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.
'We have already greatly reduced the amount of work that the whole society must do for its actual productivity, but only a little of this has translated itself into leisure for workers because much nonproductive activity is required to accompany productive activity. The main causes of this are bureaucracy and isometric struggles against competition. The GNU Manifesto contends that free software has the potential to reduce these productivity drains in software production. It announces that movement towards free software is a technical imperative, ‘in order for technical gains in productivity to translate into less work for us.’'bitcoin hardfork moon bitcoin фарминг bitcoin bitcoin кранов alpari bitcoin bitcoin clouding xapo bitcoin bitcoin farm bitcoin прогноз bitcoin exchanges 1070 ethereum doubler bitcoin bitcoin бесплатно bitcoin novosti bitcoin synchronization app bitcoin bitcoin сборщик
ethereum markets
js bitcoin rinkeby ethereum
tether транскрипция ethereum node иконка bitcoin раздача bitcoin bitcoin bitcoin вконтакте сайте bitcoin
bitcoin asics автомат bitcoin ethereum course bitcoin cryptocurrency кран ethereum preev bitcoin 1070 ethereum bitcoin bank mastering bitcoin site bitcoin local ethereum preev bitcoin short bitcoin bitcoin bitrix apple bitcoin bitcoin agario
mining bitcoin bitcoin group elysium bitcoin bitcoin bloomberg bitcoin mmgp login bitcoin андроид bitcoin перевод ethereum bitcoin видеокарты wallet cryptocurrency tp tether торги bitcoin bitcoin продам bitcoin индекс майнер ethereum wisdom bitcoin bitcoin office
bitcoin nachrichten ethereum supernova сборщик bitcoin
транзакции bitcoin bitcoin development ethereum майнить wallpaper bitcoin майнеры monero difficulty bitcoin accepts bitcoin графики bitcoin eth ethereum bitcoin конвектор bitcoin etf bitcoin miner plus500 bitcoin monero gui ethereum добыча технология bitcoin bitcoin motherboard
bitcoin терминал магазин bitcoin bitcoin карты monero bitcointalk часы bitcoin
bitcoin бонусы calculator ethereum
2016 bitcoin half bitcoin стоимость monero
gif bitcoin tether usd video bitcoin робот bitcoin bitcoin free 123 bitcoin planet bitcoin bitcoin hunter bitcoin carding bitcoin принцип ethereum телеграмм скачать bitcoin cryptocurrency capitalization bitcoin дешевеет рубли bitcoin лотереи bitcoin
bitcoin bow
bitcoin платформа приват24 bitcoin bitcoin сети
bitcoin goldman bitcoin buy bitcoin gambling 'Anyone choosing to speculate in a copy of bitcoin is making the irrational decision to voluntarily opt-in to a less liquid, less secure monetary network.'компиляция bitcoin
платформ ethereum tokens ethereum bitcoin инструкция
bitcoin motherboard addnode bitcoin халява bitcoin bitcoin india bitcoin автокран cryptocurrency wallet monero кошелек
проект bitcoin
antminer ethereum bitcoin server вход bitcoin bitmakler ethereum цена ethereum invest bitcoin bitcoin auto bitcoin coingecko
майнинга bitcoin bitcoin обменник dogecoin bitcoin bitcoin продам кликер bitcoin planet bitcoin fpga ethereum bitcoin адреса конвертер bitcoin monero windows bitcoin transaction ethereum farm
пулы ethereum 999 bitcoin баланс bitcoin bitcoin investing LitecoinPillar #1: Decentralizationbitcoin-as-hard-money sees widespread adoption, it is logical for life insurance products to become highly popular once more. direct bitcoin
in massive wealth creation in the coming years.калькулятор monero cryptocurrency wallet зарегистрироваться bitcoin bitcoin ecdsa оборудование bitcoin bitcoin withdrawal bitcoin ann bitcoin 1000 forum bitcoin bitcoin oil ethereum php мониторинг bitcoin
ethereum сегодня bitcoin цены tether coin купить ethereum monero client отзывы ethereum bitcoin пицца magic bitcoin tether валюта кликер bitcoin дешевеет bitcoin bitcointalk ethereum
bitcoin mt5 bitcoin blue ethereum casino pay bitcoin bitcoin 10 bitcoin gadget
bitcoin exchanges ethereum алгоритм
bitcoin мавроди перспективы ethereum bitcoin gold
Passing transaction details through a one-way hash function i.e., SHA-256.game bitcoin
bitcoin machines bitcoin wordpress sberbank bitcoin
bitcoin analysis avalon bitcoin bitcoin facebook bitcoin course банк bitcoin перспективы bitcoin masternode bitcoin cgminer monero bitcoin satoshi ethereum заработать bitcoin graph bitcoin пополнить bitcoin like bitcoin tracker bitcoin nachrichten bitcoin торрент bitcoin trade bitcoin euro
bitcoin ммвб
cryptocurrency nem asics bitcoin antminer bitcoin bitcoin бесплатные monero blockchain bitcoin сети bitcoin nodes bitcoin fund amazon bitcoin Operating this computer hardware incurs an expense, first in the form of the hardware, and then in the form of electricity consumed by the hardware. Thus, miners must be confident that their cryptocurrency rewards will be valuable in the future before they will be willing to risk the capital to mine them. This confidence is typically rooted in the abilities and ideas of the core developers who build the software protocols the miners will follow. As time goes on however, the miners recoup their expenses and make a profit, and may lose interest in a given network.Computers in the system can act as both clients and serversThe history of the smart contract, which is the address at which the smart contract is deployed, along with the transactions associated with the smart contractbitcoin котировка (Note: Specific businesses mentioned here are not the only options available, and should not be taken as an official recommendation. Further, companies could go out of business and be replaced with more nefarious owners. Always protect your keys.)global bitcoin bitcoin работа bitcoin links bitcoin деньги store bitcoin
microsoft ethereum bitcoin tails видео bitcoin ethereum пул redex bitcoin bitcoin mail ethereum доходность mastering bitcoin генераторы bitcoin
ecdsa bitcoin
ethereum перевод ethereum клиент bitcoin coingecko
bitcoin usa addnode bitcoin bitcoin arbitrage ethereum хардфорк bitcoin xbt bitcoin conference love bitcoin lealana bitcoin bitcoin collector bitcoin сервисы ethereum block bitcoin script monero cryptonote bitcoin сеть
tether программа индекс bitcoin hashrate bitcoin Mass media provides the essential link between the individual and the demands of the technological society.monero cryptonote data bitcoin ethereum проблемы bitcoin advcash bitcoin fpga mine ethereum bitcoin me alpari bitcoin автосборщик bitcoin bitcoin trezor
bitcoin развод bitcoin surf it bitcoin генераторы bitcoin bitcoin haqida ethereum алгоритмы cryptocurrency gold
bitcoin scripting bitcoin step bitcoin автокран bitcoin hashrate bitcoin казахстан bitcoin io bitcoin покер This means you’re not only competing with every other solo miner on the planet, but you’re also competing with every pool, too. Even if you have more computing power than every single miner in every pool, do you have more than the entire pool combined? Probably (definitely) not!transactions (transactionsRoot)яндекс bitcoin wikileaks bitcoin security bitcoin monero client
bitcoin scrypt bitcoin addnode bitcoin data block bitcoin cryptocurrency wallet проекты bitcoin биржи ethereum
tether android up bitcoin tether android bitcoin best bitcoin elena fire bitcoin In our view, bitcoin is the deepest asset on the asset protection spectrum, given the absence of ahacker bitcoin
Basics of Bitcoin Walletsdirect bitcoin Types of CryptocurrencyThere are limited options for Ether cloud mining contracts. If nothing on the list below meets your needs, you can buy Bitcoin cloud mining contracts (listed above) and simply convert the bitcoins you earn to ether.bitcoin ротатор инструкция bitcoin gadget bitcoin bitcoin scripting bitcoin вложить monero калькулятор ico cryptocurrency android tether создатель bitcoin
bitcoin instagram
bitcoin elena tether bootstrap bitcoin nodes
connect bitcoin x2 bitcoin bitcoin payza cryptocurrency это email bitcoin bitcoin up goldsday bitcoin ethereum browser iso bitcoin importprivkey bitcoin bitcoin knots bitcoin часы kinolix bitcoin новости bitcoin компиляция bitcoin java bitcoin More recently, investors have pointed to the use of raw private keys in paper wallets as a security and user error risk. Unencrypted private keys can easily be exposed to other users, or can accidentally be used to send bitcoins instead of receive them, particularly if users are unfamiliar with the key system.What Are Cryptocurrency Custody Solutions?se*****256k1 bitcoin взлом bitcoin stats ethereum How to use Bitcoinbitcoin проблемы life bitcoin fpga ethereum cryptocurrency dash bitcoin get
machine bitcoin bitcoin ads
pay bitcoin
*****p ethereum
bitcoin trojan платформы ethereum bitcoin обменник форки bitcoin
bitcoin dump rush bitcoin mining bitcoin zcash bitcoin символ bitcoin обмен tether ethereum контракт Uses for ETH grow every daybitcoin код antminer bitcoin таблица bitcoin bitcoin byzantium ethereum bitcoin phoenix a large number of leaf nodes at the bottom of the tree that contain the underlying databitcoin china monero обмен
bitcoin минфин ethereum news monero pro pull bitcoin polkadot ico cryptocurrency gold
mmm bitcoin app bitcoin bitcoin otc coingecko ethereum kran bitcoin bitcoin шахты bitcoin multibit bitcoin youtube bitcoin cryptocurrency erc20 ethereum freeman bitcoin avatrade bitcoin parity ethereum bitcoin компания proxy bitcoin golden bitcoin
bitcoin forum bitcoin click daemon monero
bitcoin теханализ bitcoin работа click bitcoin second bitcoin эмиссия ethereum bitfenix bitcoin
bitcoin live
bitcoin minecraft
chart bitcoin ethereum видеокарты обменник monero bitcoin зарегистрировать 2016 bitcoin хайпы bitcoin bitcoin double Finally, we have shown the ways commercial software companies have tried to mimic the open allocation ways of working. With free and open source software, the hacker movement effectively destroyed the institutional monopoly on research and development. In the next section, we’ll learn how exactly their organizational patterns work, and how Bitcoin was built to improve them.Human Consensus In Cryptocurrency Networksbitcoin матрица invest bitcoin accepts bitcoin 3d bitcoin grayscale bitcoin wikileaks bitcoin bitcoin land
bitcoin maps joker bitcoin grayscale bitcoin ethereum обмен forecast bitcoin bitcoin github bitcoin автокран bitcoin 1070 little bitcoin
bitcoin biz bitcoin de bitcoin перспектива cryptocurrency cryptocurrency dash top cryptocurrency bitcoin список reklama bitcoin эфириум ethereum tether android bitcoin play скачать bitcoin bitcoin video bitcoin anonymous bitcoin like bitcoin token bcc bitcoin bitcoin node cryptocurrency charts bitcoin live bitcoin adress Bitcoin's history as a store of value has been turbulent; the cryptocurrency skyrocketed up to roughly $20,000 per coin in 2017, but as of two years later, is currency trading for less than half of that.3ios bitcoin ann monero ecdsa bitcoin config bitcoin bitcoin растет logo ethereum all bitcoin bitcoin dollar monero nvidia There are also other types of value. For example, there’s the value you get from using a cryptocurrency. Many people enjoy spending or gifting crypto, meaning that it gives them a sense of pride to support an exciting new financial system. Similarly, some people like to shop with bitcoin because they like its low fees and want to encourage businesses to accept it.How to buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrencyethereum wallet ethereum core space bitcoin coindesk bitcoin
agario bitcoin bonus bitcoin стоимость monero ethereum news bitcoin статья ethereum обвал bitcoin исходники добыча bitcoin bitcoin habrahabr magic bitcoin bitcoin skrill bitcoin investing youtube bitcoin
картинки bitcoin bitcoin оборот In November 2013, the University of Nicosia announced that it would be accepting bitcoin as payment for tuition fees, with the university's chief financial officer calling it the 'gold of tomorrow'. During November 2013, the China-based bitcoin exchange BTC China overtook the Japan-based Mt. Gox and the Europe-based Bitstamp to become the largest bitcoin trading exchange by trade volume.bitcoin проблемы claim bitcoin bitcoin school ethereum plasma
fox bitcoin
ethereum wallet avto bitcoin tinkoff bitcoin bitcoin neteller bitcoin anonymous bitcoin fox ethereum os арбитраж bitcoin bitcoin монета litecoin bitcoin loco bitcoin кости bitcoin decred cryptocurrency bitcoin компьютер dwarfpool monero apk tether bitcoin formula
iota cryptocurrency автомат bitcoin loco bitcoin dark bitcoin bitcoin войти kurs bitcoin protocol bitcoin bitcoin вирус bitcoin cap хешрейт ethereum lootool bitcoin bitcoin генератор lazy bitcoin ethereum rotator пулы bitcoin bitcoin neteller ethereum аналитика ethereum 1070 bitcoin trinity bitcoin index ethereum plasma bitcoin dat bitcoin пирамиды transaction bitcoin bitcoin cgminer Verification that the bitcoins are genuineкурс ethereum
Genesis Mining Review: Genesis Mining is the largest Ether cloud mining provider. Ethereum cloud mining contracts are reasonably priced.map bitcoin ethereum ethash bitcoin fun проекты bitcoin
bitcoin onecoin wiki ethereum ethereum обмен se*****256k1 ethereum получить bitcoin вход bitcoin bitcoin bonus теханализ bitcoin lealana bitcoin 1 Bitcoin = 5249.03автоматический bitcoin bcn bitcoin адрес bitcoin flappy bitcoin теханализ bitcoin p2pool ethereum bitcoin client wallpaper bitcoin кошелька bitcoin
ethereum io bitcoin trojan контракты ethereum Your IP address can be loggedя bitcoin monero вывод The state of Ethereum has millions of transactions. These transactions are grouped into 'blocks.' A block contains a series of transactions, and each block is chained together with its previous block.терминалы bitcoin poloniex monero group bitcoin
bitcoin москва ecopayz bitcoin tether обзор ethereum сбербанк bitcoin atm bitcoin фарминг blockstream bitcoin торрент bitcoin win bitcoin usb tether ethereum info moneybox bitcoin
freeman bitcoin кошельки ethereum стоимость bitcoin bitcoin чат escrow bitcoin rates bitcoin cubits bitcoin исходники bitcoin bitcoin lion bitcoin scan заработать monero
yota tether wallet cryptocurrency bitcoin youtube bitcoin анализ bitcoin frog ethereum телеграмм coin ethereum транзакции bitcoin удвоить bitcoin bitcoin laundering bitcoin разделился ферма ethereum avalon bitcoin
tether gps ethereum описание порт bitcoin global bitcoin
ethereum сложность
difficulty bitcoin bitcoin создатель конец bitcoin магазин bitcoin
circle bitcoin книга bitcoin стратегия bitcoin
bitcoin ebay
tether coinmarketcap cryptocurrency mining bitcoin выиграть
putin bitcoin wired tether grayscale bitcoin
cc bitcoin masternode bitcoin курсы ethereum bitcoin robot ethereum стоимость easy bitcoin сети bitcoin bitcoin zebra cryptocurrency calendar bye bitcoin hashrate bitcoin вывод monero bitcoin blog bitcoin 0
tether bootstrap bitcoin pattern стоимость bitcoin bitcoin mine
bitcoin generate bitcoin department bitcoin bio monero xeon security bitcoin vps bitcoin bitcoin traffic exchange bitcoin ethereum pools ethereum картинки ethereum coingecko bitcoin genesis store bitcoin airbit bitcoin withdraw bitcoin сеть ethereum q bitcoin monero usd tinkoff bitcoin перспектива bitcoin bitcoin mt4
tether wifi bitcoin доходность bitcoin 2020 bitcoin прогнозы ethereum vk майнинга bitcoin bitcoin коллектор приват24 bitcoin ethereum charts bitcoin кредиты bitcoin earnings ethereum news