90% Of Bitcoin 21 Million Supply Has Been Mined – Here’s What It Means
90% of the 21 million bitcoins that will ever exist have been mined into circulation. In 875 days, the network’s inflation rate is expected to drop from the current %1.88 to 1.1% after 19.98 million bitcoins have been mined.
Many like the Bitcoin network due to its mathematical and predictable nature, in comparison to monetary systems issued by central banks worldwide, which are based on often unpredictable policymakers.
At the time of writing, 18,899,800 out of the total 21 million BTC (roughly 90%) has been mined into circulation. Bitcoin fans celebrated the important milestone on Sunday, December 12, the same day as the 11th anniversary of Satoshi Nakamoto’s official departure.
Source: Glassnode
The 90% of bitcoins mined into existence discussion on Reddit also led to people asking how many bitcoins are lost and stuck in unrecoverable wallets. Coin Metrics 2019 report on the state of lost bitcoins, estimated that at least 1.5 million BTC is assumed to be lost, while some Redditors believe the number to be much higher – 3-5 million BTC based on on-chain metrics.
BTC Inflation Rate Estimated To Be 0.4% In 2030
While there is no certain number of how many bitcoins are officially unrecoverable or lost, it’s far different than the predictability of BTC issuance. Many crypto advocates believe that lost coins in fact add to the digital asset’s scarcity.
According to the Bitcoin creator, Satoshi Nakamoto:
“Lost coins only make everyone else’s coins worth slightly more. Think of it as a donation to everyone.”
With 90% of the coins in existence circulating, and the current rate of 900 BTC per day, and 210,000 blocks every halving, the next reward halving is expected to happen on May 6, 2024.
Right now, the block reward is 6.25 bitcoins per block and the rewards will decrease to 3.125 bitcoins per block post-halving. With the current Bitcoin inflation rate fluctuating between 1.75% to 1.88%, we can estimate that after the halving Bitcoin’s inflation rate will be around 1.1%. The Bitcoin protocol halves continuously every 210,000 blocks until it reaches 0, which is estimated to be around the year 2140. By then (the year 2140), it is expected that miners will continue securing the network and processing transactions based on network transfer fees.
There’s a total of two more significantly sized bitcoin block reward halvings expected up until around 2030, and the halvings that follow after that year will be fractions of BTC. By 2028, Bitcoin’s inflation rate per annum is expected to be around 0.5% and by 2030 it will be around 0.4% with 20,585,442 million bitcoins in circulation. By 2030 estimates indicate that 98.02% of the 21 million bitcoins that will ever exist will be mined.
With Bitcoin’s hashrate climbing to all-time highs, the time frames of exactly when these changes will occur are fairly good approximations, but not set in stone.
Currently, network participants (miners) dedicating hashrate to the BTC network have accelerated the time frame between halvings, and the daily issuance rate has been faster than previously surmised estimations.
