Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency in the market and leads the digital asset race. Even though it is costly, many people still aspire and try to get their hands on this leading token due to its high investment returns.
With more and more people wanting to acquire the ‘world’s digital gold’, this begs the question, how long until bitcoin runs out?
What happens when this powerhouse token is fully mined and how will it change the landscape of the crypto sphere? To find out more about this, keep reading here in Casino Days India!
Is there a limit to Bitcoin’s supply?
When Satoshi Nakomoto created Bitcoin, he ensured that there would be a balance between the supply and demand of BTC. Therefore, he ensured that is only 21 million Bitcoin could be mined.
According to Decrypt.com, the last BTC will be mined in 2140. So there are at least 118 years left before all the BTC tokens run out.
Bitcoin mining: Digging for digital gold
Unlike fiat or other commodities like gold, purchasing Bitcoin is slightly different because it can’t be done through banks or regular financial institutions. One of the most common ways to acquire BTCs is through mining.
In essence, it’s the process of solving complex mathematical problems using high powered computers. Every 10 minutes, when a new block of data is mined, a new token is generated and circulated in the blockchain.
The miner’s systems utilise a lot of force, combining numerous computing units to spew out hashes at varying speeds (MH/s, GH/s, or TH/s), guessing all possible 64-digit combinations until they find one.
This is a tedious process as mining requires high electricity costs, which can compromise the blockchain’s scalability. By solving such math problems, miners are able to strengthen the integrity of the network since they verify each transaction. Such bitcoin verification is vital since it prevents double-spending.
To incentive miners, they are given Bitcoins for every transaction they process.
With the surge of people wanting to acquire BTCs, people who want to get into mining are increasing. If kept unchecked, it can deplete the supply of bitcoins immediately. In order to prevent this, Bitcoin halving was introduced.
What is Bitcoin halving?
To make bitcoin more valuable, it is essential to reduce the number of bitcoins that may be mined from each block by half.
When each half of the bitcoin mining task is finished, the incentive to continue mining bitcoin will diminish. As a result, bitcoin halvings have been related to large price surges in the cryptocurrency, which motivates miners to mine more even though their rewards have been reduced by half.
In about a hundred years, the last halving will take place, and block rewards will no longer be paid in bitcoins. Fees from network users will be paid out to miners in order to encourage them to continue processing transactions on the bitcoin blockchain after the final halving has taken place.
Bitcoin halving: How does it affect BTC supply?
Since there is only a finite amount of BTC in the market, a process called halving was made in 2012 to slow down Bitcoin from running out.
Keep in mind that miners receive rewards, where halving comes into play. Their rewards are cut into half so that the production of tokens would slow down and not run out immediately.
Before, the reward for mining and adding a block to the blockchain was 50 BTC, but since halving was introduced ten years ago, it was cut in half and turned into 25 BTC. The reward is being divided every four years, and it’s currently at 6.125 BTC.
Here’s a table to illustrate the different values of Bitcoin through different Bitcoin halvings:
| Year | Block Number | Reward |
| 2009 | 1 | 50 BTC |
| 2012 | 210,001 | 25 BTC |
| 2016 | 420,001 | 12.5 BTC |
| 2020 | 630,001 | 6.25 BTC |
| 2024 | 740,001 | 3.125 BTC |
| … | … | … |
| 2140 | … | 0 BTC |
What happens when all bitcoins are mined?
Over the years, 18 million Bitcoin have been mined, meaning there is only an estimated amount of 3 million left available in the market. Although it’ll take more than a hundred years before the supply runs out, many people are still wondering what could happen to this powerhouse token.
When all the supply of Bitcoin runs out, all miners in the blockchain will still be a part of the network. However, they will no longer receive incentives since there are no more transactions to be processed. But, they can still receive rewards for maintaining the Bitcoin blockchain.
What does the future hold for the world’s digital gold?
Bitcoin is considered the biggest cryptocurrency in the market and it’s set to show more improvement in the following years. As for the supply, it’s still going to take a hundred years before it finally runs out, so there is still plenty of time to see what changes time will bring to the world’s digital gold. With that said, it’s an undeniable fact that Bitcoin will continue to set the trend movement in the crypto sphere in the near future.
Is it time to buy Bitcoin?
You may be wondering is still a good investment to purchase and mine Bitcoin? The answer depends on your preference and on what type of investor you are. If you’re planning to just hold your tokens, then Bitcoin is the perfect token for you.
It doesn’t matter how long until bitcoin runs out since BTC has proven its worth, stood the test of time and still is the best digital currency in the market.
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