29% of Bitcoin’s Circulating Supply Now Believed to be Lost Forever

According to recent findings from blockchain analytics company IntoTheBlock, approximately 29% of the total bitcoin circulating supply is now believed to be lost forever after remaining stable for more than five years.

Bitcoin was designed to be rare, with only 21 million coins ever to be minted, but the same characteristics that make cryptocurrencies so attractive to investors can sometimes cause investors to lose their wealth forever. especially in cases where private keys are forgotten.

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Stable BTC Addresses Are Growing Over Time

recently do Through IntoTheBlock, the company drew attention to a large number of inactive bitcoin addresses. “Our data shows that 29% of $BTC has not moved in 5 years. It is possible that a major part of this is related to the lost coins,” the tweet said.

BTC presumed lost crosses 7.7 million | Source: Glassnode

Similar statistics On-chain metrics monitor, supplied by Glassnode Alerts. According to Glassnode, on-chain data shows that the total amount of bitcoins HODLed or lost has reached a new all-time high of 7,781,224.168 BTC. Considering that one bitcoin is currently worth around $30,000, this equates to over $235 billion in BTC that is now lost.

What does this mean for bitcoin?

Institutional interest in bitcoin has increased in the past year, with companies such as MicroStrategy doubling their bitcoin holdings. Therefore, the increase in inactive addresses may reflect that more people are holding bitcoin as a long-term investment rather than trading or spending it. However, it may also indicate the amount of BTC lost forever, especially by early investors.

BTC price trending at $30,100 | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com

Taking into account that early investors are more likely to capitalize on the huge gains made by the bitcoin price, the latter is more likely. The price of bitcoin has skyrocketed over the past few years and small amounts of bitcoin from the early days are now worth a fortune. So if investors still had access to these inactive BTC, they would likely have already been transferred.

As bitcoin gained mainstream popularity, many people made purchases without fully understanding how to properly secure their private keys. A good example is the case of San Francisco-based programmer Stephen Thomas, who was unable to quantify his holdings of approximately 7,002 bitcoins. Thomas’ holdings are currently worth $216 million, but he can’t remember the password to his digital wallet’s private key.

With bitcoin having a fixed supply, its increasing scarcity due to lost coins may also increase its appeal as a store of value. This could cause the price to rise due to increased demand for fewer bitcoins in circulation.

Recent months have seen an increase in the price of bitcoin due to spot ETF applications filed by major investment firms such as BlackRock and Valkyrie. The cryptocurrency has gained 43% this year and is currently priced around $30,000 over the past few weeks.

Featured Image from Futurism, Chart from Tradingview.com