🔒 How Many Bitcoins Are Lost Forever?
A surprising fact: 3–4 million BTC are considered permanently lost — around 15–20% of all supply. This makes Bitcoin even scarcer than most people realize.
⚠️ Why Are So Many BTC Lost?
• Lost private keys — once the key is gone, access is gone forever.
• Lost seed phrases / hardware wallets — damaged, forgotten, or thrown away.
• Early miner coins — millions of BTC mined in 2009–2011 never moved again.
• Destroyed hard drives — famous 7,500 BTC case in the UK.
• Human negligence — people didn’t value BTC in early years.
📉 Estimated Breakdown
• ~2M BTC lost via private keys
• ~1M BTC in “dead” early wallets
• ~0.5M BTC lost through devices
• Total: ~3.5–4M BTC
🚀 Why It Matters
Real circulating supply may be closer to 17M, not 21M.
Less supply = stronger long-term upward pressure on Bitcoin.
Scarcity is one of BTC’s biggest long-term drivers.
Are you going to trade or invest? Do it here : $BTC
