Changpeng Zhao said Bitcoin’s headline supply figure does not fully reflect how much BTC is actually available to the market. In a post cited by U.Today and carried by Techub, Zhao said Bitcoin’s total supply stands at about 20.07 million coins, equal to 95.6% of the asset’s 21 million cap. He added that the amount of Bitcoin that can truly circulate may be far lower, because 10% to 20% of tokens could be permanently unrecoverable after private keys were lost. According to Zhao, those coins may sit in wallets whose keys are no longer accessible, or be locked away for other reasons that prevent access. If so, the amount of BTC available for trading and transfer would be materially below the mined total. His comment points to a tighter effective supply than the market may assume, even as the protocol-level supply approaches its maximum limit.
Changpeng Zhao said Bitcoin’s total supply is now about 20.07 million coins, or 95.6% of its 21 million maximum supply.
He said the amount of Bitcoin actually available in the market could be much lower, because 10% to 20% of tokens may be permanently unrecoverable due to lost private keys. Those coins may be held in wallets whose private keys have been lost, or may be inaccessible for other reasons.
That would leave the amount of BTC available for trading and transfer well below the total already mined. Zhao’s comments, cited by U.Today and published by Techub in a news brief, suggest Bitcoin’s effective scarcity may be greater than many market participants assume.
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