How Many Bitcoins Are There Left Today? All Stats & What’s Still to Be Mined
Ever since Bitcoin first appeared, the importance of owning a digital asset has changed. Those who acquired Bitcoin early on enjoyed amazing rewards when the price started to rise. But today, Bitcoin has become the cryptocurrency with an epic story of value, reaching an all-time high of $1.44 trillion on March 14, 2024, when the U.S. legalized bitcoin-pegged exchange-traded funds.
Unsurprisingly, many became interested in Bitcoin, regardless of their experience with crypto. But one question started popping up – just how many bitcoins are there and when will the total supply of 21 million Bitcoins be minted? In this article, we’ll review the circumstances that led to Bitcoin’s rise, how the first Bitcoin halving occurred, and estimate when all Bitcoins will be minted.
Table of contents
- Bitcoin’s Historical Overview
- How Many Bitcoins Are There in the Circulating Supply?
- How Many Bitcoins Have Been Mined?
- How Many Bitcoins Are Mined Every Day?
- How Many Bitcoins Does Satoshi Nakamoto Have?
- How Many Bitcoins Have Been Stolen?
- How Many Bitcoin Miners Are There?
- What Happens When All 21 Million Bitcoins Are Mined?
- Is Investing in Bitcoin Similar to Gold?
- Paybis: Your Gateway to Key Crypto News
Bitcoin’s Historical Overview
Before we jump straight to numbers, let’s start with a brief historical review. Bitcoin was first introduced in 2008 by an anonymous person or group under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, who published the whitepaper “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.” The cryptocurrency was officially launched on January 3rd, 2009 when the first genesis Bitcoin block was created.
The Bitcoin blockchain operates on a decentralized, digital ledger, where every transaction is recorded in separate blocks, linked by cryptography. Every block has a number of verified Bitcoin transactions, a timestamp, and a reference to the previous block, thus creating a secure chain.
The validation process is performed by miners who solve complex mathematical problems to ensure security and transparency without the help of third parties, or central banks. Additionally, the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin blockchain makes it resistant to fraud risks, allowing trustless peer-to-peer cryptocurrency transfers.
Bitcoin Halving
The key purpose of all halving events is to control the Bitcoin supply. Bitcoin’s protocol specified that every halving event will occur sometime around every 4 years. When the halving event happens, the rate at which new Bitcoins are minted is reduced by 50%. While the mining rewards also drop, halving events helps to stabilize Bitcoin’s demand and price appreciation. Historically, there have been 4 Bitcoin halving events. Let’s look at each one individually.
- First Bitcoin halving of 2012: The standard 50 BTC block reward was reduced to 25 BTC, which led to an increase in Bitcoin prices in 2013.
- Second Bitcoin halving of 2016: During the second halving event, the 25 BTC block reward was slashed to 12.5 BTC, resulting in a bull market and a price peak in 2017.
- Third Bitcoin halving of 2020: In the third halving event, the block reward was reduced again, to 6.25 BTC, which yet again triggered a price rise when Bitcoin’s value reached $60,000 in 2021.
- Fourth Bitcoin halving of 2024: The latest halving event happened in April 2024, and the 6.25 BTC reward was reduced to 3.125 BTC.
Every halving event resulted in a notable price increase. However, since the latest halving just happened a few months ago, it’s still too early to guess how it will affect Bitcoin’s value.
How Many Bitcoins Are There in the Circulating Supply?
Currently, the circulating number of bitcoins amounts to 19,844,700.0 BTC. This number is updated six times per hour (every ten minutes) when a new block is mined on the Bitcoin blockchain. At the moment of writing, each new block produces 12.5 bitcoins, which are awarded to the last person to confirm a transaction.
It’s important to remember that every 4 years, Bitcoin undergoes a halving event, which reduces the supply flow of newly minted Bitcoin. The next halving event is set to happen sometime in 2028. When that happens, mining rewards will be reduced to 1.562 BTC per block, increasing Bitcoin’s scarcity and thus, at least in theory, each coin’s value.
19,844,700
Total BTC in Existence
94.499%
Bitcoins Issued
1,155,300.0
How many Bitcoins are Left
450
New Bitcoins per Day
If you’d like to stay on top of the latest changes and updates in Bitcoin’s price, you can always look it up on Paybis as we track the data in real time.
How Many Bitcoins Have Been Mined?
So, we know that Bitcoin’s supply limit is 21 million BTC, which are circulating in the crypto market today. But how many have been mined already, and more importantly, how many are still left to mine? Well, as of today, the number sits at 19,844,700 bitcoins mined, which means that roughly around 95% of bitcoins are already mined.
This leaves only 1,155,300.0 bitcoins left to be mined, and it may sound a bit daunting. But that’s exactly why the Bitcoin halving protocol exists, and with its help, the current estimate of when the last Bitcoin will enter the market is around the year 2140, leaving us with more than 100 years of mining.
How Many Bitcoins Are Mined Every Day?
Currently, on a day-to-day basis, the nodes of the Bitcoin network confirm approximately 144 blocks, each of them rewarding miners with 3.125 newly minted coins. With a few simple calculations, we find that the total amount of new Bitcoin mined each day amounts to 450 coins (144 x 3.125).
Additionally, there is one more thing to keep in mind. Miners have been increasing the hash rates of their hardware in the last few years, which means that the block intervals are often set at 9.5 minutes instead of 10. This expedited mining time often leads to more than 450 bitcoins being created daily.
How Many Bitcoins Does Satoshi Nakamoto Have?
Based on the information that can be found in the genesis block (the first-ever transaction block), it’s estimated that Satoshi Nakamoto holds approximately 1 million bitcoins. These coins are all derived from blocks which are transactions signed by Satoshi himself and are funds that have never been moved from their wallet since the day they were first mined. Considering that Bitcoin’s creator would have access to the coins, he would own more than 5% of the total amount of Bitcoins in existence.
How Many Bitcoins Have Been Stolen?
We hear about this all the time. Cyber attacks on Bitcoin exchanges and hackers running away with more Bitcoin than they could ever spend. The truth is, similar to the number of lost coins, no one has an exact estimate of how many coins have been stolen.
As such, it might be worth mentioning some of the biggest hacks in the history of Bitcoin:
- The first and most famous Bitcoin theft involves the exchange of Mt. Gox. In total, there were more than 850.000 lost Bitcoins, and there is still an ongoing investigation to retrieve and refund the coins to the members of the platform.
- Another 120.000 Bitcoin was stolen from Bitfinex in 2016, one year before the popularity explosion that the digital currency experienced during the latest bull market.
Together, these coins amount to around 970,000 lost Bitcoins, which were a part of the BTC that are still in circulation and controlled by the criminals who acquired them.
How Many Bitcoin Miners Are There?
As far as we know, the popular Bitcoin mining pool Slushpool has approximately 200,000 active Bitcoin miners. These miners form 12% of the network’s total hash rate. Based on these numbers we can estimate that there are more or less 1,000,000 people that are mining Bitcoin, whether individually or in a pool.
What Happens When All 21 Million Bitcoins Are Mined?
At the current moment, Bitcoin miners receive their incentives mostly through block rewards. However, when all 21.000.000 Bitcoins have been mined, this will change, as there will no longer be a Bitcoin reward for miners who solve the last transaction on the block. As such, when all coins have been mined, Bitcoin miners will be paid the transaction fees of the whole block.
Is Investing in Bitcoin Similar to Gold?
The issuance of gold has many similarities to that of Bitcoin. The supply of the precious metal has historically increased by around 2% each year. Similarly, Bitcoin’s supply will increase at the same pace after the next halving, with current estimates stating that Bitcoin’s value is already increasing by 3%.
Bitcoin, however, has a benefit in this case. Gold is known to have a limited supply, no one really knows the exact number, or what the issuance will look like in the coming years. With Bitcoin, the opposite is true.
The issuance percentage will keep dropping with each reward halving, which occurs every four years. As time closes the gap between the two assets, it will eventually become obvious that Bitcoin is more scarce and, thus, better to invest in for the long term.
Paybis: Your Gateway to Key Crypto News
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FAQ
How many people own 1 Bitcoin?
If we look at the 2024 Binance statistics, there are around 420 million cryptocurrency users globally. Of all of these people, approximately 1.5 million Bitcoin holders own more than one Bitcoin. This makes up only 0.36% of all cryptocurrency users.
How much Bitcoin does Elon Musk own?
The famous billionaire recently revealed that he owns almost near-zero cryptocurrency. The only one he does have is a 0.25 BTC that a friend once sent to him. To put this into perspective, 0.25 BTC translates to about $2,500.
How many billionaires own Bitcoin?
According to Forbes’ 2024 World’s Billionaires list, there are at least 17 billionaires who profited from Bitcoin’s price rise in the last 12 months. Their collective total is estimated to be around $93 billion, which includes crypto asset holdings, publicly disclosed stock holdings and private assets.
Famous examples of Bitcoin investors include Michael Saylor, the CEO of MicroStrategy. The firm invested heavily in Bitcoin. Thanks to that decision, this investment is now worth an estimated $4.4 billion, compared to just $760 million last year.
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