Why will the number of bitcoins[btc] in circulation be limited to 21 million ???

[Kevystia]

Why will the number of bitcoinsBTC in circulation be limited to 21 million ?

 The sum of 21 million bitcoins was chosen by Satoshi Nakamoto – and he never explained to the cryptocurrency world why this number was chosen.  However, experts concluded that there were two very likely hypotheses.

 The first assumes that Satoshi Nakamoto chose this number because, in 2009, the total amount of money in circulation in the world was 21 trillion dollars.  Hoping that bitcoin one day becomes the base currency for the world, one BTC would then have a fixed value, corresponding to 1 million dollars.

 The other hypothesis is based on the time required to mine a block.  Bitcoin's parameters today mean that a block is mined approximately every ten minutes, thanks to a protocol that adjusts the difficulty based on the hashrate — the total computing power on the network.  The number of 21 million would therefore correspond to mathematical logic, applied simply for convenience.

[hosseinimr93]

The total supply of 21 million is the result of the newly generated coins in each block starting from 50 BTC and halvening each 210,000 blocks (approximately 4 years).

It may worth mentioning that the total supply of bitcoin isn't exactly 21 million. That's 20999999.9769 BTC.

[hd49728]

Why will the number of bitcoinsBTC in circulation be limited to 21 million ?

It can be changed but will community support any fork to increase the total supply to 21 billion?

No. Because scarcity is one of things to make Bitcoin value.

How is the 21 million Bitcoin cap defined and enforced

It may worth mentioning that the total supply of bitcoin isn't exactly 21 million. That's 20999999.9769 BTC.

It is described in Controlled supply.

After each halving, Bitcoin miners need more time to mine 1 BTC equivalently to previous epoch. Equivalent Network Time

[hugeblack]

In fact, it is not 21 million, but rather the results from this equation

This will answer your question: Why less than 21? However, if your question was about limited supply, perhaps the reason was what happened in 2008, the debt crisis, and the random printing of money.

[peter0425]

There are many theories why 21 million specifically. Some thought about it really hard while some were just very humorous. The theory that almost make sense is mathematical theory but then again it was just based on the parameters Satoshi set so it is still unclear if there is any reason behind such parameters. Either way I don't think it's relevant to be figuring out the specific reasoning behind Satoshi's choices. We are never going to get the answer unless Satoshi himself answers it.

[SilverCryptoBullet]

This will answer your question: Why less than 21? However, if your question was about limited supply, perhaps the reason was what happened in 2008, the debt crisis, and the random printing of money.

People tried to find an answer for this figure set by Satoshi Nakamoto and one of theories is the M1 Money Supply in 2008 and people think that it is a replacement  solution from Satoshi Nakamoto.

Why is Bitcoin’s supply limit set to 21 million?

At the time of Bitcoin's creation, the entire world's money supply stood at approximately $21 trillion. This figure, known as the M1 money supply, is made up of the total value of all the physical money in the world, including cash, coins, travelers' checks, and more.

[thecodebear]

Nobody cares. He chose a number. That's all that matters. Doesn't matter why he chose a specific number. It'd be an interesting little bitcoin trivia piece if Satoshi had explained why he chose that number, but he didn't, so it doesn't matter because nobody knows why. And the number itself doesn't matter, all that matters is that a finite number was chosen and that can't be changed.

[darewaller]

While there were of course some technical reasons, I am on belief that other numbers could have been found, like for example 21 trillion dollars, meaning one million each, could have been 2.1 million bitcoins to 10 million each, or 210 million, for 100k each, who cares. I believe that the real reason is that, it doesn't matter if it's 21 million, or 27 million or 4 million or 100 million, the idea is to make it limited, so you pick a number, maybe at random or maybe you pick something that has a meaning, but the point is to make it limited.

Because currently there is unlimited amount of money in the world, you may think that there is finite amount, but USA could print a trillion more tomorrow, it's unlimited, there is no stopping, so the idea was to make bitcoin unlike that.

[Catenaccio]

the idea is to make it limited, so you pick a number, maybe at random or maybe you pick something that has a meaning, but the point is to make it limited.

It can be changed but it needs to be supported by community and because the community is decentralized, they will not support any proposal to increase total supply. With current Bitcoin holders, increase total supply will harm their investment and for everyone, this proposal is not good at all. Increase now, increase more in future, no cap, Bitcoin will no longer a favorite investment asset in cryptocurrency market.

Because currently there is unlimited amount of money in the world, you may think that there is finite amount, but USA could print a trillion more tomorrow, it's unlimited, there is no stopping, so the idea was to make bitcoin unlike that.

They don't need any citizen consensus to print more money. Bitcoin total supply can not be increased with community consensus that I believe will never appear because it is not good for everyone.

[pinggoki]

Because that was the total supply that Satoshi set for bitcoin plus it would be really difficult for bitcoin to get more because at 21 million, it's already going to take until 2140, imagine another million and it would probably be longer than that, Satoshi probably have the time scaling in mining in mind when he put that number through because of how difficult it's going to be as halvings happen to bitcoin.

[OcTradism]

Because that was the total supply that Satoshi set for bitcoin plus it would be really difficult for bitcoin to get more because at 21 million, it's already going to take until 2140, imagine another million and it would probably be longer than that, Satoshi probably have the time scaling in mining in mind when he put that number through because of how difficult it's going to be as halvings happen to bitcoin.

You don't get it, if people want to increase total supply of Bitcoin through BIP, fork, they will not wait till 2140 to do this. Life is very short and many of us will not be alive in 2140.

The discussion is only to know reasons why 21 millions is the cap of Bitcoin. Why was this number chosen by Satoshi Nakamoto?

It can be technical reason in mathematics, in the formula and it can be because Satoshi Nakamoto chose other parameters in the formula, to make the cap at 21 millions as Satoshi Nakamoto considered Bitcoin is a replacement for the world money supply M1.

We only can guess about reasons because we don't know and might never know who is / are Satoshi Nakamoto, already passed away or still alive.