Crypto Billionaire Changpeng Zhao Estimates 2-4 Million Bitcoin Gone Forever, Calls BTC a 'Deflationary A

Binance (CRYPTO: BNB) founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao estimated on Saturday that 10–20% of all Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) that have already been mined are effectively gone forever.

Permanetly Lost BTC?

CZ noted in an X post that 20.07 million BTC have already been mined, with only 4.4% of the remaining supply remaining to enter circulation.

“I’d estimate 10-20% of existing Bitcoins are lost/stuck/unrecoverable,” he added, which translates to roughly 2–4 million BTC.

Given that Bitcoin’s total supply is capped and the usable supply continues to decrease as coins are permanently lost, CZ deemed Bitcoin a “deflationary asset.”

Satoshi’s BTC Also Inaccessible?

CZ’s figures were largely in line with other analysts. BitGo estimates 2.3–4 million BTC, or about 11–18% of the 21 million supply cap.

This includes Satoshi Nakamoto’s estimated 1.1 million untouched early BTC, which are technically dormant rather than confirmed lost.

Bitcoin can become inaccessible in several ways, such as when private keys or passwords are lost, or when someone dies without leaving seed phrases or recovery instructions for their heirs.

Buy and HODL L1s, Says Raoul Pal

Macro investor Raoul Pal, meanwhile, urged investors on X to buy and hold a small number of high-quality Layer 1 blockchains that capture real economic activity.