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Sleeping beauty Bitcoin wallets wake up after 14 years to the tune of $2B

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189 points aorloff | 1 comments | 04 Jul 25 18:41 UTC | HN request time: 0.253s | source
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throw0101d ◴[04 Jul 25 19:49 UTC] No.44467342[source]▶
Personally I think that this can be considered on the "bug" side of Bitcoin's finite number coins: if, over time, they are lost, then there's a smaller quantity† of currency that is useable to actually do stuff with.

This can make the 'rate of deflation' that occurs worse:

* https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Deflationary_spiral

* https://isps.yale.edu/news/blog/2014/06/the-perils-of-bitcoi...

* https://crypto.bi/deflationary/

† I am aware of satoshis.

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spankalee ◴[04 Jul 25 20:00 UTC] No.44467410[source]▶
This is one reason why Bitcoin isn't a good currency. Deflationary trends give holders a lot of incentive to keep holding and never spend.
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1. latchkey ◴[04 Jul 25 22:55 UTC] No.44468623[source]▶
It’s a solid store of value. One can borrow against that held BTC, and as it appreciates over time, the loan-to-value ratio improves, without having to do anything. Also avoids capital gains taxes since you're not spending it.