and thats 21,000,000 bitcoins which wont be fully mined for about another 100 years
and it is true that the lower the circulating supply the higher the value, provided people want to buy it.
The critical amount of Bitcoins lost is hard to compute before it gives diminishing returns but its all subjective and hypothetical at this stage really.
In November 2017 this report came out that just under 4,000,000 coins have been lost forever but the rate of loss will slow down.
http://fortune.com/2017/11/25/lost-bitcoins/
Very informative article that you have thrown off. I imagine and could not, so many coins are in a derelict condition. I couldn't even imagine the big money. I calculated the exchange rate today bitcoin and get the amount of 30 trillion dollars. That's a huge amount. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!