Lost digital keys have made the total supply of bitcoin rarer than gold
While Bitcoin's protocol limits the total supply to 21 million coins, millions of lost digital keys have permanently removed a massive portion of the circulating currency from the global market.
Bitcoin's fixed supply of 21 million coins was designed by Satoshi Nakamoto to mimic the scarcity of precious metals. Unlike fiat currencies that can be printed indefinitely, Bitcoin requires solving complex cryptographic puzzles that consume roughly 150 TWh of energy annually. By 2026, over 20 million coins have been mined, leaving fewer than one million left to be issued.
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