UK residents may be unknowingly sitting on billions in Bitcoin, according to a study by blockchain platform CoinPoker. The report reveals that up to £34 billion ($45.32 billion) worth of Bitcoin is unaccounted for in the UK alone. This translates to between 540,000 and 720,000 BTC currently missing or forgotten.
The World Population Review further highlights that the UK holds around 18% of the world’s cryptocurrencies, with popular coins being Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin.
David Bartram, a leading analyst, notes that “with a significant portion of the world’s Bitcoin owned by UK residents, there’s an enormous amount of unaccounted wealth.” As living costs rise, he suggests Brits may unknowingly possess a hidden fortune. Bartram urges those who have previously owned Bitcoin to check old hardware and remember any forgotten passwords, though he acknowledges that much of this wealth may never be recovered.
Globally, between 3 to 4 million BTC is lost, according to estimates by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. This accounts for 14%-20% of Bitcoin’s total supply. One famous case involves UK computer engineer James Howells, who mistakenly discarded a hard drive containing 7,500-8,000 BTC in 2013, now worth approximately $478-$510 million. Despite his efforts to retrieve it, the Newport council continues to deny access to the landfill.
With the global market capitalization of cryptocurrencies at $2.36 trillion, the total value of lost crypto is potentially staggering. As Bartram concludes, “We may never truly know how much is out there.”
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