Key takeaways:
- 19 million BTC have been mined since the Bitcoin network went online roughly 13 years ago
- Bitcoin is earned by miners as a reward for securing the network and upkeeping blockchain transactional records
- According to current estimates, the last coin will be mined in 2139
19M BTC have been mined, the last one will enter circulation in 2139
Today, the world’s oldest and largest cryptocurrency network reached another notable milestone. As of April 1st, 19 million BTC had been mined out of the artificially capped total supply of 21 million coins.
While Bitcoin miners have been able to solve complex mathematical problems to earn a bit over 90% of the total supply as a reward during the span of the first 13 years, it will take an additional 118 years to mine the last coin. According to Clark Moody’s Bitcoin dashboard, the last BTC will be mined at the tail end of 2139 (the exact date could change over time due to mining difficulty adjustments).
To make the Bitcoin network secure and impenetrable to attackers, Bitcoin miners are tasked with solving complex mathematical problems linked with each block. Put simply, a block is a part of the blockchain with immutable records of past transactions made on the BTC network. Once a new block is produced and the first transaction recorded, a BTC reward is delegated to the miner that completed (solved) the new block.
As of the last Bitcoin halving that took place in May 2020, each miner responsible for new block creation is awarded with 6.25 newly minted BTC. During its total life cycle, the Bitcoin network will undergo a total of 32 halvings, with each halving decreasing the block reward by half (hence the name).
At the moment, we are at the mid-point in the currently ongoing BTC’s halving cycle. The next halving, which will bring the BTC mining reward down to 3.125 BTC, will take place in May 2024.
The next major circulation milestone, when the 20 millionth BTC will be mined, will take place sometime in 2027.
