Where do lost bitcoins go?

[SegNerd]

I admit that I have a fairly limited understanding of how Bitcoin works.

But there have been some news stories about people who mined millions of dollars in Bitcoin and then accidentally destroyed the drive or lost the password. What happens to these lost bitcoins? Is there a way to re-mine them? Are they really just gone forever? Does that mean there is a possibility that Bitcoin could go “extinct”?

 

[dukebound85]

they stay lost

 

[masotime]

"Losing" bitcoin is the equivalent of losing the password or PIN to your bank account, just that there's no customer service to help you reset your password, or even some super secret internal tool that the bank CEO can use to change the money in it.

The "money in the bank" is still there, it's just that without your password / PIN, no one, not even the bank, can do anything with that money.

 

[SegNerd]

"Losing" bitcoin is the equivalent of losing the password or PIN to your bank account, just that there's no customer service to help you reset your password, or even some super secret internal tool that the bank CEO can use to change the money in it.

The "money in the bank" is still there, it's just that without your password / PIN, no one, not even the bank, can do anything with that money.

I get that, but the treasury can always just print more money. I think there are only 21 million bitcoins and they are something like 85% mined already. That means that eventually there will not be any new bitcoins, but we may still be losing existing ones.

With 21 million in circulation, I realize it would take a long time for them all to get lost, but I was speaking hypothetically, and by some estimates, as many as 4 million are already missing.

 

[svanstrom]

I get that, but the treasury can always just print more money. I think there are only 21 million bitcoins and they are something like 85% mined already. That means that eventually there will not be any new bitcoins, but we may still be losing existing ones.

With 21 million in circulation, I realize it would take a long time for them all to get lost, but I was speaking hypothetically, and by some estimates, as many as 4 million are already missing.

As things stand right now there's no difference between lost access to your bitcoins, and you having your bitcoin without using them; so there's no recovery process in any way. It's all just gone if you lose access.

Mining will new ones will ofc stop, but trading won't.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

It needs to be pointed out that bitcoin isn't the only cryptocurrency. While bitcoin is the one that makes the majority of the mainstream headlines, there are plenty of other newer cryptocurrencies. Some have failed while others have thrived.

There is nothing that stops anyone from creating a new cryptocurrency; that basically amounts to inflation. In fact, I believe there are more failed cryptocurrencies than successful ones.

At least here in the USA, your cryptocurrency is your property. If you lose the key to the door that unlocks the vault, that's doesn't change the fact that it's still yours. There are strict consumer protection laws about these sort of assets. It's not "finders keepers, losers weepers."