One of the most essential characteristics of the Bitcoin money is its finite supply, which is why knowing how many Bitcoins are available is crucial. As central banks throughout the globe scale up their money creation to record levels, the need of a restricted supply has never been more clear.
Gold is precious because only a tiny quantity can be mined each year, regardless of the price. Bitcoin’s market valuation has now overtaken that of gold, owing to the fact that it takes scarcity to a new level! Only a limited amount of Bitcoins will ever exist, regardless of the price at which they are sold. As a result, Bitcoin is the world’s most difficult currency.
But how many Bitcoins are still available? This guide will tell you.
What is the total number of Bitcoins?
There will only ever be 21 million Bitcoins in total. This suggests that the scarcity of Bitcoin is even higher than that of gold. Despite the difficulty of mining gold, there is a near “infinite” supply since new mines are always being prospected.
Despite the fact that Bitcoin has a quantity of 21 million coins, not all of them are accessible for purchase.
What is the current number of Bitcoins?
Bitcoin has a current supply of over 18 million units. There are a few different methods to keep track of Bitcoin’s circulating supply. Messari provides a fantastic Bitcoin tracker that shows a variety of useful indicators, including current supply. The same data is shown in graph form on Blockchain.com.
The Yahoo Finance app is a good place to start if you want to keep track of the current circulating supply of Bitcoin. They feature a section for Bitcoin that shows the current circulating supply.
How many Bitcoins are still available for mining?
How many Bitcoins are left out of the total of 21 million?
There are still 2.3 million Bitcoins to mine. Surprisingly, even though 18.6 million Bitcoins were mined in little over ten years, the remaining 2.3 million will take another 120 years to mine.
This is due to the halving of Bitcoin. The quantity of Bitcoins generated every block (a new block is created every 10 minutes) is slashed in half every four years. The current mining reward per block is 6.25 Bitcoin. It will decline to 3.125 BTC per block in 2024.
Every day, how many bitcoins are mined?
Around 900 Bitcoins are mined every day.
How Many Bitcoins Have Been Lost?
The simple answer is that we are unsure. It may be difficult to distinguish between a wallet holding “lost” Bitcoin and one containing Bitcoin belonging to a long-term possessor. A recent case exemplifies this principle.
On the 20th of May, 40 BTC were transferred from an address that had been inactive since 2009. Those coins might have been considered to be lost in the past. However, it turns out that someone had access to them all along. This individual had opted to keep his BTC for over a decade without trading it.
While it’s impossible to say how many coins have been lost, one thing is certain: Satoshi’s coins (Satoshi Nakamoto is the founder of Bitcoin) have been “lost.” Satoshi mined around 1 million bitcoins, none of which have moved in the previous decade. Given the aforementioned situation, who knows what may happen.
In terms of minor losses, there have been reports of individuals tossing away hard drives containing thousands of Bitcoin. These coins are gone for forever; nevertheless, estimating the quantity of lost coins is difficult since not every tale hits the press.
What is the total number of Bitcoins in circulation?
In principle, calculating the total amount of Bitcoins accessible should be straightforward. We’d take the current total supply of 18.6 million Bitcoins, deduct the amount of lost coins (let’s say 1.4 million for argument’s sake), and arrive with a total supply of 17.2 million Bitcoins.
This statistic, however, does not convey the entire picture. The amount of Bitcoin accessible is also determined by the ratio of sellers to purchasers. During a bear market, investors sell Bitcoin in large quantities, allowing more coins to be purchased.
Investors purchase and retain Bitcoin during a bull market, reducing the available supply. If demand continues to be strong, prices will rise.
There have been reports recently that the amount of Bitcoins accessible is dwindling. We’re seeing an increasing number of addresses keep their Bitcoin for a year or more, which might signal the start of a new bull market.
When All Bitcoins Have Been Mined, What Happens Next?
That’s it! Once all of the Bitcoins have been mined, that’s all! There will be no more BTC added to the current supply.
The most serious fear about all of the Bitcoin being mined is that there will be no funding for security. The Bitcoin network pays out $3.3 billion in BTC per year to miners to safeguard the network, assuming a price of $10,000 per BTC.
How will the network incentivise miners to maintain securing Bitcoin after there are no more bitcoins to mine? Transaction fees are the obvious solution, but will they be profitable enough to keep miners mining?
While it’s fun to speculate about what may happen, the fact is that this event is more than a century away. For those asking when all Bitcoins will be mined, the answer is “never.” The answer is around 2140, however depending on how block timings shift, it might be a little early or later.
While the possible pitfall of no mining budget is a concern that must be addressed in the future, the network is safe for the time being. Bitcoin is still valued, and with each halving, it gets increasingly more precious.
