Lost coins only make everyone else’s coins worth slightly more. Think of it as a donation to everyone.

– Satoshi Nakamoto

There will eventually be 21 million bitcoins mined however that will never be the true number in circulation. The distinction is important if you want to precisely measure bitcoin value and market capitalization which is setting new records. Not all bitcoin addresses can be spent. The genesis block can never be spent. Likewise any bitcoin sent to a “burn” address are also forever unspendable. A bitcoin burn address is like an impossible vanity address. There is no private key to a burn address and one would be impossible to generate. These are not merely ‘zombies‘ but truly gone forever. How many bitcoins have been “burned” exactly? Continue reading Lost Forever 26.04 BTC Burned In 2016 →