When Will the Last Bitcoin Be Mined? Everything to Know

Overview

The last bitcoin is estimated to be mined around 2140, with a total supply capped at twenty-one million coins. This projection is based on bitcoin's design, which includes a "halving" event that occurs approximately every four years. During each halving, the rewards that miners receive for confirming transactions and adding them to the blockchain are cut in half.

As these rewards diminish over time, the total supply of bitcoin approaches the maximum limit of twenty-one million coins. By 2140, it is expected that nearly all bitcoins will have been mined, making it exceptionally scarce and potentially driving up the value further as demand continues.

A Brief History

Bitcoin was created by an anonymous individual or group called "Satoshi Nakamoto." The cryptocurrency was introduced in a white paper titled Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System in October 2008 and launched as open-source software in January 2009. Initially, mining bitcoin was easy, and anyone with a regular computer could participate. However, as bitcoin's popularity grew, so did mining competition.

In 2012, the first halving event occurred, reducing the block reward from 50 BTC to 25 BTC. Halving events happen approximately every four years and are programmed into the Bitcoin protocol. This mechanism gradually decreases the rate at which new bitcoins are created, ultimately reaching the maximum supply of twenty-one million coins.

When Will the Last Bitcoin Be Mined? Everything to Know

Currently, the mining reward for new bitcoin is set at 6.25 BTC. This reward halves approximately every four years, and the most recent halving occurred in May 2020. The next halving is expected around 2024, which will further reduce the block reward to 3.125 BTC.

As the block reward continues to halve, bitcoin creation subsequently slows down. This intentional reduction in supply makes bitcoin a deflationary asset. Scarcity is a factor that contributes to bitcoin's value, as limited supply can drive up prices.

Based on the current halving schedule, the last bitcoin is estimated to be mined around 2140. However, the actual timing may vary due to factors like changes in mining technology, network difficulty adjustments and potential updates to the Bitcoin protocol.

Mining becomes progressively more challenging due to the difficulty adjustment mechanism in the Bitcoin protocol. Difficulty is automatically adjusted every 2,016 blocks, or approximately every two weeks, based on the network's total computational power. Further, if more miners join the network, difficulty increases to maintain a consistent mining rate.

Getting Started

Learning the fundamentals of bitcoin mining can help with understanding when the last bitcoin will be mined. Mining serves two purposes: Validating transactions and introducing new bitcoins into circulation. Miners use powerful computers to solve complex puzzles that verify transactions and add them to the blockchain, and the miners are rewarded with newly minted bitcoins for these mining efforts.

Bitcoin mining follows a predetermined schedule outlined in the protocol's source code. The total supply of bitcoin is limited to twenty-one million coins, so when bitcoin was created, a specific issuance rate was established. Initially, the reward for mining a new block was 50 BTC, but has since been reduced approximately every four years through an event called the "halving."

Unique Aspects

There are numerous unique aspects of bitcoin mining that contribute to the estimate of when the last bitcoin will be mined. As the block reward decreases due to halving events, the issuance of new bitcoins slows down. This reduction affects miner profitability and network dynamics.

In the early days of bitcoin, mining was accessible to individual miners with standard hardware, but as halvings occurred, the block reward decreased, requiring specialized mining hardware known as "application-specific integrated circuit" (ASICs). Using ASICs offer significantly higher computational power than traditional central processing units (CPUs) or graphics processing units (GPUs).

The increasing difficulty of bitcoin mining is another crucial factor. The network adjusts the difficulty level every two weeks to maintain an average block production time of around ten minutes. If more miners join, the difficulty increases; if miners leave, the difficulty decreases.