A Crypto Currency What If

Today, I read an article about this guy that inadvertently threw away his computer hard drive that contained his Crypto wallet and passwords. Evidently, he didn't bother to back up this information on another device or written down anywhere leaving him with no means to recover his crypto assets.

Coindes k

Man Who Accidentally Sent $527M in Bitcoins to Dump Sues Local Council to Retrieve Them: Report
In 2013, Howells accidentally threw out the hard drive his bitcoin stash that he had mined in 2009, worth around $1 million at the time but which now would be worth over $520 million

Given that I believe investing in any digital currency is a fools play investing hard earned financial assets in digital ones and zeroes that could vanish in the blink of an EMP, my question here is, what happens to these crypto assets that have become, apparently, irreversibly lost?
I don't know much about this subject but I do know Bitcoin was started with a set number of coins that can not be increased over time. Doesn't this make Bitcoin or any other digital asset an inherently diminishing, nonrenewable commodity? How can these lost assets be retrieved back into the system? Are they lost forever?

I wouldn't touch Crypto with a 10 foot pole.

Edit: What if a hacker found a way to infect everyone's accounts with a virus, deleting, restricting, (insert the federal government here) or blocking everyone's accounts but their own? What if this hacker had only one crypto coin? What if I bought one Bitcoin and held onto it until everybody else lost access to their accounts? Would this Bitcoin potentially be worth a billion, or trillion dollars one of these days? Or is it still worth nothing? Just ones and zeroes on a hard drive.

a reply to: charlest2
Your hard earned money in the bank is already just ones and zeros.
All of it.

How many banks have been hacked?

Crypto by its very nature is vastly more secure than the traditional banking system.

a reply to: underpass61

Don't forget precious metals and land assets. I see both being far more secure than either fiat or crypto. Real, tangible assets.

a reply to: charlest2

Oh, absolutely. A diverse portfolio is essential. Personally I believe there are some once in a lifetime opportunities in crypto right now so I have my position. It's a small part right now but could potentially be life changing. If they regulate us out or worse I'll still be ok. If they don't we're talking generational wealth.

a reply to: underpass61

Surprisingly, I did download a Crypto app yesterday and considered it briefly but I probably won't I don't believe it can last. No faith in it's survivability.

But I did briefly think about it just a little. Hedging my bets so to speak, just a little, just in case.

The council are being iditols as the guy is willing to pay for the search. No guarantees all the data will be recoverable, worth a gamble to try with what is at stake.

As keys and wallets do get lost over time, access to the bitcoins is lost as well. You lose your cash or gold, its gone. All assets have risk.

a reply to: kwaka

He threw it out in 2013. that's 11 years in a landfill. A longshot recovering the data even if he did find it. Where will the money come from to even try to recover it? I'm sure he will have to put up the anticipated $13 million expenses in advance. Look for investors willing to take the gamble?

So he does find it and the very next day the Crypto market goes belly up. That would be my luck.

a reply to: charlest2

So he does find it and the very next day the Crypto market goes belly up.

Won't have much effect if he sold them all the next day. Price will go down a little in the short term, the value does bounce around a lot.

In the last 24 hours, the total volume of Bitcoin traded was A$77,771,197,934.

www.coingecko.com...

I am sure someone has figured a way to cash in on his crypto he lost by tossing it out. Face it, why would someone running the crypto program leave that money in there when nobody could access it. Someone working there probably found a way to get his cripto knowing he had trashed the computer. I am sure he had attempted to get his money...people knew of it. They knew he could never access it so they would be able to make it disappear into their own accounts somehow.

I would never put faith in my harddrive to store that kind of info....he should have made backups and stored them in a safety deposit box. Why would the people who managed or worked at the landfill be responsible for his stupidity?

a reply to: charlest2

Doesn't this make Bitcoin or any other digital asset an inherently diminishing, nonrenewable commodity?

If people lose it, it diminishes, however while some digital assets are finite like Bitcoin, which means the creation of new Bitcoin will come to an end at some point, others like Dogecoin, have an infinite allowable creation of new Dogecoins.

How can these lost assets be retrieved back into the system?

They can't. That's the nature of decentralized systems. If you can't secure your funds on your own, go trust someone else to.

Are they lost forever?

Yes

a reply to: charlest2

I have an honest question for you Charles. If you are afraid of crypto as you say in the OP, are you then afraid of Trump? He has now fully endorsed the crypto concern by establishing his own Crypto Financial coin. Also, are not so many of his big time donators into it as well? If you think he will win the election then wouldn't now be the time to dump all your excess dollars into buying into it?

a reply to: BingoMcGoof

I will give you an honest answer.

I have no desire or intention to turn this into another divisive political issue.

a reply to: charlest2

Good, neither do I. I asked that honestly and do not intend to be divisive. Yet my question remains. I do not understand thinking that Trump should be president while at the same time holding such a fundamentally different opinion on such a volatile issue as crypto.

If you do not wish to answer, please do not nor will I reply to anyone else on this or my other post. G evening.

a reply to: rickymouse

I am sure someone has figured a way to cash in on his crypto he lost by tossing it out.

Not with all the encryption and security that has gone into the mining process and the blockchain. If Bitcoin was that easy to crack it would be worth zero. Maybe one day some new quantum, AI supercomputer will find a hack. It is going to take an insane amount of number crunching to break it.

Yeah that guys computer ended up in a landfill apparently. Might be more profitable to start a TV series called ‘Crypto Miners’ and have people like Parker Schnabel mine the dump. One shot deal. Find the PC and maybe get your hands on £500 million or a share of. Probably more likely to find something than on Oak Island.