Quote from: milewilda on July 23, 2023, 11:50:00 PM

Quote from: BenCodie on July 23, 2023, 09:17:29 PM

Quote from: Mia Chloe on July 09, 2023, 07:20:19 PM

I read some old threads about lost Bitcoins ND this question has been on my mind ever since
If the lost Bitcoins were for instance recovered will the price of Bitcoin drop because in theory it would affect the amount of Bitcoin in circulation which will lower it's price . I saw in those threads that lost Bitcoins are considered a donation to the Bitcoin network. so if my theory is correct then we should be happy those Bitcoins were lost.

Lost bitcoins are not a voluntary donations to the network. They are involuntary. Irresponsible storage or the neglected necessity to take care of how you store your Bitcoins is one of the reasons that they will never be able to be recovered. I doubt many of those who lost their coins voluntarily destroyed their access to them.

There will never be a case where all lost Bitcoins suddenly become available to their owners, so there is no need to theorize how much the price would drop if that were to happen. Though yes, the price would drop as instantly a lot of Bitcoin would enter supply rapidly.

Should we be happy? Not really. It's better that Bitcoins are circulating and continued to circulate since that period of time. It creates more ecosystem activity, it creates more use-case and it makes the network more active. Is it economically beneficial right now that these coins are unlikely to ever be circulated again? Sure.

There's no such thing about donation because those coins are totally lost in void and there's no way on getting those coins back unless if those privatekeys would be able to retreive or would be seen again then for sure
those coins would really be get on, considering on how long it had been idle then its impossible for its owners not to sell out on the time that they would really be getting a hold of it. Cheesy

Lots had been even trying to bruteforce a particular wallet but still failed up and this do proves out on how secure Bitcoin is.

I disagree that there is no such thing as a donation. I am sure in the years of 2008-2012 people who held Bitcoin may have had the idea that by destroying supply in some way, would positively contribute to the economics of Bitcoin due to reducing the supply. These actions would be considered donations to the network. It's very unlikely that this still happens with similar amounts. Maybe similar things happen today, though it just seems less likely due to value difference at that point until now.

Those who irresponsibly held their coins and then lost access to them did not voluntarily donate to the network like the above, rather their own actions and unfortunate circumstances led to an involuntary donation to the network, as their loss becomes beneficial to the economics of Bitcoin (again, less supply).

I agree that bruteforcing is unlikely to ever be successful and if it ever is near, a patch will be implemented prior to it being deployed against Bitcoin....I hope.

Quote from: milewilda on July 23, 2023, 11:50:00 PM

This is why if you do own Bitcoin then it would really be just that a common sense
on storing up those keys on a secure place but never ever tend to forget those keys because once those things are lost then say goodbye into your wallet and coins inside it.

We can always remind ourselves and others about the precautions and steps to make sure that holdings are secure to prevent loss, though I'm sure that there will always be mistakes and irresponsibility (both are human nature after all) and therefore Bitcoin will always receive involuntary donations.