted to increase the "decimals of a bitcoin" you are just creating more bitcoin by having more satoshi's
but you're having no more actually full btc's, just more sats. So all I'm trying to explain is that even though you have more sats available you wont have more full bitcoins available. And I do know it works up.
I was just trying to say that new bitcoins wont be available but breakdowns of btc will be. Still not new coins.
you do realise that the mechanics of the system are actually from satoshi's UP.. not bitcoin DOWN
though you may see on the front end a bitcoin as being 1btc
underneath, a bitcoin in the code is actually, technically and realistically.. displayed, calculated, validated and treated as 100,000,000
the 1btc is just a "userfriendly" visual aid that people have got used to seeing
so if you wanted to increase the "decimals of a bitcoin" you are just creating more bitcoin by having more satoshi's
Remember though, if your worried about a diminishing money supply, you can always go out to more than 8 decimal places with bitcoin, which in theory, could create unlimited amounts of coins.
Not unlimited amounts of coins, unlimited amounts of satoshis.
going from
2,100,000,000,000,000 satoshi cap to just a single extra decimal is
21,000,000,000,000,000 satoshi cap
going from 2.1Trill to 21trill sats, is technically the same as going from 21m(coins) to 210m(coins). which is even more ridiculous idea then just going to 22m coins or even 42mill coins.
seriously people. why are you people thinking that destroying fungibility or increasing the cap are things we should even consider!
your missing the point of bitcoin and you should go back to FIAT if you are even thinking changing fungibility or scarcity is a good thing
If a Satoshi was to be lock in at the smallest unit of Bitcoin, and you increased the number of decimal places, it technically only changes the fungibility, which I can see you having an issue with and I also have an issue with.
I was just trying to say that new bitcoins wont be available but breakdowns of btc will be. Still not new coins.
Remember though, if your worried about a diminishing money supply, you can always go out to more than 8 decimal places with bitcoin, which in theory, could create unlimited amounts of coins.
Not unlimited amounts of coins, unlimited amounts of satoshis.
going from
2,100,000,000,000,000 satoshi cap to just a single extra decimal is
21,000,000,000,000,000 satoshi cap
going from 2.1Trill to 21trill sats, is technically the same as going from 21m(coins) to 210m(coins). which is even more ridiculous idea then just going to 22m coins or even 42mill coins.
seriously people. why are you people thinking that destroying fungibility or increasing the cap are things we should even consider!
your missing the point of bitcoin and you should go back to FIAT if you are even thinking changing fungibility or scarcity is a good thing
If a Satoshi was to be lock in at the smallest unit of Bitcoin, and you increased the number of decimal places, it technically only changes the fungibility, which I can see you having an issue with and I also have an issue with.
Remember though, if your worried about a diminishing money supply, you can always go out to more than 8 decimal places with bitcoin, which in theory, could create unlimited amounts of coins.
Not unlimited amounts of coins, unlimited amounts of satoshis.
going from
2,100,000,000,000,000 satoshi cap to just a single extra decimal is
21,000,000,000,000,000 satoshi cap
going from 2.1Trill to 21trill sats, is technically the same as going from 21m(coins) to 210m(coins). which is even more ridiculous idea then just going to 22m coins or even 42mill coins.
put it another way
if there are 170,000 tonnes(170,000,000,000grams) of gold. and specialists told you there will no longer be another tonne of gold ever..
but a year later some one makes 1530000000000 grabs of gold meaning
now 1,700,000000000grams of gold.
you cannot seriously say "but theres still only 170,000 tonnes"
seriously people. why are you people thinking that destroying fungibility or increasing the cap are things we should even consider!
your missing the point of bitcoin and you should go back to FIAT if you are even thinking changing fungibility or scarcity is a good thing
Jump to: