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Bitcoin supply on the network much lower than expected due to lost BTC according to report

  • Report suggests that Bitcoin supply may be much lower due to lost BTC.
  • Community members also speculated that the 18 millionth number could be false. 

Bitcoin’s blockchain reached a significant milestone on 19 October following the 600,000th block being mined and the 18th million BTC was officially put into circulation.

Across the community following the mining of the block, there was mixed feedback on this, after the end of the inflation process for Bitcoin. Some speculated that despite the calculations, the 18 millionth number was false.

Coinmetrics’ recent State of the Network report drew an analysis to explain the actual supply of Bitcoin on the network, which was much lower than what was expected, due to permanently lost BTCs.

The lost coins were categorized into two sections; assets that were “provably” lost and coins that were assumed to be lost.


 

Author

Ken Chigbo

Ken Chigbo

Independent Analyst

Ken has over 8 years exposure to the financial markets. He started his career as an analyst, covering a variety of asset classes; forex, fixed income, commodities and equities.

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