Today, the 20 millionth bitcoin was mined. Only 1 million remain.
Most people know the basics of bitcoin’s scarcity, but there’s more to the story than just 21 million. Below, we share 6 facts you may not know about bitcoin’s supply:
1. 900k of the last million will be mined in the next 13 years. The last 100k will take until roughly 2140: You might think we’re almost done, only 1 million left, right? Bitcoin is designed so that the rate of new supply gets cut in half roughly every four years.
Bitcoin’s supply will reach 20.9 million in the year 2039, but the last bitcoin won’t be mined until roughly 2140.
2. Bitcoin’s total supply of 21 million is not encoded in the protocol, but rather an emergent property: Surprisingly, you won’t find the number 21,000,000 written anywhere in Bitcoin’s code. Instead, bitcoin’s supply emerges naturally from the formula below, which states that the block reward starts at 50 BTC and is cut in half every 210,000 blocks.
The 21 million figure itself is almost arbitrary; it could have been 1 million or 100 billion and Bitcoin would function the same. What truly matters is the underlying design: a supply that eventually reaches a fixed supply while incentivizing early adoption through halvings.
3. Bitcoin’s total supply is not technically 21 million: A few factors lower the cap:
- The final halving brings the block reward below 1 satoshi, meaning the protocol can never fully reach 21 million. The true ceiling is 20,999,999.9769 BTC.
- In Bitcoin’s early days, a handful of miners successfully mined a block but never claimed their reward, permanently removing those coins from existence before they were ever created.
- Bitcoin’s very first block had a 50 BTC reward, which was hardcoded to be unspendable.
This means the true maximum supply is already slightly below 21 million before we even account for lost coins.
4. The number of bitcoin mined in each block is equal to the percentage of total supply mined in the current epoch: Bitcoin’s supply is divided into eras called epochs. Each one lasts 210,000 blocks, which is about four years, and ends when the block reward halves. Right now, miners earn 3.125 BTC per block. That’s also almost exactly the percentage of the total supply mined (3.125%) during this current era.
5. An estimated 2.6 million bitcoin are estimated to be lost: When a private key is lost, the bitcoin it secures is gone forever. We estimate that roughly 1.6 million bitcoin have been lost since 2009, along with Satoshi’s estimated holdings of 968,000 BTC, which have never been moved.
6. Bitcoin’s inflation rate is lower than gold’s: After the most recent halving, the rate at which new bitcoin enters circulation dropped below 1% per year. This is less than half the rate at which new gold is mined and added to the global supply. Gold has long been considered the ultimate store of value precisely because of its scarcity, but bitcoin is now twice as scarce in this measure.
Is bitcoin a safe-haven?
Despite its scarcity, some are calling bitcoin a failed safe-haven after six months of rough price performance.
It’s true that bitcoin’s price is unpredictable and often does what we least expect. However, one thing is clear: In 6 of the last 7 major geopolitical crises, bitcoin has outperformed both stocks and gold. The ongoing conflict in Iran is no exception.
Uncertainty drives people toward scarcity. Since 2020, no asset has embodied this more than bitcoin.
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