Topic: The Lost Coins - page 2. (Read 2112 times)
I like to think of the coins as in limbo, rather than lost or gone.
No effect on economy. Bitcoin will survive even if only the last block produced is left because it is infinitely divisible.
Thus the word "infinitely divisible" could also mean "unlimited"?
there will be 21M (or extremly close to that) existing Bitcoins. but not all of them will be spendable due to lost keys and invalid addresses
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No effect on economy. Bitcoin will survive even if only the last block produced is left because it is infinitely divisible.
So you're saying it's possible that the number of bitcoins would never reach the 21 million coin goal?
And by the way I don't really know what I'm talking about, just trying to understand the system a little better.
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What about coins that disappear due to some flaw in the bitcoin software?
no private key -> no coins. doesn't matter what caused ita flaw in the software can delete the entire chainblock and there will be no bitcoin at all
you need to be a lot more specific
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No effect on economy. Bitcoin will survive even if only the last block produced is left because it is infinitely divisible.
that's theoretically. currently i think its up to 8 decimal places 
No effect on economy. Bitcoin will survive even if only the last block produced is left because it is infinitely divisible.
What about coins that disappear due to some flaw in the bitcoin software?
lost forever
you need the private key of that address to use the coins
the key is a very long number, it will take you more than the age of humankind to find the one that fits the specific address you are after
you are basically trying to access an address that doesn't belong to you. it doesn't matter if anyone ever owned that address.
*one possible way to find the private key in a sensible amount of time is with a quantum computer that doesn't exist yet
you need the private key of that address to use the coins
the key is a very long number, it will take you more than the age of humankind to find the one that fits the specific address you are after
you are basically trying to access an address that doesn't belong to you. it doesn't matter if anyone ever owned that address.
*one possible way to find the private key in a sensible amount of time is with a quantum computer that doesn't exist yet
I've read some discussions about this topic before, but none of them ever really provided a satisfying answer.
About a year ago, I remembered reading about some people misplacing thousands of bitcoins due to some flaw in the software. I guess that doesn't really happen much anymore, but there is still the chance of sending coins to the wrong address or whatnot. But for all of these coins that are just "lost", are they really gone forever or can they be remined? And does that have any real effect on the economy?
About a year ago, I remembered reading about some people misplacing thousands of bitcoins due to some flaw in the software. I guess that doesn't really happen much anymore, but there is still the chance of sending coins to the wrong address or whatnot. But for all of these coins that are just "lost", are they really gone forever or can they be remined? And does that have any real effect on the economy?
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