Approximately 16.7 million bitcoins of the possible 21 million that can be produced have been mined. An analysis from the digital forensics team Chainalysis states that a large number of these bitcoins have been lost and can never be found again.
About 3.79 million bitcoins are believed to have been lost. This equals a value of nearly $30 billion worth in bitcoins being lost on the market due to various factors although many of these coins were older ones.
Chainalysis states that the estimate is based on how the blockchain that the currency is based on is organized. The ages of individual coins and how often they are being utilized were key factors in figuring out how many coins have gone missing. Most of the missing coins are believed to be among the earliest to have been produced on the market.
Specifics of the Finding
Chainalysis estimates that all of the 1.04 million original bitcoins that were introduced when the currency hit the market are lost. Meanwhile, about half of the 5.1 million coins that have gone out of circulation for various reasons are lost. The other 2.6 million that are out of circulation but are still accessible could be utilized at some point in the future.
Many of these out of circulation coins are believed to have been owned by people who got into the bitcoin investment well before it broke open and became increasingly valuable. However, there is also some uncertainty as to whether some of those coins were forgotten or if they are just being hoarded by people who want to get more coins and really save up on them.
About 70,000 coins that were utilized by strategic investors are lost. These could have been lost due to issues like a person failing to get access to a bitcoin wallet or corrupted data keeping information in that wallet from being easily accessible. Such investors would have held onto their coins for many years and might have simply forgotten about them.
About 120,000 coins were also lost due to transactional functions. These could come from many things like a transaction not moving forward properly. A private key being lost due to the death of someone who held it or possibly from general carelessness could also be a factor.
Will Losses Continue?
With the bitcoin having reached the $9,000 mark, Chainalysis estimates that the risk of bitcoins being lost some more in the future will not be all that likely. This comes as people might become more vigilant and aware of their investments. They might have a stronger interest in handling their coins and ensuring they are not lost.
Also, it might be harder to lose bitcoins thanks to how it takes a much longer time and a greater amount of effort for people to mine these coins. People are putting in greater efforts to get these coins ready for their use. The growth of the bitcoin could make it to where people put in more care when handling their coins and not be at risk of losing what they have.
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