The Bitcoin Whales: 1,000 People Who Own 40 Percent of the Market

Re:The Bitcoin Whales: 1,000 People Who Own 40 Percent of th... by vibrio on Friday December 08, 2017 @09:55AM (#15878986)

This is interesting but my understanding of blockchain is limited so: Aren't all transactions 'encoded' in the blockchain? If so why can't the coins be found? If not, what does the blockchain "record"?

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Re:The Bitcoin Whales: 1,000 People Who Own 40 Percent of th... by Spivak on Friday December 08, 2017 @10:02AM (#15879050)

The coins are there but since the private key for the wallet that is assigned ownership of them is lost they're effectively gone.

They could in theory be 'reclaimed' with a majority of mining power but it's hard to tell if coins are lost or their owners are just idle.

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Re:The Bitcoin Whales: 1,000 People Who Own 40 Percent of th... by drhayes9 on Friday December 08, 2017 @10:00AM (#15879029)

If the private keys corresponding to the coins are lost then the coins are, for all intents and purposes, lost. They can't be sold, moved around, etc.

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Re:The Bitcoin Whales: 1,000 People Who Own 40 Percent of th... by dcdanko on Friday December 08, 2017 @09:59AM (#15879020)

Very small transaction outputs can't be used in practice because they're less than the required transaction fee.

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