I've not seen the answer to this question anywhere that i'm aware of.
- What happens with bitcoins that are lost?
IIRC there can only be a maximum of 21 million bitcoins in existance total. Supposing i hoard a million bitcoins on a flash drive and then that gets toasted in a fire and i have no backups. Does the 'system' have a way of knowing that the population of bitcoins has been depleted? (i doubt it).
Does that then mean that there can only be a total of 20 milion bitcoins? Will the currency eventually DoS itself out of existance through these losses?
Slashdot Mirror
I've not seen the answer to this question anywhere that i'm aware of. - What happens with bitcoins that are lost? IIRC there can only be a maximum of 21 million bitcoins in existance total. Supposing i hoard a million bitcoins on a flash drive and then that gets toasted in a fire and i have no backups. Does the 'system' have a way of knowing that the population of bitcoins has been depleted? (i doubt it). Does that then mean that there can only be a total of 20 milion bitcoins? Will the currency eventually DoS itself out of existance through these losses?