Up to 720,000 BTC may be unaccounted for in the UK alone.
UK residents may be sitting on billions of dollars in the world’s biggest cryptocurrency, according to blockchain technology-based platform CoinPoker.
CoinPoker cited its study per which Brits hold up to £34 billion in unaccounted Bitcoin (BTC).
This translates to $45.32 billion.
It goes on to state that up to 720,000 BTC is unaccounted for in the UK alone.
The report went on to cite the World Population Review data, which stated that the UK currently owns 18% of the world’s cryptocurrencies.
“Some popular coins that the UK uses include Litecoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin,” it says.
According to analyst David Bartram, “with a large portion of the world’s Bitcoin supply owned by UK residents, there is undoubtedly a huge amount of money unaccounted for.”
Based on the above figures, the report made several conclusions:
- between 540,000 and 720,000 BTC is unaccounted for in the UK;
- between £25 billion and £34 billion in BTC is unaccounted for in the country;
- with the current exchange rate, some “tens of billions” in lost BTC is potentially missing from the British economy.
Consequently, CoinPoker came to the conclusion that “some Brits may be sitting on a small fortune as the cost of living continues to rise.”
Some of this fortune, Bartram pointed out, might never be retrieved.
However, he said that “it’s certainly worth it for people to check through old hardware and try to remember passwords if they have ever owned Bitcoin.”
We Don’t Know ‘How Much is Out There’
Approximately 3 million—possibly even 4 million—BTC are missing globally; they could be in the wrong address, on damaged hardware, or simply sitting somewhere in a wallet with a forgotten passkey.
And these are the coins that most people believe can never be found again.
Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, for example, found that as of 2020, 3.7 million coins were lost.
Similarly, an earlier Unchained analysis found that some 3–3.8 million BTC are very much lost.
Notably, this accounts for some 14%-20% of the coin’s total supply.
The case of Newport, UK-based computer engineer James Howells is among the most well-known examples.
He stated that he had unintentionally thrown away a hard drive that contained a staggering 7,500–8,000 BTC in 2013 while doing housecleaning.
This comes out to between $478.2 million and $510 million at the current price.
But despite Howells’ repeated requests, Newport Council—the landfill’s owner—repeatedly refused to allow him to excavate the land, citing environmental and other issues.
Lost Crypto Fortunes #1: The Tale of James Howells
— Blockchain Press Media (@itsbpmofficial) July 23, 2024
James Howells made a mistake that haunts him to this day. 💾
In 2013, this IT worker from Wales accidentally threw away a hard drive containing 7,500 BTC.
At today's prices, that's worth millions!
Howells had mined the… pic.twitter.com/8B6Us2ASSA
In the meantime, there are presently $2.36 trillion worth of cryptocurrencies on the market.
According to Bartram, the total value of all missing cryptocurrency is “likely far higher” globally. “We may never know just how much is out there.”