21 Million Bitcoin Limit: What Happens When All the Bitcoins Have Been Mined?
Bitcoin continues gaining traction and popularity for its decentralized nature and potential long-term value growth. More than 19 million bitcoins have been mined, and the next Bitcoin halving is taking place less than a year from now. This leads us to a most perplexing question: What happens when all the bitcoins have been mined?
Key Takeaways:
An average of 900 bitcoins are being mined daily. About 92.358% of bitcoins are already mined.
The upcoming Bitcoin halving will occur in 2024 when the current reward of 6.25 BTC will be halved to 3.125 BTC.
Stakeholders such as Bitcoin miners, retail and institutional investors, and governments are most likely to be affected when all 21 million bitcoins have been mined.
How Many Bitcoins Are Left to Mine?
As of Jun 2023, approximately 19.402 million bitcoins are already in circulation, which means only 1.59 million bitcoins are left for mining. An average of 37.5 bitcoins are being mined hourly, which makes 900 BTC mined each day. No bitcoins are truly lost. The assignment of the term “lost” to Bitcoin relates to owners who have misplaced their private keys, which results in their Bitcoin being locked away permanently.