Odaily Planet Daily News According to River's analysis, the number of bitcoins lost through self-custody exceeds the number lost on exchanges.
The company estimates that about 1.6 million bitcoins are inaccessible due to poor self-custody management, while the number of bitcoins lost in exchange-related events such as the Mt. Gox hack and FTX bankruptcy is 1.2 million.
River said it used a detailed method that takes into account the inactivity of wallets over different time periods. This method uses probabilistic estimates to determine the probability that funds are permanently inaccessible.
For example, wallets that have been idle for more than ten years (excluding wallets related to Satoshi Nakamoto) account for the largest share of estimated losses. In contrast, wallets with shorter idle times have a significantly lower probability of loss.