“Those coins can never be recovered, and the total circulation is less. Since the effective circulation is reduced, all the remaining coins are worth slightly more. It's the opposite of when a government prints money and the value of existing money goes down.” - Satoshi Nakamoto
Discussion
Right on. Lost coins just shrink the supply even more.
When someone loses Bitcoin, that's it – they're gone for good. This makes every other coin out there a bit more valuable.
Total opposite of printing money, which just dilutes value. Bitcoin's deflationary by design, and that's a key feature, not a bug!