<p>If you permanently loose your keys, the short answer is essentially yes. Your loss, a deflation, will cause the value Bitcoin being held by others to go up proportionately. </p>

<p>With a 100% efficient quantum computer (not likely at all), the amount of energy required to brute force compute the private keys will cost ~$100M each in electricity (assuming 5 cents per KiloWatt-Hour) if the public keys associated with the private keys are published on the blockchain. </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-09-08T23:59:10.173Z
2016-09-08T23:59:10.173Z
skaht
<p>If I lose my wallet and private key does that effectively remove bitcoin from the market forever?</p>

<p>I understand that if I lose my wallet and have no record of my private key then I won't be able to re-establish my wallet. Does this mean that effectively the content of the lost wallet is lost forever to myself and the market?</p>

<shrinking-money-supply><lost-wallet>
If I lose my wallet and private key does that effectively remove bitcoin from the market forever?
dibs
# If I lose my wallet and private key does that effectively remove bitcoin from the market forever?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-09-08)

If I lose my wallet and private key does that effectively remove bitcoin from the market forever?

I understand that if I lose my wallet and have no record of my private key then I won't be able to re-establish my wallet. Does this mean that effectively the content of the lost wallet is lost forever to myself and the market?

**Tags:** shrinking-money-supply, lost-wallet


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-09-08. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

If you permanently loose your keys, the short answer is essentially yes. Your loss, a deflation, will cause the value Bitcoin being held by others to go up proportionately.

With a 100% efficient quantum computer (not likely at all), the amount of energy required to brute force compute the private keys will cost ~$100M each in electricity (assuming 5 cents per KiloWatt-Hour) if the public keys associated with the private keys are published on the blockchain.


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