autocustodie

“Lost coins only make everyone else’s coins worth slightly more. Think of it as a donation to everyone.”
Satoshi Nakamoto wrote this on the BitcoinTalk forum on June 21, 2010. In other words: lost coins just make everyone else’s coins worth a little more; think of it as a donation to everyone.
Sixteen years later, the phrase is cited everywhere as if it were self-evident. I think it’s only half true. Here’s why.
How many bitcoins are lost forever?
No one knows exactly, and you should be wary of anyone who gives a figure down to the nearest bitcoin. The most widely cited estimate comes from Chainalysis, in 2017: between 2.78 and 3.79 million BTC were probably lost, or 17 to 23% of what existed at the time. The method: look at how long each coin has been inactive, and conduct statistical surveys of the oldest ones. It’s an estimate, not an inventory.