Blockchain platform CoinPoker said in its research that British people may have up to 34 billion pounds (about 45.32 billion U.S. dollars) of "unaccounted" BTC.
The study pointed out that as many as 720,000 BTC are missing in the UK alone. The report also cited data from the World Population Review, showing that the UK currently has 18% of the world's cryptocurrencies. "Some popular cryptocurrencies used in the UK include LTC, ETH and BTC," the report said.
The report concluded the following:
- In the UK, there are 540,000 to 720,000 BTC unaccounted for;
- This means that the country has 25 billion to 34 billion pounds of BTC missing;
- At the current exchange rate, the British economy may lose "tens of billions of pounds" in BTC.
Analyst David Bartram pointed out that some of this wealth may never be recovered. However, he added, "If people once owned BTC, it is certainly worth checking old hardware and trying to remember the password."
In addition, around 3 million or 4 million BTC have been lost worldwide, either in wallets where the keys have been forgotten, in damaged hardware, or transferred to the wrong address. (Cryptonews)