bitcoinmagazine.com
A milestone has been reached in Bitcoin's supply schedule - 94% of the total Bitcoin supply has now been issued through mining. Out of a hard-capped total of 21 million $BTC, over 19.74 million have been mined so far.
Bitcoin's supply is issued through mining, where computers validate transactions and receive Bitcoin as a reward. The initial mining subsidy was 50 $BTC per block, which halves every 210,000 blocks or roughly every 4 years.
This event called the Bitcoin halving, ensures a predictable, diminishing inflation rate as the supply grows. There have been three halvings, cutting the subsidy from 50 to 25 to 12.5 to the current 6.25 $BTC.
The halvings combined with increasing difficulty and competition mean fewer and fewer new bitcoin enters circulation over time. Out of the maximum 21 million $BTC, over 94% or 19,741,655 $BTC have been mined since Bitcoin's launch in 2009.
That leaves only around 1.26 million $BTC to be issued. With the current 6.25 $BTC block reward, the remaining supply will take over 100 more years to fully mint. Experts estimate 99.9% of all bitcoin will be mined by 2140, with miners mostly earning fees rather than subsidies by then.
This controlled supply schedule is a key aspect of Bitcoin's value proposition. As the issuance slows and demand grows, Bitcoin is designed to become scarcer over time - an attractive attribute for investors facing unlimited fiat money printing and currency debasement.