Quote from: tubro on June 24, 2011, 11:17:47 AM

No, they are not. That is why I showed you the geometric series, which is an infinite series of positive values that add up to a constant, even if you keep adding FOREVER.

Saying that more and more bitcoins get lost does NOT mean that the number or ratio of bitcoins still in circulation goes towards zero! Not at all. That is the point. It might mean that, but in all probability it does not mean that. If fact, as I have pointed out above, the yearly ratio of bitcoins lost is bound to converge toward zero very fast, which implies that the number of bitcoins still in circulation will remain above a large constant, say 10 million, FOREVER. That is why your problem will never be a problem.

I never stated that a constant or near constant number of Bitcoins would be lost per year or per unit time. What I said was this:

M = total number of Bitcoins ever minted
C = total number of Bitcoins not lost
L = total number of Bitcoins truly lost
t = time

Per any unit of time you wish to use, L at t + 1 will be >= L at t.

Logically, then, L will get bigger over time. From that, it follows L will eventually approach M.

Let's assume that you agree that a certain percentage of unlost Bitcoins will be lost every year. Is that not an unreasonable assumption? No matter what number you choose, if you continue with the following calculation, the end result is the same:

C at t = M
C at t + 1 = (C at t) * x where x = some constant number less than 1.