#private keys

The post Bitcoin 21M cap debate erupts after StarkWare CEO’s 4% proposal appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson has revived debate over Bitcoin’s fixed supply after suggesting annual issuance. Summary Ben-Sasson argued lost private keys reduce usable Bitcoin supply, making fixed issuance worth reconsidering. Bitcoin supporters rejected the idea, saying the 21M cap remains central to BTC’s value. Zcash’s proposed burn-and-reissue model emerged as an alternative that keeps a fixed supply cap intact. In a Tuesday post on X, Ben-Sasson said Bitcoin’s 21 million supply cap “doesn’t make sense” because users lose private keys over time. He argued that lost keys reduce the amount of usable Bitcoin and that, over a long enough period, more coins will become unreachable. Ben-Sasson proposed replacing the fixed cap with a hard issuance rule of up to 4% per year. He said the figure roughly matches global population growth, while still keeping Bitcoin scarce under a know

StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson proposed 4% annual Bitcoin issuance, citing lost private keys, reviving debate over BTC’s 21M cap.

The post StarkWare CEO Proposed 4% Bitcoin Inflation Model appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. The debate over whether Bitcoin’s fixed supply cap should be lifted has resurfaced after StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson suggested Tuesday that it should replaced with a 4% annual issuance rate. In a post to X on Tuesday, Ben-Sasson said the current 21 million cap “doesn’t make sense” because private keys are lost over time and “as time goes to infinity, all keys will be lost.” Crypto wallet hardware provider Ledger estimated in November that up to 4 million Bitcoin had been burned or permanently lost. Ben-Sasson said he still supports a hard upper bound on Bitcoin’s supply, and that a 4% annual inflation rate roughly tracks the growth of the human population. Bitcoin’s fixed cap has long been one of its core selling points, underpinning the “digital gold” narrative and drawing on Austrian economics, where a fixed money supply protects against monetary debasement and, in theory, preserves purch

StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson argued that Bitcoin private keys get lost over time, meaning the amount of usable Bitcoin will diminish. Many disagree.