Since its advent in 2009, Bitcoin has only risen in popularity as well as value. What started out as mere cents in value as a “fake currency” has now grown into one of the largest commodity markets worth $60k per coin. This monumental rise can only be credited to investors who were faithful to bitcoin from the start and invested in it at the right time. There are many people out there that became billionaires by investing early in bitcoin and selling it high later.
According to bitqs.io, the earlier you join the bitcoin wagon, the more your chances of winning big later on. Many investors have taken heed to these words and started investing with whatever amount they can. However, there is one news that is spreading around everywhere that has some baseless rumors and myths attached to it.
This news is that bitcoin has exhausted over 17 million bitcoins from the blockchain and there aren’t many bitcoins left for other investors. There are various rumors as well as myths getting attached to this news for media attention. Rumors like “BTC is soon going to die”, “there is no use of investing in bitcoin” etc. are nothing but baseless conjecture.
Right now there is a lot of confusion amongst pre-existing investors as well as new investors and it is deterring them from investing in bitcoin out of fear. We are writing this article to resolve that exact issue and provide you with valid information that can be trusted. In this article, we will declare once and for all how much BTC is left to be mined, what are the consequences, and should you as an investor be worried about it.
How much more BTC can be mined?
Back in 2009 when Bitcoin’s creator Satoshi decided to lay the foundations of the cryptocurrency that we now know as bitcoin, he integrated several regulations and protocols on the way. The first and foremost condition of Bitcoin that all investors should be aware of before investing is that its quantity is limited in number.
In fact, the bitcoin market and the blockchain network have a limit of 21 million bitcoin after which it won’t be mined anymore. Due to its popularity, a large quantity of miners can already say they have mined over millions of bitcoins in one form or the other. Almost 87% of the bitcoin supply is exhausted already and to answer the original question, the remaining residues of bitcoin that are in a minable quantity is just over 2 million right now.
We advise you to not be concerned regarding this. There is an effective regulation in place implemented by Satoshi himself that ensures meticulous regulation of bitcoin mining. It is called bitcoin halving and due to this exact regulation, you can be assured that bitcoin’s supply would not be completely exhausted anytime soon.
There are various factors that determine the rate at which the bitcoin is being mined, when it will exhaust itself, and should the fact be a bothersome factor for future investors and miners that have invested in bitcoin already.
Should miners and investors be worried about the amount of bitcoin left?
Many people are unaware of the fact that bitcoin transactions are not going to stop, nor will the market decrease in value when there is no more bitcoin to be mined. If anything, it will only increase in value for being a rare commodity with a limited supply. That’s why crypto miners and crypto investors shouldn’t be anxious about their investments and get afraid that they might lose all their money.
The only thing you should be on the look for in your investment are the bitcoin halvings. Bitcoin halvings are a phenomenon that usually occur after every four years when 210,000 bitcoins are mined. The halving effectively halves the number of bitcoin miners get from each bitcoin block and thus reduces their rewards considerably.
This ensures that bitcoin mining doesn’t over-exhaust the supply and deplete it early. The halving isn’t necessarily all bad for miners and investors, even if bitcoin rewards are halved. On the contrary, bitcoin markets have a common tendency of dropping in value after a bitcoin halving but then rising steadily in value and achieving peak values unseen before. This increases the value of the bitcoin miners have already earned and compensates them suitably for their efforts.
When will bitcoin mining stop?
Rest be assured, bitcoin mining isn’t going to be stopped anytime soon. Because of the continuous halvings that ensure incredible regulation, Satoshi ensured that it would be a long time before the bitcoin blockchain network exhausts itself. In fact, many experts universally agree that bitcoin would only be depleted in the year 2140, and even then its market won’t die out.
If you are thinking about investing in bitcoin but have doubts about it out of the fear bitcoin might run out, don’t worry and go ahead. Your investment is bound to be fruitful in one way or the other.
What happens after all the BTC is mined?
Many of you might be wondering now about the consequences of the aftermath once the bitcoin is completely depleted. Since miners depend on the rewards they get from mining bitcoin, it doesn’t seem very likely that they will continue bitcoin blockchain operations necessary for transactions after bitcoin runs out right? Well, there is a counter to that problem as well.
When bitcoin sources get depleted and miners mine blockchain to ensure smooth bitcoin transactions, while they won’t get rewarded from the bitcoin block they will instead get rewarded from the ones doing the transactions in form of transaction fees! Basically, anyone who wishes to transact in bitcoin would have to pay a considerable transaction fee to the miner as a reward for mining it.
Currently, transaction fees make up a very small portion of a miner’s income. That might very well change in the upcoming years. However, all that being said, considering how volatile the crypto market is, no one knows for sure what’s bound to happen and the future is anyone’s guess at the moment.
Conclusion.
There isn’t quite a large number of bitcoins left in 2024, but it would still suffice for the next 100 years or so due to mining regulations. We hope this article was insightful for you and if it was, consider following our website for regular updates as it will help us out immensely.