London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Jul 25, 2025

There's roughly $140 billion of inaccessible bitcoin right now - or 20% of the world's limited supply. Here's what could happen to it.

There's roughly $140 billion of inaccessible bitcoin right now - or 20% of the world's limited supply. Here's what could happen to it.

The inaccessible tokens are currently kept out of circulation, but systems can be created to recover the lost sums, according to one bitcoin expert.
Cryptocurrency enthusiasts praise bitcoin's decentralized nature. Yet the imperfect methods used to secure the digital tokens are pulling millions of bitcoin out of circulation with little hope of recovery.

Bitcoin owners hold private keys necessary for spending or moving tokens. These keys exist as complex strings of data and are often stored in protected digital wallets.

Those wallets are then typically protected with passwords or authentication measures. While their complexities allow owners to more securely store their bitcoin, losing keys or wallet passwords can be devastating. In many cases, bitcoin owners are locked out of their holdings indefinitely.

Roughly 20% of the 18.5 million bitcoin in existence is estimated to be lost or trapped in inaccessible wallets, The New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing data from Chainalysis. That sum is currently worth about $140 billion. These bitcoin remain in the world's supply and still hold value, but they're effectively kept from circulation.

Put simply, those coins will stay trapped indefinitely, but their inaccessibility won't change the price of the cryptocurrency.

"There's this phrase the cryptocurrency community uses: 'not your keys, not your coins,'" Jimmy Nguyen, president of the Bitcoin Association, told Insider.

For now, the adage holds true. Some exchanges such as Coinbase have some emergency recovery measures that can help users regain access to forgotten keys or passwords. But exchanges are less secure than wallets and some have even been hacked, Nguyen said.

The bitcoin community is now at a crossroads, where members are split on whether bitcoin should keep its rigid security methods or trade some of its decentralization for user-friendly safeguards.

Nguyen lands in the latter group. The cryptocurrency advocate argued that mechanisms should be created to allow users to recover inaccessible bitcoin in cases of forgotten passwords, estate transfers, and incorrectly addressed payments. The absence of such systems maintains a barrier between cryptocurrency enthusiasts and the population that hasn't yet warmed to bitcoin.

"If I hold the keys to your house, it doesn't mean I own the keys. I might've stolen the keys to your house. You might have lent me the keys," Nguyen said. "It doesn't prove who has ownership of that property or that asset."

Maintaining the current method of storing bitcoin also cuts into its value, both as a new form of payment and as a security, he added.

"There is an inconsistency, if not downright hypocrisy - among the bitcoin supporters, because they want to advance this narrative that you must have the private keys for the coins to be yours," Nguyen said. "If they want the value of the coin to grow because it's growing in usage, then you have to adopt a much more open and user-friendly approach to bitcoin."
Comments

Oh ya 5 year ago
Please school me as to why bitcoin has any value. Backed by nothing not easily spent yet price goes up daily because traders are driving the price up like any other stock on the stock market and then the other day BOOM lost 30 %.. bit it does seem like a good way to separate a fool and his money

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
×