Ive actually read that over 4million bitcoins have been lost. There is an industry developing of people going into scrap yards and collecting hard drives and checking if they contain any bitcoin which I find interesting. I think this will only increase as the price increases as well considering there are potentially 4 million out there
You are too deep involved in the mainstream media circus. Yes, there are coins actually never going to be in circulation anymore, but that number is definitely not even remotely close to that 4 million figure. The main point of importance is that just because coins haven't been circulating in the last 5 or so years, it doesn't mean they are lost by default. In most cases these coins are being kept offline because there is simply no need to use or move them. What's the point of using these coins at current levels, when you very likely can do that at +$100,000 levels? On top of that, it may also be that they are being kept offline to avoid tax and all that....