Bitcoin Forum

Good morning
Reading about bitcoin, I've found that there is a maximum of BTC that can be mined: 21 milions
It is said that this limit is due to the source code.

As probably you know more than I do about BTC:
- is it a real limit
- is it a good thing? I think it is but it looks like BTC will become more a commodity and not just a payment system

What do you think?

Yes. Once the last of the 21 million is mined, you can't mine any anymore. It's more than a century away though. If someone comes in here and says that forks increase the limit, don't believe them because they're talking about some altcoin.


It's a good thing if you want Bitcoin's value to soar, because that makes it deflationary. It would still work as a payment system, but the rising price could, and is already discouraging people from spending it. It has already become much more of a commodity than it is a payment system, with everyone raving about its growth rather than its features as a currency, but who knows. Some future development might change that.

Bitcoin is like gold in many ways. Like gold, Bitcoin cannot simply be created arbitrarily. Gold must be mined out of the ground, and Bitcoin must be mined via digital means. Linked to this process is the stipulation set forth by the founders of Bitcoin that, like gold, it has a limited and finite supply. In fact, there are only 21 million Bitcoins that can be mined in total. Once miners have unlocked this many Bitcoins, the planet's supply will essentially be tapped out, unless Bitcoin's protocol is changed to allow for a larger supply. Supporters of Bitcoin say that, like gold, the fixed supply of the currency means that banks are kept in check and not allowed to arbitrarily issue fiduciary media.

Bitcoin 21 million may not be a bad thing. If there is no total limit, maybe bitcoin is now gone. It seems that some stocks are continuously issuing shares, which will seriously hurt investors. I agree with this design.

Yes 21 million bitcoin is the limit and after that there wont be any bitcoin that can be mined by the miners, about you question if its a good thing then my is yes because with the limit of bitcoin it will have more value once the limit has been reach.

Yes, think of it as a collection, when it runs out, you'll never going to have it again, so the price may go up extremely. So watch out. :)

I think this is the limit, but when all the bitcoins are bought out, by this time bitcoin will be recognized all over the world, and will be regulated by the states.

Accordingly, its quantity can be reprogrammed and increased.

21 million is the hard cap now, bıt wouldn't it be technically possible to increase this cap with a hard fork, assuming the majority of the people wanted it. I know this is close to impossible, just asking whether it is technically possible.

In fact, Bitcoin has no limit, constantly creating forki this crypto currency, thereby uncontrolled emission of new coins, which is unclear on what depends.

why shouldn't it be real?!!
there is a limit for the maximum number that is allowed to be created and it is a consensus. and that amount is 21 million

a currency doesn't have to be unlimited to be able to perform as a payment system!
you are comparing bitcoin to fiat (which is unlimited) and that is why you are confused.

also you are missing the fact that there are 8 decimal places after 1 bitcoin which makes it bigger for usage in case price was too high. it is something like an ingot of gold versus 1 gram of gold or gold dust for example.

No , real limit less than 21 max limit is 21 milions.

yes it’s good and will make price increase in future especially after 2100

According to reported data, there are about 5 million bitcoins lost in cyberspace,  so about 16 million coins will be in cirulation once it reaches the limite cap.  Lets hope more people keep losing there bitcoins :)

Indeed, Bitcoin Max supply is 21.000.000 BTC, to allow for a larger supply, the Bitcoin's protocol has to be changed.


For now, everything is OK and we are not facing any problems, but when all bitcoins are being mined many expect troubles.
Miners will be the first to be effected since there will be nomore block rewards and you can imagine the negative effects of miners quitting mining
due to low profitability. Consequently, the Bitcoin network will be more centralized.

yes it is possible with a hard fork, on the technical side it should be fairly easy. The hard part would be coming up with a good reason to increase the cap and then convincing the majority to upgrade.

Yes, 21 million is the limit in which this was already estimated and unlock by all mathematician experts with no opposition on the figure but there is a good thing because this will be all mined after 127 years from now therefore we have lot of time to spend to be with bitcoin because no one will still alive after 127 years from now i think.  :D :D

As per Bitcoins whitepaper there will be 22 million bitcoins will be mined by 2145. But now with updates 21 million bitcoins by 2130. Well have any one notice while making bitcoin transaction that how much amount is charged for transaction in form of size ad fees per byte. I noticed it carefully even anyone can check that transaction fees and price per byte is increasing. It means when mining will finish, there is only way to earn transaction fees from sender to verify that transaction and circulation will be in same manner.

yes it's a real limit, but we can not tell it's good or not for now because bitcoin accepting is just beginning

Bitcoin is like real gold in the real world, and like valuables, Bitcoin can not be created just like that. Gold must be mined out of the ground, while Bitcoin must be mined through digital means. Associated with the process, this is a provision established by the founders of Bitcoin and it has a fairly limited supply.

How so? In 10-20 years transaction fees will already be a major part of mining income. Which means that miners have more than half a century to adjust to mining for transaction fees instead for block rewards.



It's not quite that simple. The amount of decimal places doesn't stop Bitcoin from being a deflationary currency. The way we understand economics today, inflationary (fiat) currencies are necessary to allow for economic growth via credit. The latter is up for debate of course, but human history seems to agree. It doesn't detract from Bitcoin's value either way though.

yes, it's true the total bitcoin is only 21M supply in the world, and the circulating supply is 16M until this year. maybe that's a good thing in terms of the price because it will make the price continue to rise, but I'm also curious what if one day the outstanding bitcoin has reached 21M. whether the price will be more expensive and what about the movement of bitcoin in the future....

Bitcoin is nearly already more like a commodity than a currency more and more are holding instead of spending. The 21 million has already decreased and there is no way for sure to know how many have been lost forever. Once its all mined it all mined by that point we will more than likely have another coin that is the top contender.

Yes, bitcoin is designed with max total supply 21M and it can not be added, unless the miners majority approves the design changes of bitcoin(fork).
CMIIW

I think fork will not affect the supply of Bitcoin.There's only one Bitcoin and only 21 million coins in that network because Bitcoin Forks such as Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold cannot be spent in the Bitcoin network

I think yes..21 millions is really the limit in supply of bitcoin this one reason why the value of bitcoin needs to be adjusted upward because the increasing demand needs to accomodate by the limited supply and I don't think any hardfork can increase the bitcoin supply they are just there to divert bitcoin market and offers so many alternative coins

As far as I know, the actual number of bitcoins that exist is only about 16 million bitcoin. Because there are a large number of lost users lost and irrecoverable. This makes bitcoin more scarce and more expensive.

Technically, there will always be enough for everybody because bitcoin is divisible. There could be smaller units than satoshis if the market deem it necessary.

Yes it is the limit, However, I think it could be possible that the limit could be increased after couple of years, although, it would be quite a challenge to do it.

Yes, the total amount is 21 million. This must be an important reason for the constant appreciation of bitcoin. If you can increase at will like a stock, then the bitcoin may have not existed, and it has already been devalued. If encrypted currencies continue to grow, I think some coins will slowly replace some functions of bitcoin. Some coins should circulate slowly and occupy a share in the encrypted money market.

It's a parameter in some code, so of course its not a real limit.

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As per program it is the maximum number of coins that can be mine.
But as we all now it will be decreased due to the fact that there has already been a lot of coins that are either lost of forgoten forever.

As i know 21 million is the real limit of bit coin.but we can not tell it's good or not for now because bitcoin accepting is just beginning. :) :) :) :) :-\ :-\

The max supply of 21 million coins is true. It's a real limit, based on the fact that the reward which brings more units in circulation halves every 200.000 blocks. Starting with a block reward of 50 BTC, that means that the current block reward is 12,5 BTC which is true. Bitcoin halved two times, on 200.000 and 400.000 and is currently on 476.502. It's possible to calculate the limit using 50*0,5^n*200.000+x=x, increment n by one and doing the formula over and over till how precise you want the result to be, but in all cases it will come near 21 million. 

In fact, there are only 21 million Bitcoins that can be mined in total. Once miners have unlocked this many Bitcoins, the planet's supply will essentially be tapped out, unless Bitcoin's protocol is changed to allow for a larger supply.

Read more: What Happens to Bitcoin After All 21 Million are Mined? | Investopedia https://www.investopedia.com/news/what-happens-bitcoin-after-all-21-million-are-mined/#ixzz50OabzzbM
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What do you think about it? is it possible that this is a parameter of the code that it can be changed?...I didn't think about it, and now it seems to me an interesting thought

you can actually create gold arbitrarily in a particle accelerator. It is kust ridiculously expensive. But if gold someday gets expensive enough it may become viable.

yes,it’s true. 21million is a real limit. after mined 21 million bitcoin no more bitcoin will be mined.  and price will be sky rocket.Also you can google it,youtube it and can see in coinmarketcap.

I think when 21 million is over, price will be in the sky ) ::) ::) ::) ::)

It could, but that would make Bitcoin a whole lot less appealing to the outside world in the way that you can't even trust on Bitcoin's technical aspects anymore. If one important aspect of this protocol gets changed, what prevents the same entities from changing things even further if they think it's necessary? It would basically mean the end of Bitcoin as being the most trustworthy coin in all sorts of aspects. That being said, I am glad there doesn't need to be anything done to increase the max number of coins to ever get minted. Bitcoin at some point may get so expensive, that the majority of the people won't even be able to afford 1/10th of a whole Bitcoin anymore. Bitcoin is extremely divisible by nature, and at some point we will not work with the BTC nomination anymore, but with mBTC or Bits.

1BTC = 1000mBTC (likely to become the default nomination)
1BTC = 1,000,000Bits
1BTC = 100,000,000Sats

bitcoin is not like fiat currencies, that can be printed without control. they are 21 million and no more.

It is a real limit ,but i am not sure why Satoshi came up with the number of 21 million as the limit,either way that is the limit,with the price of bitcoin rising very fast,it cannot be used as a regular payment system because of the higher transaction fees and hence we can consider it as a store of value.

In fact, the code contains such a quantity and can not do it any more!

This is stated many time it is true that there is limit of bitcoin to be mine, that is why they are creating a counter part of bitcoins because of that limitation.

If 21 mln – the limit for one miner than I don’t worry. This is enough. Just imagine how much CPU and coolers you need to mine all this amount of money.

I agree...it can't be anymore, because the technology has created so much

Yes, bitcoins is only limited to 21 million, but even so the price value of it is unrelated to the amount to the total bitcoins there is, so you can only have 1 bitcoin but may mean you are actually holding $20,000, so no real issue about it having a limit.

it is thanks to this limit that the bitcoin is worth today almost 20k $ but with the fork it allows to have other "bitcoin"

It's a real limit, but almost 99% of the bitcoins will have mined in next 15 years I think. There was a mathematical calculation about this. This is a good thing in terms of bitcoin price, because the circulating supply won't be enough for the entire world in the future.

Yes it's true. This is why bitcoin be raised to such heights. The smaller the supply, the greater the demand.

Yes,21 million coins is the real limit and it could not be changed.It only ensures bitcoin to be free from inflation unlike paper currencies.People rush to buy bitcoins as 16.5 million coins were already mined and available now.Only 4.5 million coins yet to be mined.Even after 21 million coins get mined and still demand exists,then satoshis could be used since bitcoin is divisible in to eight decimals.

Yep, 21million is a limit and it can't be increased. Bitcoin is made/programed that way because of mathematic algorithms and this can't be changed. Not even by forks,like some are saying, this is just an attepmt to justify multiple forks. If the limit is good thing, the time will tell.
I think once we reach the limit, although that wouldn't be that soon, the price will explode and demand could rise rapidly.

When viewed from the side of the development of bitcoin is very good So there is a big possibility there will be many businesses that accept all forms of transactions by relying bitcoin As long as there is agreement between the seller and the buyer that greatly affect the realization of it.

At the moment 21M bitcoins is the said limit. Miners wouldn’t be able to mine more than that in the future unless the limit is changed.

21 million, it is a bitcoin inventory. and every year is reduced. I heard some information that bitcoin will be added by some of the world's major developers and investors.
we do not need to think about bitcoin, because under the bitcoin there is still altcoin that we can make income

What? Bitcoin is not limited by this at all. The amount of units <Satoshi> is more than enough and if you want to create more units, then you just need consensus from the people running the full nodes, to run the software with the new changes.

We do not need Counter party tokens to adress any limitations that does not exist. ^lol^

yes. it is the max suply of bitcoin. and can not be duplicated or imitated. and since bitcoin becomes the first digital currency then the price is also a reference for all altcoin

It is true that the 21 million is the limit. However, come to think about it—getting all those mined will take a very long time. That is why, from now, people are looking into investing.

It is precisely because the total amount must be made public that the price of bitcoin keeps rising, which I think is a good news for bitcoin.

I think this is the limit as mentioned in the coinmarketcap and i guess it's better to have this limitation of mining bitcoin because it will give good value in the value.  Once limited cryptocurrencies, i think it means have high value because there's only 21,000,000 on it.

Yes, 21 million is the max supply of bitcoin. But in actual fact, some bitcoin are lost forever because of various reasons like lost private keys and etc. So the actual supply is much lower than 21 million.

The circulating supply will never reach 21 million for bitcoin because tons of bitcoin were lost forever because of the fact that people lost their wallets. The current circulation is also less than 14-15 million for now, probably.

Yes it is.21 million is the real limit of bitcoin and that means once the amount of btc is fulfilled 21 million then no miner can mine any bitcoin

This is truth that bitcoin has limit of 21 millions but I don't think that this limit will be achieve by the bitcoin blockchain network Because the main reason behind this factor is that after mine of every one pin the difficulty to mine another next coin is very tough by the miners , And as already about 80% coins of bitcoin are lined so difficulty is much in the current time and Mining of bitcoin by the people normally to have miners is not much profitbale , so here may be it can take about 10 years or may be more to achieve 21 millions bitcoin whole .
And I think it will be better for those who have hold bitcoin Because supply will be zero and demand will go on increasing , so price will increase much and we will make.lots of profit by  holding bitcoin.

Yeah it is limitless and it is because of its new features and saving procedures. Now 1 satoshi has increased more than 30k and it will not stop growing just it is not having limit but will take time to find this limitation or maybe we will never be able to discover it. For many reasons bitcoin is being use and it will have much more than this if bitcoin will increase the limit and power of an ordinary persons savings.

Your limit bitcoin will reach in 20 years. So the question is, will it live that long?

Well if this is a legit information well thanks, but I have several questions like is rhis about per account ? Per wallet ? How about the investors ? I dont think so that they will be able to agree with rhis one, since Bitcoin promotes anonymity feature , a person can possess several accounts and you can see that it may be above the limits, thanks anyway.

It is also impossible to be certain about which bitcoins have actually been lost forever. Someone holding the private key of a wallet can prove ownership but in Bitcoin it is impossible to prove that you have actually access to the key.

Yes, it is true that the limit to bitcoins is 21 million. After that no new bitcoins will be mined by the miners. Bitcoins will still be in use via transactions. But this will take a long time to reach this value. Still millions of bitcoins are yet to be mined.

I believe this is true. A lot of people has known it ever since Bitcoin was released. Most of the 21 million bitcoins were already in Satoshi Nakamura's pockets.

You can always make more alternative cryptocurrencies based off of Bitcoin, but there is only one real Bitcoin. There's 21M parts to it and once they're all created and mined, you can't redo or make more. You can trade the currently existing ones or divide them up even further, but that's about that.

The limit can be changed (up or down I assume!) if the development team and the majority of miners decide to change it. So we can say a change is not likely in the near future, but no one knows what the future holds.

21 million Bitcoin is real limit there is no doubt about that u can check in coinmarketcap

Exactly when btc was released it was only offered 20 million btc and that was a fixed number. Especially at that time, btc is usually
 provide free in great quantity .I do not think there will be any more releases. This is also a cause for high btc prices. btc is a commodity, it is not wrong. Basically btc is also a commodity, just like gold and we trade it to make a profit.