A groundbreaking event Bitcoin Supply schedule – 94% of total Bitcoin supply It is currently being issued through mining, with over 19.74 million BTC mined so far out of the total cap of 21 million BTC.
Bitcoin supply is generated through mining, where computers verify transactions and receive Bitcoin as a reward. The original mining subsidy was 50 BTC per block, but it is halved every 210,000 blocks, or approximately every 4 years.
This event Bitcoin HalvingAs the supply grows, a predictable and declining inflation rate is guaranteed. The subsidy has gone through three halvings, from 50 BTC to 25 BTC to 12.5 BTC to the current 6.25 BTC.
Half-life Due to increasing difficulty and competition, fewer and fewer new Bitcoins are being put into circulation over time. Of the maximum 21 million BTC, over 94%, or 19,741,655 BTC, has been mined since Bitcoin’s launch in 2009.
That would leave only about 1.26 million bitcoins to be mined. With the current block reward of 6.25 BTC, it would take another 100 years or more to mint the entire remaining supply. Experts predict that 99.9% of all bitcoins will be mined by 2140, at which point miners will start earning fees instead of subsidies.
This controlled supply schedule is a key aspect of Bitcoin’s value proposition: as issuance slows and demand increases, Bitcoin is designed to become scarce over time, an attractive attribute to investors faced with unlimited fiat issuance and a declining value of the currency.
