Do you need help recovering your lost bitcoin?
Mark The total available supply of Bitcoin is capped at 21 million, with new ones released every day. It’s expected that we’ll reach that cap sometime around the year 2140, although it could be sooner.
If you lose a coin or note of your local currency, it doesn’t matter much to the economy as a whole because your government simply mints new money on a regular basis.
But seeing as the supply of Bitcoin is finite, any time someone loses any, that means the circulating supply decreases.
So even when we reach 21 million, the number available to buy, sell, store and use will be lower.
It’s not known exactly how many Bitcoin are currently lost, in part because the definition of ‘lost’ varies depending on who you ask, and some may be reclaimed in the future. Though going beyond the void retrieve it isn’t easy.
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According to research by Blockchain analysis company, Chainalysis (which Luno works with), as of the end of 2017 almost 4 million Bitcoin could be considered lost. It’s unlikely the number hasn’t increased much since then, as the higher price encourages people to be more careful. So, as it stands, the total circulating supply is set to be around 17 million Bitcoin.
How can you avoid losing your Bitcoin?
Be diligent with transfers
Whenever you’re sending to a wallet address, be sure to double check the address is correct. It’s best to copy and paste it or to use a QR code.
Choose a storage method you trust
If you forget your private key, there’s no way to regain access. If safeguarding your private keys is too daunting for you, a platform like Luno could help. We take care of the security and look after your private key (essentially the password giving you access to your Bitcoin) for you. If you forget the password to your account, we can help you recover access.
Can lost Bitcoin be found or retrieved?
Whether lost Bitcoin can be found or not depends on how it was lost. Considering the quantity of missing cryptocurrency out there, people have begun offering services to help the Prodigal Bitcoin return. These include data recovery specialists and even hypnotists. But it’s never guaranteed that they can help.
If you lose a device with Bitcoin stored on a hard drive, there is currently no way to restore it unless you manage to find it again.
If a device has been destroyed (e.g. thrown into a landfill), sadly it’s impossible to get it back.
It’s certainly not a good idea to attempt to retrieve devices from landfill sites, as this is illegal in many countries, extremely dangerous, and the toxicity of the site will likely have destroyed it anyway. For broken devices, it depends on whether they’re fixable or not.