A lot of things have happened in the world of Bitcoin throughout the years. More specifically, there have been major developments, thefts, scams, and an increase in global interest. This mixed bag of activity has also caused a lot of coins to be removed from circulation permanently.
According to Chainalysis, that number may be as high as 4 million BTC. Most cryptocurrency enthusiasts are well aware that there is a limited number of Bitcoins. Once all coins have been mined – 122 years from now – there are supposed to be a total of 21 million Bitcoins in circulation.
Unfortunately, that is not entirely true, as there will be a lot fewer coins to go around by that time. Even right now, there aren’t over 16 million BTC in circulation just yet. Many people tend to forget that a lot of coins have been lost over the past few years.