Topic: What will happen to 'lost' coins? - page 3. (Read 422 times)
to my knowledge guys, when the private key is lost, then the wallet address can not be opened again. although very many tokens are owned. automatically, it looks like the coins contained in the wallet's address can not be opened by anyone. if my opinion is wrong, please be advised, still very less experience. my advice, keep a good private key.
I meet loads of people who have collected coins everywhere. They have 20 different types of wallets with a little bit of value. It's due to happen that people will loose their private keys or forget that they even have an account. Over time that value could accumulate pretty big. What will happen to these 'lost' coins? Will these stay on the Blockchain forever, accessible to no one anymore?
A coin or token stays where it is unless someone or something transfers it to another location or wallet. So in this case, if a user forgets or lost his private key, then the coins or tokens inside that wallet will stay in it forever. This is the effect of decentralization (not saying its is a negative effect not a positive one). Having those coins or tokens be lost then we could consider them as burnt. Thus, contributing to the scarcity of that specific coin or token and, a possible, increase in its market value.
Speaking specifically about Bitcoin, I found this article (linked below) claiming that nearly 4 million bitcoins are already very likely to have been lost:
I don't know how much of this makes sense, to me the number is simply too high. But, who knows. Another point being made in the linked article is that people are going to be much more careful when sending bitcoins in the future, now that the value of this crypto-currency has been firmly established.
Quote
According to new research from Chainalysis, a digital forensics firm that studies the bitcoin blockchain, 3.79 million bitcoins are already gone for good based on a high estimate—and 2.78 million based on a low one. Those numbers imply 17% to 23% of existing bitcoins, which are today worth around $8,500 each, are lost.
Source: http://fortune.com/2017/11/25/lost-bitcoins/
Source: http://fortune.com/2017/11/25/lost-bitcoins/
I don't know how much of this makes sense, to me the number is simply too high. But, who knows. Another point being made in the linked article is that people are going to be much more careful when sending bitcoins in the future, now that the value of this crypto-currency has been firmly established.
actually the numbers are somewhat near to what can be called lost. Some miners are insane if I may say.
Really. I have read a news back in 2017 where a miner made a mistake or something during the mining of a certain block. They've lost like a hundred thousand bitcoins in a block, iirc.
Correct me i am wrong though. I cannot remember it really. Just the news about some lost bitcoins.
If anyone forget their wallet privatekey with full of token and cryptocurrency inside, they'll lose them forever and there are no way these cryptocurrency can be transferred to anyone wallet. But I think it's really hard to lose privatekey cause people often keep their privatekey very carefully but sometime, they still can lose it because of some reasons like hacked or losing their computer 
I think that the lost coins will be inaccessible to anyone for many decades
I think that this issue is settled. It seems to me that these coins will eventually burn, because they are out of circulation.
In my opinion, those coins will be lost forever, no one can find them and no one will get them. It's a pity because of our carelessness, so keep your keys private.
Yes, it will be lost coins, like treasures that no one will find. I know personally such examples, when people can not restore their wallets, because they lost passwords. And they kept a lot of money on these wallets. Therefore, you need to carefully treat the storage of passwords for wallets.
I think that it is necessary all the same to exaggerate the possibility of restoring access to lost wallets and passwords, or to burn information that is inactive for more than a year. Also, users should have more attention to their data, so that later do not regret the loss.
I read that the development of a coin return algorithm sent to incorrect (non-existent) wallets is under way!
I do not know for sure but in my opinion the lost coin will remain in blockchain and still be a part of it,
because all have been added in the beginning can not be added and can not be reduced,
because all have been added in the beginning can not be added and can not be reduced,
Very, it is a pity that their not return. If I could return all the lost wallets since 2013( all in the world lost 3mln coins, considering that all bitcoins in the system can be 21 million, it turns out that about seven of the coins are lost forever.
They are maybe lost, but fewer Bitcoins in circulation could give a better value because it is a very wanted goods.
At first, many people didn't care about Bitcoin when the price was small. I guess from that comes such a high number of lost Bitcoins.
I bet that we gonna hear in the future about lucky guys that found their private keys of long forgotten wallet.
At first, many people didn't care about Bitcoin when the price was small. I guess from that comes such a high number of lost Bitcoins.
I bet that we gonna hear in the future about lucky guys that found their private keys of long forgotten wallet.
It will remain in the blockchain,not unless someone has gotten your wallet's private keys that is the time that we should be worried about our coins.The transactions wont be allow anyone to proceed as you will need to open his wallet to transfer the funds if ever you are going to get your lost coins,morelikely it isnt going to get recovered.
I meet loads of people who have collected coins everywhere. They have 20 different types of wallets with a little bit of value. It's due to happen that people will loose their private keys or forget that they even have an account. Over time that value could accumulate pretty big. What will happen to these 'lost' coins? Will these stay on the Blockchain forever, accessible to no one anymore?
Nothing will happen to them. They will be counted in the total, but they will simply lie on forgotten wallets, nobody can do anything with them. I meet loads of people who have collected coins everywhere. They have 20 different types of wallets with a little bit of value. It's due to happen that people will loose their private keys or forget that they even have an account. Over time that value could accumulate pretty big. What will happen to these 'lost' coins? Will these stay on the Blockchain forever, accessible to no one anymore?
Of course it will stay at the blockchain forever,because if theres no one to claim it there will be no chance to get those coins not without their private keys,which is why it is going to be remain to their current wallet,not unless someone has broked the blockchain's code,which is not possible wihtout the help of quantum computer.
The coins will remain, of course, but they will be lost for the householders if they certainly do not find the key. and coins most likely grew very much in value.
I think these coins will be lost forever and nobody will ever bring them out of the lost purse. I think in a few years there will be a lot of forgotten purses on which such lost coins will lie.
Yes, they will be lost forever, everyone can see them but nobody can touch them. There are still loads of people who are not active on this forum for several years now, their airdropped NEM coins for example are worth $1 million now and they do not even know that. Also I doubt they have saved their private keys because loads of people did not take this seriously at that time. I know that I had some wallets back in 2014 but I do not remember both wallet addresses and private keys.
This is really regretful when we are not careful, do not focus on private key, the value of them can be a huge asset. So this is a great lesson for us in the Crypto market.
These coins are essentially gone forever. They are as good as burnt. Without getting back into whatever held them, they can not be recovered.
This is why it is absolutely crucial to store your coins where you can access them safely.
This is why it is absolutely crucial to store your coins where you can access them safely.
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