While blockchains and cryptocurrencies are one of the most exciting and disruptive technologies of the last decade, they have one scary drawback. Whether you lose your private key, get scammed, or robbed, when you lose a digital asset, it is almost impossible to retrieve it.
But exactly how much bitcoin is lost through hard forks, exchange bankruptcies, accidents, and fraudulent activities? Read on for the answer, along with additional stats about bitcoin loss.
How Much Bitcoin Is Lost?
At least 2.3 million BTC are irretrievably lost.
According to the only reliable study on the topic, between 2.3 million and 3.7 million bitcoins are lost forever. That is between 10.95% and 17.62% of 21 million, or the total amount of bitcoin that will ever exist.
(Chainalysis)
Additional Statistics About Lost Bitcoins
At the moment of writing, the total number of bitcoin in circulation is 19.27 million, which means that between 11.94% and 19.2% of it is lost one way or another. Check out the stats below for more intriguing data on losing bitcoin.
2.1 million lost bitcoins were mined before 2014.
The majority of lost BTC was mined in the original clusters within the first five years of the cryptocurrency’s existence. The wallets they are held in were created in the early days of bitcoin but haven’t shown any activity since, which indicates their private keys are lost.
(Chainalysis)
The lost bitcoin is worth between $47.6 billion and $76.6 billion today.
According to the currency exchange rate at the time of writing, 1 BTC is worth $20,720.06, so that would add up the cost of lost BTC to billions.
(Coinbase)
A user from San Francisco can’t make use of his 7,002 BTC due to a lost crypto wallet private key.
Stefan Thomas became one of the most popular bitcoin losers after his story broke out in 2021. Namely, he lost the password to his IronKey, a small hard drive that contains the private keys to his digital wallet, which contains 7,002 BTC, or over $143 million.
The device allows up to ten attempts before it encrypts the contents forever, and Stefan has had eight unsuccessful attempts to date.
(NY Times)
Another user from Newport, Wales, accidentally lost his bitcoin wallet with 7,500 BTC.
James Howells accidentally threw away his laptop’s hard drive containing his private keys, mistaking it for another identical hard drive.
James was not allowed to dig around the landfill in an attempt to recover his lost bitcoin because of licensing regulations and potential environmental damage, even after he offered 25% of his BTC ( worth over $153 million at the time of writing) to the people that would help him find it.
(The Guardian)
The Department of Justice seized 94,000 stolen bitcoins in February 2022.
Trying to recover lost cryptocurrency may seem like a lost cause, though there are a few success stories that give users hope. Namely, the DOJ was successful in recovering 94,000 bitcoins (worth over $1.9 billion at the time of writing) from a hacker who infiltrated one of the biggest crypto exchanges and transferred 119,754 BTC (worth $71 million at the time) to his wallet in 2016.
According to the data on lost cryptocurrency, this was the largest bitcoin, or financial seizure of any kind for that matter, in the department’s history.
(DLA Piper)
The Bottom Line
While nobody is capable of giving a definitive answer on how much bitcoin is lost, clever use of data and analysis of transactions can give a close estimate. Losing bitcoin is something that can be interesting to read about but far from it to experience first-hand. That’s why investors should take every precaution to keep their wallets and private keys safe and secure.
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