Did you know? The Bitcoin that will never be touched is actually the most steadfast bullish supporter in this market.

The story begins with a few people. In 2013, Welsh IT engineer James Howells accidentally discarded a hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoins. Fast forward to today, that asset is worth nearly $900 million. His life has been completely changed, but he can never go back.

Even more desperate is former Ripple CTO Stefan Thomas—he forgot the password to a hard drive containing 7,002 Bitcoins. He only has 2 attempts left out of 10, and each attempt could be the last. Endless regret and despair are locked inside a data block.

These stories are just the tip of the iceberg.

As of December 2025, the total mined Bitcoin has reached 19,955,800 coins, very close to the 21 million cap. But on-chain data tells a different story—about 3.68 million Bitcoins may have been permanently lost. Some analyses even estimate the lost amount between 2.3 million and 7.8 million coins. In other words, out of the current circulating 19 million Bitcoins, only about 12.1 million to 17.6 million are truly active.

Bitcoin liquidity is therefore undergoing subtle changes. Satoshi Nakamoto saw this back in 2010: "Lost coins only make other coins more valuable. Think of it as a silent donation to everyone." Today, this statement is becoming a reality on an unprecedented scale. The true scarcity of Bitcoin far exceeds most people's imagination.