![BitcoinGlorious.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmbbpB9TADWeriwqTrcEvXWbZJCGcy4hKbXqgZeAZp8HgL/BitcoinGlorious.jpg)

So far, around 16 million bitcoins have been mined out of a total of 21 million that can be mined in total. At the projected rate of supply growth, that means another 5 million coins will be mined in the next century or so. These numbers mean 75% of the total supply has already been issued and coins will become rarer (and therefore more expensive) over time. 

The mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto is said to own 1 million coins and many other early adopters own hundreds if not thousands of coins that they acquired when mining was 'cheap'. That means a relatively small number of users likely hold a very large proportion of the total coins, and over half the total supply is said to be dormant (e.g. zero account activity since acquisition). 

No one knows if Satoshi Nakamoto is a person or a group of people operating under a pseudonym, but let's assume it's just one person... what if he or she got hit by a bus? Not wishing any misfortune on the person or persons who created quite possibly the most revolutionary script ever written (the blockchain) but if he or she no longer exists, and the key to their million coins is lost, this means there is now  only 15 million coins in circulation and 20 million in total after all coins have been mined. 

Presumably there are other early adopters that have thousands, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of coins that they are saving for "payday" when the price hits a new high. But what if some of these people have also been hit by a bus, fallen critically ill, or even just lost their codes? 

Sh*t happens in life. No matter how secure you keep your 'keys', they can always be lost or destroyed. Then what? Do your cyber coins just sit there occupying a few bytes on the internet forever? Is there any way to get them back? My understanding is no, and therefore doesn't that mean all bitcoins will eventually be "locked" in cyberspace, inaccessible to anyone, making the currency effectively a dud? 

Interested to hear thoughts on this from the Steemit community...