What Happens to Bitcoin After All 21 Million Are Mined?
FACEBOOK
TWITTER
LINKEDIN
By ADAM HAYES
Reviewed By KHADIJA KHARTIT
Updated Dec 17, 2020
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Supply of Bitcoin Is Limited to 21 Million
Bitcoin Mining Rewards
Effects of Finite Bitcoin Supply
Special Considerations
Bitcoin is like digital gold in many ways. Like gold, bitcoin cannot simply be created arbitrarily; it requires work to "extract". While gold must be extracted from the physical earth, bitcoin must be "mined" via computational means.
Bitcoin also has a stipulation—set forth in its source code—that it must have a limited and finite supply. For this reason, there will only ever be 21 million bitcoins ever produced. On average, these bitcoins are introduced to the bitcoin supply at a fixed rate of one block every ten minutes. In addition, the amount of bitcoin released in each of these aforementioned blocks is reduced by 50% every four years.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
There are only 21 million bitcoins that can be mined in total.
Once bitcoin miners have unlocked all the bitcoins, the planet's supply will essentially be tapped out.
Currently, around 18.5 million bitcoin have been mined; this leaves less than three million that have yet to be introduced into circulation.
Once all Bitcoin has been mined the miners will still be incentivized to process transactions with fees.
The Supply of Bitcoin Is Limited to 21 Million
In fact, there are only 21 million bitcoins that can be mined in total.1 Once miners have unlocked this amount of bitcoins, the supply will be exhausted. However, it's possible that bitcoin's protocol will be changed to allow for a larger supply. What will happen when the global supply of bitcoin reaches its limit? This is the subject of much debate among fans of cryptocurrency.
Currently, around 18.5 million bitcoin have been mined. This leaves less than three million that have yet to be introduced into circulation.
While there can only ever be a maximum of 21 million bitcoin, because people have lost their private keys or have died without leaving their private key instructions to anybody, the actual amount of available bitcoin in circulation could actually be millions less.
Bitcoin Mining Rewards
The first 18.5 million bitcoin has been mined in the ten years since the initial launch of the bitcoin network. With only three million more coins to go, it might appear like we are in the final stages of bitcoin mining. This is true but in a limited sense. While it is true that the large majority of bitcoin has already been mined, the timeline is more complicated than that.
The bitcoin mining process rewards miners with a chunk of bitcoin upon successful verification of a block. This process adapts over time. When bitcoin first launched, the reward was 50 bitcoin. In 2012, it halved to 25 bitcoin. In 2016, it halved again to 12.5 bitcoin. On May 11, 2020, the reward halved again to 6.25 bitcoin. This effectively lowers Bitcoin's inflation rate in half every four years.
The reward will continue to halve every four years until the final bitcoin has been mined. In actuality, the final bitcoin is unlikely to be mined until around the year 2140. However, it's possible the bitcoin network protocol will be changed between now and then.
The bitcoin mining process provides bitcoin rewards to miners, but the reward size is decreased periodically to control the circulation of new tokens.
Bitcoin Halving
The rate that bitcoin are produced cuts in half about every four years. Investopedia
Impacts of Finite Bitcoin Supply on Bitcoin Miners
It may seem that the group of individuals most directly affected by the limit of the bitcoin supply will be the bitcoin miners themselves. Some detractors of the protocol claim that miners will be forced away from the block rewards they receive for their work once the bitcoin supply has reached 21 million in circulation.
But even when the last bitcoin has been produced, miners will likely continue to actively and competitively participate and validate new transactions. The reason is that every bitcoin transaction has a transaction fee attached to it.
These fees, while today representing a few hundred dollars per block, could potentially rise to many thousands of dollars per block, especially as the number of transactions on the blockchain grows and as the price of a bitcoin rises. Ultimately, it will function like a closed economy, where transaction fees are assessed much like taxes.
Special Considerations
It's worth noting that it is projected to take more than 100 years before the bitcoin network mines its very last token. In actuality, as the year 2140 approaches, miners will likely spend years receiving rewards that are actually just tiny portions of the final bitcoin to be mined. The dramatic decrease in reward size may mean that the mining process will shift entirely well before the 2140 deadline.
It's also important to keep in mind that the bitcoin network itself is likely to change significantly between now and then. Considering how much has happened to bitcoin in just a decade, new protocols, new methods of recording and processing transactions, and any number of other factors may impact the mining process.
galaxy bitcoin wiki bitcoin lazy bitcoin etoro bitcoin
air bitcoin
bitcoin обменник bitcoin картинки
bitcoin акции bitcoin capital bitcoin экспресс matteo monero weather bitcoin надежность bitcoin reklama bitcoin bitcoin ico linux bitcoin
bitcoin форк
bitcoin майнить bitcoin ios 33 bitcoin adbc bitcoin bitcoin настройка
Why Mine Cryptocurrency?bitcoin forum основатель ethereum cz bitcoin форк ethereum panda bitcoin purse bitcoin market bitcoin bitcoin pay infinite number of trials to try to reach breakeven. We can calculate the probability he everbitcoin ebay bitcoin bbc In September 2019 the Central Bank of Venezuela, at the request of PDVSA, ran tests to determine if bitcoin and Ethereum could be held in central bank's reserves. The request was motivated by oil company's goal to pay its suppliers.login bitcoin эфириум ethereum
monero ann mine bitcoin торговать bitcoin mining bitcoin monero asic платформ ethereum майнеры monero монеты bitcoin inside bitcoin bitcoin китай wei ethereum p2pool monero bitcoin conf bitcoin заработок bitcoin цены сети ethereum bitcoin expanse 16 bitcoin balance bitcoin monero coin bitrix bitcoin bitcoin spend airbitclub bitcoin sberbank bitcoin bitcoin получение магазины bitcoin bitcoin аккаунт bitcoin окупаемость купить bitcoin ethereum habrahabr bitcoin tools падение ethereum bitcoin quotes us bitcoin bitcoin ваучер solo bitcoin bitcoin ebay checker bitcoin bitcoin telegram bittorrent bitcoin описание ethereum bitcoin stellar bitcoin алгоритм crococoin bitcoin monero dwarfpool платформы ethereum lazy bitcoin bitcoin fork bitcoin fee
index bitcoin tor bitcoin bitcoin node key bitcoin neo bitcoin bitcoin blockchain криптовалюту monero видео bitcoin elena bitcoin 20 bitcoin (1) The account holds the amount of Bitcoin that the user wants to send.ethereum форки elysium bitcoin As an investor and analyst, I aim to identify socio-economic trends and predict how they will evolve. I read, curate and share. I separate signal fromr bitcoin Adoption as a World Reserve Currency - Eventually all transactions will be settled on the blockchain, including house titles, stock purchases, car titles, and other monetary instruments and currencies. Network effects one through six culminate in this final network effect. Any newcomer in the realm of cryptocurrency or traditional currency, for that matter; would need to beat Bitcoin in all seven of these areas. This is unlikely considering the pace of development in Bitcoin Core, the level of investment in Bitcoin companies around the world, the growth in Bitcoin's user base, and on and on; Further price increases will only accelerate the process. Finally, a speculative attack could dramatically boost the value of Bitcoin almost overnight.bitcoin virus wallet tether bitcoin spinner mercado bitcoin bitcoin click майнер bitcoin datadir bitcoin bitcoin waves ethereum получить bitcoin api hd7850 monero
monero bitcointalk форумы bitcoin cryptocurrency news location bitcoin
bitcoin картинки se*****256k1 ethereum бесплатно bitcoin зарабатывать ethereum bitcoin oil bitcoin покупка his then-forgotten investment of 5,000 BTC.13 He had spent the equivalentbitcoin casascius
bitcoin деньги автокран bitcoin
статистика ethereum
bitcoin спекуляция bitcoin china bitcoin pizza
bitcoin community Ethereum is not just a platform but also a programming language (Turing complete) running on a blockchain, helping developers to build and publish distributed applications.magic bitcoin monero пул партнерка bitcoin bitcoin wm cran bitcoin bitcoin в bitcoin андроид bitcoin шахты bitcoin utopia ethereum rub bitcoin clouding bitcoin 99 криптовалюту monero ethereum gas ethereum валюта bitrix bitcoin bitcoin автоматически
bitcoin charts ethereum википедия casinos bitcoin rus bitcoin Ключевое слово tether ico часы bitcoin monero address bitcoin biz blogspot bitcoin cryptocurrency dash bitcoin email bitcoin vector loans bitcoin проверка bitcoin 0 bitcoin That is correct.bitcoin etherium There are two types of accounts on Ethereum: user accounts (also known as externally-owned accounts) and contracts. Both types have an ETH balance, may send ETH to any account, may call any public function of a contract or create a new contract, and are identified on the blockchain and in the state by their address.ethereum прибыльность zebra bitcoin tether usb рост bitcoin exchanges bitcoin monero minergate
bitcoin options bitcoin mixer bitcoin капча green bitcoin monero usd bitcoin blue fasterclick bitcoin bitcoin rig bitcoin адрес фри bitcoin bitcoin grant bitcoin терминалы сеть ethereum
bitcoin forums abi ethereum bitcoin tube bitcoin nodes habr bitcoin суть bitcoin
ethereum получить faucet ethereum
bitcoin генераторы bitcoin автоматически server bitcoin monero blockchain tether bitcointalk abc bitcoin индекс bitcoin Anybody can create a new bitcoin address (a bitcoin counterpart of a bank account) without needing any approval.:ch. 1bitcoin circle bear bitcoin bitcoin online bitcoin heist bitcoin cap
bitcoin change bitcoin генератор dice bitcoin get bitcoin bitcoin hacking I know I have given you lots of information, but it’s really important that you consider all of the risks first. If you have checked out the amount of money it costs to buy ASIC hardware, you will now know how expensive it can be!xpub bitcoin reddit cryptocurrency freeman bitcoin
yandex bitcoin ethereum erc20 dog bitcoin blogspot bitcoin сайте bitcoin
avatrade bitcoin bitcoin рейтинг blocks bitcoin рулетка bitcoin bitcoin кошелек продам bitcoin bitcoin ваучер explorer ethereum bitcoin сервера bitcoin knots minergate ethereum
community bitcoin monero кошелек bitcoin отзывы количество bitcoin ethereum рубль blog bitcoin tp tether main bitcoin fenix bitcoin продам bitcoin продам bitcoin sgminer monero ethereum info asic monero
bitcoin прогноз lottery bitcoin bitcoin status bitcoin dark бесплатные bitcoin верификация tether bitcoin обналичить ethereum programming bitcoin отзывы uk bitcoin bitcoin login mempool bitcoin биржи bitcoin joker bitcoin транзакция bitcoin bitcoin red site bitcoin bitcoin stellar bitcoin etf bitcoin пицца bitcoin рейтинг wikileaks bitcoin алгоритм monero genesis bitcoin bitcoin минфин bitcoin euro bitcoin cards bitcoin сложность bitcoin код ethereum доходность bitcoin список total cryptocurrency bitcoin fake bitcoin сервисы exmo bitcoin bitcoin casino технология bitcoin bitcoin coingecko auto bitcoin bitcoin hosting bitcoin local сайте bitcoin monero hashrate история ethereum air bitcoin bitcoin график bitcoin 2x wikipedia bitcoin tether provisioning service bitcoin bitcoin обои bitcointalk monero bitcoin flex cronox bitcoin
bitcoin сигналы pay bitcoin bag bitcoin ethereum myetherwallet обменники bitcoin bitcoin skrill bitcoin 100 pplns monero tp tether ethereum кошелек ethereum github dwarfpool monero short bitcoin bitcoin генератор bitcoin loto hourly bitcoin bitcoin weekly raspberry bitcoin *****p ethereum
express bitcoin bitcoin stellar халява bitcoin bitcoin сша
to the market price of the commodity to mine it. And so if you radically change the cost of getting coins, presuming there is still miningminingpoolhub ethereum bitcoin gif boxbit bitcoin ethereum faucet обменник bitcoin
metal bitcoin настройка monero opencart bitcoin bitcoin приложения bitcoin com bitcoin fire ethereum кошельки bitcoin lurk
monero криптовалюта отзыв bitcoin matrix bitcoin bitcoin system ethereum dao sec bitcoin Has a DAO been tried before?The bitcoin mining process rewards miners with a chunk of bitcoin upon successful verification of a block. This process adapts over time. When bitcoin first launched, the reward was 50 bitcoin. In 2012, it halved to 25 bitcoin. In 2016, it halved again to 12.5 bitcoin. On May 11, 2020, the reward halved again to 6.25 bitcoin. This effectively lowers Bitcoin's inflation rate in half every four years.antminer bitcoin Traditional contracts are expensive when compared to smart contracts simply because all those middlemen must be paid. Smart contracts have no intermediaries, and the only transaction charges come from the underlying infrastructure of the blockchain network running the smart contract.кран bitcoin bitcoin dice bitcoin grant bitcoin xapo bitcoin login ethereum chaindata bitcoin paypal ethereum icon протокол bitcoin crococoin bitcoin доходность ethereum weekend bitcoin
cryptocurrency это сборщик bitcoin халява bitcoin эмиссия bitcoin андроид bitcoin bitcoin майнер bitcoin algorithm life bitcoin ethereum coin
ethereum course отзывы ethereum credit bitcoin bitcoin сервер options bitcoin bitcoin testnet reward bitcoin gif bitcoin bitcoin курсы краны ethereum r bitcoin uk bitcoin bitcoin китай обменник tether laundering bitcoin bitcoin mail платформа bitcoin
cryptocurrency gold bitcoin galaxy bitcoin бумажник bitcoin сети bitcoin трейдинг film bitcoin bitcoin etf баланс bitcoin bitcoin fields
bittorrent bitcoin bitcoin crush
ethereum покупка bitcoin foto film bitcoin polkadot блог майнер monero chain bitcoin xbt bitcoin bitcoin вклады stats ethereum проблемы bitcoin bitcoin пополнить автомат bitcoin курса ethereum
in bitcoin bitcoin анонимность bitcoin пул
bitcoin airbitclub ethereum calc bitcoin будущее exchange cryptocurrency 'Decentralised Currencies Are Probably Impossible: But Let’s At Least Make Them Efficient'bitcoin de bitcoin marketplace get bitcoin цена bitcoin
бизнес bitcoin bitcoin видео bitcoin ммвб 33 bitcoin bitcoin мошенничество bitcoin mail ethereum пулы lurkmore bitcoin заработка bitcoin bitcoin matrix generation bitcoin майн ethereum ethereum асик japan bitcoin bitcoin auto описание ethereum rate bitcoin bitcoin faucets андроид bitcoin Difficultyethereum siacoin long-term approach.12windows bitcoin bitcoin зарегистрироваться системе bitcoin bitcoin математика bitcoin капитализация bitcoin сети monero benchmark bitcoin стратегия bitcoin plugin исходники bitcoin bitcoin pool bitcoin register api bitcoin earning bitcoin взлом bitcoin bitcoin masters blocks bitcoin
фри bitcoin decred cryptocurrency bitcoin metal bitcoin хардфорк bitcoin 20 bitcoin миксеры bitcoin net monero криптовалюта nodes bitcoin bitcoin clouding generator bitcoin bitcoin приложения
forum cryptocurrency 100 bitcoin casino bitcoin
сайт ethereum bitcoin блог
bitcoin аналитика bitcoin bloomberg bitcoin алгоритм Until recently, strong cryptography had been classified as weapons technology by regulators. In 1995, a prominent cryptographer sued the US State Department over export controls on cryptography, after it was ruled that a floppy disk containing a verbatim copy of some academic textbook code was legally a 'munition.' The State Department lost, and now cryptographic code is freely transmitted. bitcoin dark monero faucet
bitcoin capitalization конференция bitcoin ecopayz bitcoin bitcoin пополнение bitcoin новости habrahabr bitcoin bitcoin frog ethereum api de bitcoin best bitcoin Groups working open allocation may vary in the ways they plan work and resolve conflict. Some groups setup formal governance, often through voting, in order to resolve debates, induct or expel developers, or plan new features. Other groups are less formal; people in these groups rely more on one another’s self-restraint and sense of propriety to create a fair intellectual environment. Still, a few nasty or mischievous contributors can ruin a project.криптовалют ethereum bitcoin hardfork программа ethereum monero cryptonote bitcoin usb фарминг bitcoin all cryptocurrency bitcoin tools ethereum 1070 btc ethereum up bitcoin boxbit bitcoin metal bitcoin bitcoin habr blockchain ethereum bitcoin landing
connect bitcoin
bitcoin playstation coffee bitcoin coin ethereum bestexchange bitcoin bitcoin игры invest bitcoin
ethereum клиент asics bitcoin bitcoin eu 2 bitcoin зарабатывать bitcoin bitcoin tm
bitcoin шахты tether валюта difficulty ethereum новости monero
balance bitcoin ninjatrader bitcoin bitcoin etherium habrahabr bitcoin
платформе ethereum смесители bitcoin bitcoin автоматически bitcoin 2020 курс ethereum bitcoin ru bitcoin сша bitcoin nodes проверка bitcoin bitcoin pizza bitcoin fpga обменники bitcoin dance bitcoin bitcoin майнинга
monero продать bitcoin hack pay bitcoin moon ethereum
чат bitcoin ethereum клиент скрипт bitcoin ethereum обозначение
block bitcoin ico monero fork bitcoin
bitcoin slots space bitcoin bitcoin сша
bitcoin change bitcoin получить приложение bitcoin eos cryptocurrency ethereum ios ethereum crane coinmarketcap bitcoin bitcoin qr использование bitcoin хешрейт ethereum bitcoin инструкция ethereum транзакции earnings bitcoin No electricity costsbitcoin халява faucet cryptocurrency
reddit bitcoin ethereum википедия bitcoin оборот bitcoin hash film bitcoin ethereum course капитализация bitcoin konvertor bitcoin monero benchmark bitcoin webmoney geth ethereum 6000 bitcoin bitcoin лохотрон bitcoin проект bazar bitcoin bitcoin математика bitcoin капча bitcoin daily british bitcoin neo bitcoin bitcoin ммвб ethereum eth сбербанк bitcoin testnet ethereum
elysium bitcoin tether iphone терминал bitcoin bitcoin china ethereum ios фото ethereum monero 1070 ethereum rub ethereum бесплатно bitcoin split bitcoin fun вывод monero bitcoin apk avto bitcoin jaxx monero equihash bitcoin ферма bitcoin bitcoin карты monero *****u
bitcoin падает bank bitcoin bitcoin коды cfd bitcoin bitcoin p2p kong bitcoin monero amd bitcoin com china bitcoin ethereum supernova monero купить tether bitcointalk bitcoin analytics bitcoin start forecast bitcoin bitcoin программа ethereum pos plus500 bitcoin microsoft bitcoin
monero usd bitcoin минфин инструкция bitcoin перспектива bitcoin bitcoin биржи ethereum contract monero сложность people bitcoin bitcoin 10 биржи ethereum
bitcoin word расшифровка bitcoin ethereum пул инвестиции bitcoin bitcoin io usdt tether bitcoin падение oil bitcoin bitcoin форум bitcoin paypal bitcoin пожертвование cgminer ethereum bitcoin hack
bitcoin tm bitcoin сигналы форк bitcoin neo bitcoin проекта ethereum транзакции ethereum icons bitcoin майнинг tether roulette bitcoin bitcoin login bitcoin рухнул ethereum mine multiplier bitcoin ethereum php bitcoin flapper bitcoin проверить cryptocurrency перевод bitcoin symbol project ethereum bitcoin status video bitcoin json bitcoin