2025-12-20 15:21:46

The scarcity of digital gold far exceeds our understanding, and many investors are not even aware of what key things they have missed.

When I see the Bitcoin quote of $88,000, my thoughts are not "This price is outrageous," but rather "How many Bitcoins can actually be bought at this price?" The surface data looks okay—about 19.9 million have been mined, not far from the 21 million cap.

But when you open up on-chain data, you'll see a shocking truth: less than 45% of Bitcoins are actually in active circulation. What about the rest? Some are permanently lost, some are locked away long-term. The result is— the market's true scarcity is much more terrifying than the on-paper data suggests.

**Those Disappeared Bitcoins**

The scarcity of Bitcoin is not just about the 21 million algorithmic ceiling. According to estimates from on-chain analysis firms, just due to forgotten private keys, broken devices, or holders passing away unexpectedly, between 2.3 million and 7.8 million Bitcoins have permanently exited circulation.

What does this huge black hole mean? It means that out of the 19.9 million Bitcoins mined so far, the truly effective amount may only be between 12.1 million and 17.6 million.

Satoshi Nakamoto already said a profound statement in 2010: "Lost Bitcoins only make other people's coins more valuable. Think of it as a donation to everyone." Today, this prophecy is becoming a reality on an unprecedented scale.

Those disappeared Bitcoins are silently creating deflationary pressure, even exceeding the total holdings of all institutional investors combined.

BTC0.72%

View Original

This page may contain third-party content, which is provided for information purposes only (not representations/warranties) and should not be considered as an endorsement of its views by Gate, nor as financial or professional advice. See Disclaimer for details.

14 Likes

Reward
14
4
Repost
Share

Comment

0/400

Rugman_Walking

· 10h ago

Damn, only this much actually in circulation? No wonder institutions are hoarding like crazy. Retail investors like us really came too late.

View OriginalReply0

DuskSurfer

· 20h ago

45% circulation rate? Wow, this data is shocking. No wonder some people say holding coins is just lying down to win. Damn, this is true scarcity—Bitcoin is even more intense than I thought. Satoshi Nakamoto's words are brilliant: losing coins is like indirectly giving us money, haha. Over 7 million coins lost permanently? How many people would need to participate to make that happen? The truth is, the circulating Bitcoin is actually less than half of the on-paper amount. No wonder the price only goes up. I definitely won't lose coins, but those accidental losses by some guys are really like donating to the entire network. $88,000 isn't expensive at all; considering actual scarcity, it should be doubled. By the way, there are really between 2.3 million and 7.8 million coins permanently vanished, which is already super terrifying. The deflationary pressure has been created by the lost coins; on-chain data is truly a black hole.

View OriginalReply0

Rekt_Recovery