I like the idea of only having 21 million bitcoins.
Bitcoins get lost all the time, lost private keys.
In time we will have fewer and fewer bitcoins, currently it is thought 3-4 million bitcoins are already lost. This makes me sad.
I propose a redistribution method:
>If an address did not have any activity in let's say the last 100 years the address is considered lost and the bitcoins are free to be mined in the next block.
To prevent losing your bitcoins you make sure to transfer them to a new address every 100 years (I am not aware of any other method of "proving" you still have access to an address).
P.S. This would be a change in the consensus mechanism, I know
P.S.S. I am aware of Satoshi's view on this "lost coins are a donation to everyone". Yes, but 4 million is a lot, do we want Bitcoin to still be used 1000 years from now? If this trend continues most if not all bitcoins would have been lost by then.
Well, for starters, this problem has not yet arisen, because bitcoi is still mining. It's a little early to sound the alarm that btc won't be enough for everyone.Bitcoins get lost all the time, lost private keys.
In time we will have fewer and fewer bitcoins, currently it is thought 3-4 million bitcoins are already lost. This makes me sad.
I propose a redistribution method:
>If an address did not have any activity in let's say the last 100 years the address is considered lost and the bitcoins are free to be mined in the next block.
To prevent losing your bitcoins you make sure to transfer them to a new address every 100 years (I am not aware of any other method of "proving" you still have access to an address).
P.S. This would be a change in the consensus mechanism, I know
P.S.S. I am aware of Satoshi's view on this "lost coins are a donation to everyone". Yes, but 4 million is a lot, do we want Bitcoin to still be used 1000 years from now? If this trend continues most if not all bitcoins would have been lost by then.
The next point is that addresses, wallets and private keys are conditionally lost. That is, in the future it may turn out that someone will be able to get access to these wallets (a quantum computer or new technologies). This will lead to confusion.
The addition of new coins for mining will devalue (at least partially) the bitcoins in circulation. This is somewhat similar to promotions, when a new portion is released in addition to the existing one.
In my opinion, there is no need to touch what has already been formed and change the rules at the last moment.