4 ms·

No. If you delete the wallet, the contained Bitcoins make poof. You basically delete the private key and won't be able to sign a transaction with it ever.

mcherm 13y ago
It's like what happens when your wallet gets burned in a fire. That cash is gone forever.
- JohnTHaller 13y ago
  Correct. Except most of us don't keep all our money in our wallet or under our mattress. We keep it in a bank. Which is insured by the federal government. Bitcoin is akin to keeping all your money in a big bag in a single location if you don't back it your digital wallet offsite.
  - dllthomas 13y ago
    That is the local effect, which is the same for cash vs bitcoin and different for deposit vs bitcoin (though of course there is nothing preventing bitcoin-denominated deposits). The global effect for bitcoin is more like nuking a bit of gold - you have reduced the total supply permanently - whereas for cash we can just print more.
- tedunangst 13y ago
  Except it can be reprinted. The cash is gone, but the total money supply is not irreversibly reduced.
- kens 13y ago
  Actually the Bureau of Engraving and Printing will replace damaged or destroyed US currency if they can determine to their satisfaction how much has been destroyed. They replace over $30 million of currency yearly. The most common causes of mutilation are are fire, water, chemicals, explosives; animal, insect or rodent damage; and petrification or deterioration by burying. See http://moneyfactory.gov/uscurrency/damagedcurrency.html http://moneyfactory.gov/uscurrency/damagedcurrency.html There's also an article with some interesting stories: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001/06/2001-06-03-money.htm http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001/06/2001-06-0... [I'm not intending this as an argument about Bitcoin, but as something people might find interesting.]
  - aestra 13y ago
    Read a story, man's dog ate several hundred dollars, man fished remains out of dog poop, US government printed man new hundred dollar bills.
  - mcherm 13y ago
    Damaged US Currency can be replaced ONLY if: (1) 51% or more of the bill is recovered (in some form) (2) the serial number of the bill can be identified (Or at least that's what I was told during a tour of a US Mint several years ago.) Money burned up in a fire is not replaceable.
PeterisP 13y ago
Hmm, so that means that someone who solved the crypto problem (say, NSA) could simply take over [presumably] abandoned wallets, which would be nearly undetectable compared to other uses of such attacks, but could still have a huge impact on Bitcoin ecosystem simply due to the large mass of such wallets.

mcherm 13y ago

It's like what happens when your wallet gets burned in a fire. That cash is gone forever.

JohnTHaller 13y ago
Correct. Except most of us don't keep all our money in our wallet or under our mattress. We keep it in a bank. Which is insured by the federal government. Bitcoin is akin to keeping all your money in a big bag in a single location if you don't back it your digital wallet offsite.
- dllthomas 13y ago
  That is the local effect, which is the same for cash vs bitcoin and different for deposit vs bitcoin (though of course there is nothing preventing bitcoin-denominated deposits). The global effect for bitcoin is more like nuking a bit of gold - you have reduced the total supply permanently - whereas for cash we can just print more.
tedunangst 13y ago
Except it can be reprinted. The cash is gone, but the total money supply is not irreversibly reduced.
kens 13y ago
Actually the Bureau of Engraving and Printing will replace damaged or destroyed US currency if they can determine to their satisfaction how much has been destroyed. They replace over $30 million of currency yearly. The most common causes of mutilation are are fire, water, chemicals, explosives; animal, insect or rodent damage; and petrification or deterioration by burying. See http://moneyfactory.gov/uscurrency/damagedcurrency.html http://moneyfactory.gov/uscurrency/damagedcurrency.html There's also an article with some interesting stories: http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001/06/2001-06-03-money.htm http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2001/06/2001-06-0... [I'm not intending this as an argument about Bitcoin, but as something people might find interesting.]
- aestra 13y ago
  Read a story, man's dog ate several hundred dollars, man fished remains out of dog poop, US government printed man new hundred dollar bills.
- mcherm 13y ago
  Damaged US Currency can be replaced ONLY if: (1) 51% or more of the bill is recovered (in some form) (2) the serial number of the bill can be identified (Or at least that's what I was told during a tour of a US Mint several years ago.) Money burned up in a fire is not replaceable.

PeterisP 13y ago

Hmm, so that means that someone who solved the crypto problem (say, NSA) could simply take over [presumably] abandoned wallets, which would be nearly undetectable compared to other uses of such attacks, but could still have a huge impact on Bitcoin ecosystem simply due to the large mass of such wallets.