Need somebody to enlighten me

[abc073]

Hi,

if I understand correctly BTC has a 21M cap as far as the total circulation is concerned and at the same time is PoW type of crypto, so it needs constant mining. So, how are the miners going to be rewarded after all 21M BTC will be already in circulation?
What am I missing here?

On the other hand, ETH has unlimited circulation, so it's inflationary by nature. Right now it's PoW type of crypto, but it's supposed to switch to PoS at some time in the future, so my understanding is that ETH holders will be rewarded just for possessing the crypto and no more mining will be needed. How would the switch between PoW and PoS work exactly?

Thanks!

[xhomerx10]

Hi,

if I understand correctly BTC has a 21M cap as far as the total circulation is concerned and at the same time is PoW type of crypto, so it needs constant mining. So, how are the miners going to be rewarded after all 21M BTC will be already in circulation?
What am I missing here?

On the other hand, ETH has unlimited circulation, so it's inflationary by nature. Right now it's PoW type of crypto, but it's supposed to switch to PoS at some time in the future, so my understanding is that ETH holders will be rewarded just for possessing the crypto and no more mining will be needed. How would the switch between PoW and PoS work exactly?

Thanks!

 you're missing the transaction fees.

[Argon2]

Bitcoin did not have a 21 million limit until bugs were found in other coding languages. The way it was SUPPOSED to work is that every millennia 21 million Bitcoins would be generated until absolute zero and then the cycle would repeat forever. The bug was not in Bitcoin but a bug in some coding languages causing faulty wrapping of signed 64-bit integers (not wrapping back to 50 reward per block). Nevertheless miners will continue to earn income through transactions fees once 21 million Bitcoins are reached. This means transaction fees will be worth 10's of thousands of dollars and a single Bitcoin will be worth about 100 million dollars once absolute zero is reached.

[cjmoles]

Bitcoin did not have a 21 million limit until bugs were found in other coding languages. The way it was SUPPOSED to work is that every millennia 21 million Bitcoins would be generated until absolute zero and then the cycle would repeat forever. The bug was not in Bitcoin but a bug in some coding languages causing faulty wrapping of signed 64-bit integers (not wrapping back to 50 reward per block). Nevertheless miners will continue to earn income through transactions fees once 21 million Bitcoins are reached. This means transaction fees will be worth 10's of thousands of dollars and a single Bitcoin will be worth about 100 million dollars once absolute zero is reached.

Or....it will die:

"I still tell people that Bitcoin is an experiment: only invest time or money you can afford to lose, because Bitcoin is still an experiment. The longer it keeps going in the face of volatility and technical glitches happening, the more we’ll know.

But trust takes time." <--Gavin Andresen

[Ultegra134]

I had made the same question not long ago, basically as time passes, the difficulty increases, making it harder and requiring more time for each one to be mined. This might even need more than a century to happen. Miners will profit from the transaction fees at that time.

[odolvlobo]

Bitcoin did not have a 21 million limit until bugs were found in other coding languages. The way it was SUPPOSED to work is that every millennia 21 million Bitcoins would be generated until absolute zero and then the cycle would repeat forever. The bug was not in Bitcoin but a bug in some coding languages causing faulty wrapping of signed 64-bit integers (not wrapping back to 50 reward per block).

That is false, or at best it is a weirdly psychotic version of the truth.

I had made the same question not long ago, basically as time passes, the difficulty increases, making it harder and requiring more time for each one to be mined. This might even need more than a century to happen. Miners will profit from the transaction fees at that time.

The purpose of the difficulty is to regulate the time between blocks. It does not affect the rate of bitcoin production. The rate of bitcoin production is determined by this simple rule: Initially, each block creates 5,000,000,000 satoshis, but after every 210,000 blocks the amount is halved.

[GreenBits]

Hi,

if I understand correctly BTC has a 21M cap as far as the total circulation is concerned and at the same time is PoW type of crypto, so it needs constant mining. So, how are the miners going to be rewarded after all 21M BTC will be already in circulation?
What am I missing here?

On the other hand, ETH has unlimited circulation, so it's inflationary by nature. Right now it's PoW type of crypto, but it's supposed to switch to PoS at some time in the future, so my understanding is that ETH holders will be rewarded just for possessing the crypto and no more mining will be needed. How would the switch between PoW and PoS work exactly?

Thanks!

If your question is referring to the ETH network, after the switch miners will still be able to collect mining fees, blocks will not have an ETH reward attached  As far as POS rewards, hodlers are incentivized to vest ETH for a time, which yields a static percent return in ETH in exchange for stabilizing the currency. My concern is, what will the effects of all these ICOs mean for POS; ETH is being concentrated in ICO wallets instead of being spread around the ecosphere. Vitalik isn't too fond of the ICO craze, I wonder if this is delaying the switch

[abc073]

Why would ICOs be bad for ETH and the POS concept? The ICO wallets don't belong to just a limited group of individuals, but they are in fact "spread around the ecosphere" I think. In fact, I believe the ICOs may have a stabilizing effect on ETH, which will make it a true "investment vehicle" in crypto ecosystem and not a pure speculation instrument as BTC is right now.

Are there any charts available somewhere on how the capitalization of BTC and ETH changes over time? Is the appreciation faster for ETH than BTC?

[OneUnderBridge]

Hi,

if I understand correctly BTC has a 21M cap as far as the total circulation is concerned and at the same time is PoW type of crypto, so it needs constant mining. So, how are the miners going to be rewarded after all 21M BTC will be already in circulation?
What am I missing here?

On the other hand, ETH has unlimited circulation, so it's inflationary by nature. Right now it's PoW type of crypto, but it's supposed to switch to PoS at some time in the future, so my understanding is that ETH holders will be rewarded just for possessing the crypto and no more mining will be needed. How would the switch between PoW and PoS work exactly?

Thanks!

We all need some enlightening. That is why we are here. Asking questions is where we start. I will be watching and waiting for answers in this thread too. Keep on asking the good questions for us.