Bitcoin Forum

I read an article recently that gave the number of bitcoins in circulation to be 16.7miion. The article also stated that, bitcoins are being regulated not to exceed 21million in circulation.

What is the reason behind this measure to limit circulating bitcoins to 21 million where as the world’s population is 7.3 billion?

Will many individuals not be denied easy access to earn and invest in bitcoin?

Everyone can buy bitcoin, it will be traded in smaller denominations called satoshis (fractions of bitcoin). Based on the world population you can see that demand will outstrip supply so buying now at these low prices is one of the best investments available. USD is endless like all other cash currencies.

I believe it is a good thing, there won't be more than 21 million of bitcoins. So it is limited. For that reason it will never lose its value the way our money is losing day by day.

There's no reason why everyone of earth's population could have their own crypto coin. Mine would be a clone of bitcoin, ergo it must be worth billions

It's a big number of BTC to mine :D

Bitcoin is available in small denominations like 0.00000001 which is represented as satoshi. So one satoshi means one hundred millionth of one bitcoin. So distribution is not a problem here. The limitation is put in place just to control the supply. Whenever one asset is available in abundance, mankind doesn't realize its value. Just take an example of oxygen. It's available in abundance so we are not yet realizing its value.

 So to create a value chain, it has be limited in supply. I belive that is the only consideration behind its 21 million cap. This limitation has paved the way to create value for bitcoin by simple demand supply rule.

A fixed supply yet can be divided infinitesimally if necessary. Bitcoin is made this way in order for it to be scarce, thus creating some form of value due to scarcity. But that doesn't mean that the 21 million hard-cap restricts new people from coming in and getting their fair share of the pie. It's considered as money, so of course they need to work in order to take home some of the precious bits, and that is if they wanted to anyway. Also, on the 7.3 billion people, I don't think the vast majority would be glad to use bitcoins even in the next 5 years seeing that the development around the network has been slow--the economy of bitcoin has been in a slump and no new businesses are wanting to do anything with bitcoin as of late.

Thanks for the education. You all make great sense!

The exact number (21 million) is arbitrary.  It's presumably just a rough estimate from satoshi of what BTC's value to users would be, and thus how many BTC needed to exist.

And the total amount of available units, which is 10^8 x 21 million or 2,100,000,000,000,000 units, appears to have been chosen (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=819656.msg9170781#msg9170781) in order to make it almost impossible for 1 satoshi to be worth more than one US cent was worth at that time.

Since users can just use smaller divisions if necessary, the current price of 1 BTC (which is basically 100,000,000 units) doesn't matter that much.

There are 21 million BTC but 2_100_000_000_000_000 satoshis. It will be enough for the everyone in the world.

many are lost and will remain unrecoverable .... i have heard speculation that perhaps 2M or greater are out of circulation for good. So a final usable minting of 19M or less.

Every day more stories of forgotten pass, forgotten priv key, broken hdd's, etc.

The reason to limit the number of coins was very simple in order to create something that is valuable most of the time that something needs to be scarce, but you're not understanding the number of coins is irrelevant satoshi could have put the number at 100 million and that would mean that there will be roughly 85 million coins in circulation right now so nothing will change.

It is a relatively low number in order to promote the value of Bitcoin. That is if fear does not control emotions and limit its possibilities. The only thing that will really stop Bitcoin is the fear of the masses.

Bitcoin supply circulation is still at 16.7 million of 21 million total supply. Because some of the coins are still not in the mine, and still in the process of mine. And this will reach 21 million coins estimated in 2021.

The rest of the bitcoins are not mined already and some are alreadt lost from the early year there are many cases reported of their missing bitcoin. I read some articles that 10 million of bitcoin are in circulation tge rest are in storage of the big whale who manipulates the value.

The creator of bitcoin Satoshi has framed bitcoin in such a way that there should be only 21million bitcoins available for supply.Satoshi may have wished to make bitcoin free from deflation unlike US Dollars.

I don't think there are any particular reason that btc got 21 million supply, but because of the limited number btc will become more valuable in the future, and if the price has become more expensive the people can buy and used bitcoin's fraction, the usage of alt coins is to balance the btc price, so when btc price is too high alt coin could be used for transaction

bitcoin like gold is limited to only 21 million coins means currently there are 4.3 million coins left. so if we have bitcoin then in the future we will gain profit. bitcoin is limited because to prevent inflation. and it is estimated bitcoin will be mined by 2040. i think all people in the world will not buy bitcoin but bitcoin can still be bought with fractional units such as 0.000001 (satoshi)

Remember me to poor james howell. Here (https://amp.timeinc.net/fortune/2017/11/25/lost-bitcoins) say around 4 million bitcoins lost forever, so total supply 17m reached soon. i hope we'll find way to get them back

Firstly, BTC supply chain is limited by its technology. Secondly, BTC could be divided in small parts (satoshi) so it is not a problem

It's don't a problem!
This is reason because why BTC can go to the moon!

16.7 million in circulation is already a big number. I do not know how they regulate it but I think the blockchain technology has something to do with this. Also anyone can buy bitcoin but it also depends on the country they are living. Also, the population of the world is not constant and therefore the regulation of bitcoin will not be constant either.

Bitcoin is not being regulated to not exceed 21 million it was created that way. To be honest nobody know what is the exact reason why it was created that way, unless you know Satoshi Nakamoto or Satoshi reveals himself and answer that question no one will be able to answer that question.

In concern with the population and being denied to access Bitcoin, it  has smaller units and no one will deny someone, everyone can get bitcoin/satoshi.

It’s true. The numbers are valid. Don’t have clear idea what would happen when all done. I think, the transaction fee will. Plus, when demand is high and supply is limited, the price of the coins will surely rise like rocket. A lot of developments are happening around Bitcoin. I believe, something will come up.

“fear of the masses”, this is deep. I however think makority of the fear are in place: there are too many hackers and scams in the bitcoin/cryptocurrency community.

21 million Bitcoins only for 7 billion population in the world it means 1 bitcoin for 0.3 million people this is what makes bitcoin unique . Still only 16.7 million bitcoin have been mined for for mining remaining you have to use high processing machines which cost too  much on a small scale so for mining remaining Bitcoin it will require a long time to mine remaining that a unique feature that has made bitcoin so popular as the less the quantity more the price.

You're right DarkNight. i think I figured this out too late.

It is actually possible that only 16.7 million is in circulation. Maybe this does not even touch the half of the percentage of bitcoin user but I believe that the bitcoin user who is part of this 16.7 million is the one who know how bitcoin run well.

Well yeah i agree with you this will help benefit us especially in market price where in nowadays it is so cheap compared to last month or the other months of market price. Well this does not mean that even if there are 16.7M bitcoin in circulation then the rest will not be counted for it will be mined through the bitcoin miners. These 21M of bitcoins will be counted to be exactly 21M in the near future.

The whole world population must not own Bitcoin at the same time just as you don't the whole world owning dollar. It can always be passed on from one person to another in form of exchange for goods or services.

- https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Controlled_supply

- https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/posts/p2pfoundation/1/

I get your dollar analogy but like Fiat currency(an umbrella under which dollar falls), the idea and vision behind cryptocurrency(under which falls bitcoin) is the creation of a global digital currency that can be used for trade in any jurisdiction. At least that's what bitcoin enthusiasts are fighting for, that each nation of the world will legalize the use of bitcoin for commercial trade and transactions.

Bitcoin in circulation is more than 16.7 until the bitcoin was lasts long the users is more and mor. Everyday, everymonth, everyyear many people will include and consider. The population of the world is not constant and therefore the regulation of bitcoin will not be constant.

When you think about this kind of supply, Bitcoin is actually quite undervalued in my books. There are some people holding thousands of Bitcoin and others struggling even to get to their first Bitcoin, but the more and more people find out about it as a store of value, they will surely be fighting over each other get a piece of this pie. Although we see the market as suppressed right now when some peeps called for 100k USD  Bitcoin I don't think we are too far off from those days coming within the next few years. I think three million Bitcoin are lost forever from wallets that people forgot their private keys to.

indeed, the supply of bitcoin that is currently circulating in the market and in individuals is around 16.7 million from a maximum supply of 21 million, because the remaining supply of bitcoin is still not mined and is still in the mining process, maybe in 2021 or 2022 the supply of bitcoin has run out in mine.

Now i am not that active on bitcoin. Like i just wait to bitcoin increase and sell it when it reaches again to 20k dollars.

We will be talking about 'Satoshi' and fractions thereof.

1 USD = 1 Satoshi  is in the foreseeable future.

That why bitcoin are more valuable to mine then gold. Its has only 21 million maximum with people's 16.7 billion in the world. How much bitcoin can be up it depend on the need of our. That why I believe bitcoin can bounce again and can be more pricey when the market are recovering again.

Same reason why Gold supply is limited compare to the large size of human population on Earth?

Humans for some strange reasons value things that are scarce and long lasting. I guess Bitcoin was created to imitate this aspect of relationships with values which actually made it valuable today. .

This is one of many reasons why bitcoin will never be use like cash (money)

I think that the number of lost Bitcoins is more than the official statistics. I think the number of lost Bitcoins will increase with time. I think this is positive for the price.

I think only Satoshi knows, why did he only create 21 million bitcoins.

but my speculation is, that satoshi has good plans in the future, satoshi wants bitcoin to be part of the tool for transactions.

but we never thought, technology that continues to grow, makes bitcoin in great demand by some public, so its value also always develops to be very high.

and the impact is that the public will find it difficult to access and invest in bitcoin because today the value is very high.

I think the circulating volume of bitcoin is ok, even if the volume is relatively low, I think it is best to project the value of bitcoin. In my personal opinion, I don't think a low circulating volume of bitcoin can prevent people from entering into the world of bitcoin or acquiring bitcoin.

maybe soon all people in the world will use bitcoin in their daily life, and i think bitcoin circulating is increase and makes the price of bitcoin is stable and high, not like now, the price of bitcoin is not stable and we can see there are many people that use this situation for trading

The world population is not constant and therefore bitcoin rules will not change. There are a number of people who are holding thousands of Bitcoins and others are struggling even with their first Bitcoin, but more and more people find it like a valuable store they will surely fight. Fight together to get a piece of this cake. I do not think we are too far from coming in the next few years. In fact, the supply of bitcoins currently circulating in the market and in individuals is about 16.7 million from the maximum supply of 21 million, as the remaining bitcoin supply remains untapped and is still in the process of being exploited. , possibly by 2021 or 2022, the supply of bitcoin has expired in the mine. Like I just wait to bitcoin up and sell it when it reaches again to 20,000 dollars. I think the number of lost Bitcoins will increase over time.

Bitcoin having a huge million e.g 16.7 million in circulation is still very OK due to it high market capitalization so that they will be the control of inflows of the commodity in other to avoid economic breakdown in the bitcoin network, if you calculate the overall market value of bitcoin in the exchange market you will realize that having a population of 7 billion people in the world will still not over power the 21 million bitcoin in existence due to it high value.