Is it possible to mine all BTC someday?

[Mttewndew]

Hello everyone. I started to mine BTC a couple of months ago, so I'm still a newbie in all the mining details, but I want to know more.
Recently I read an article about btc mining what will happen when the last bitcoin is obtained. Perhaps I don’t understand something, but how can there be an accurate forecasts regarding the date? And is it possible that cryptocurrency will become unnecessary or forbidden even before the last BTC is obtained?

[OgNasty]

Hello everyone. I started to mine BTC a couple of months ago, so I'm still a newbie in all the mining details, but I want to know more.
Recently I read an article about btc mining what will happen when the last bitcoin is obtained. Perhaps I don’t understand something, but how can there be an accurate forecasts regarding the date? And is it possible that cryptocurrency will become unnecessary or forbidden even before the last BTC is obtained?

Answering your questions...

1) Difficulty adjustments.
2) Yes, anything is possible.

[nakamura12]

Yes mining all bitcoin is possible but we don't know the estimated date when will be the bitcoin get all mined. This year the mining reward will be half of the current mining reward. According to this site the remaining bitcoins to mine is around 2 million+ and at this time the block reward is 12.5 then it will be dropped to 6.25 once the halving is done. 144 blocks are mined per day on average and later on 6.25 btc per block so 144 x 6.25 = 900 btc mined everyday approximately date starts on this May.

[20kevin20]

The exact date of the last Bitcoin to be mined can only be approximated, but halving every 4 years is a fact and that helps with the calculus. Because every 4 years the block reward gets cut to half the amount which means, considering the block reward today is 12.5BTC, the block rewards will be cut to the following during the next cycles of block reward halving:

- 2020: 6.25BTC/block
- 2024: 3.125BTC/block
- 2028: 1.5625BTC/block
- 2032: 0.78125BTC/block
- 2036: 0.390625BTC/block
etc..

There are 144 blocks a day in average, so the calculus can be done and the timestamp of the last few satoshis to ever be mined can be estimated.

And is it possible that cryptocurrency will become unnecessary or forbidden even before the last BTC is obtained?

Depends on what you mean by unnecessary/forbidden. If you mean whether the govs will ever ban Bitcoin, I doubt it. Unnecessary? Bitcoin will always be necessary. We have to get rid of the third parties, but we're only providing them more control over us..

[nakamura12]

When the halving starts then the block reward will be half of the current block which is 12.5 btc. So, within the 4 years of 6.25 btc block reward and each day the average block mined is 144 blocks. In 1 year there are 365 days if it's common and 366 if it's a leap year. So let's use the common year. Within a year, the total blocks solved is 52,560 blocks (144 x 365) since in May 2020 the block reward will be halved so let's use 6.25 btc. 52,560 x 6.25 is 328,500 BTC in one year so if it's 4 years then it's a total of 1,314,000 BTC mined in 4 years.

[Wexnident]

Yes, that is considering that miners last till that long. Some articles discussed about the last BTC being mined, and it was estimated to end by the year 2140, with a total of 32 halvings being done before the last coin is mined. As for an accurate forecast of a date being done, it's not really right to call it accurate, since changes may occur depending on the situation, but if the wanted scenarios occur, it could be done.

Calculating for the year it would be over isn't really that hard since an algorithm was left behind to determine the end. Having a finite supply of 21,000,000, having a halvings every 4 years, and having 144 blocks mined per year, an estimation of the date when the last BTC is mined should be possible.

And is it possible that cryptocurrency will become unnecessary or forbidden even before the last BTC is obtained?

Forbidden? I don't think so. Is there even any country that could ban something they don't control? Especially with the amount of cash flow the community experiences. As for being unnecessary, possibly, if the world could offer something much more valuable than BTC as a currency.

[Bttzed03]

~ Unnecessary? Bitcoin will always be necessary.

We don't know that. With some articles estimating all bitcoins will be mined some time in 2140, I bet even Satoshi isn't confident that bitcoin will remain relevant/necessary in the next century.

We have to get rid of the third parties, but we're only providing them more control over us..

The people's concensus could also change over time. Right now, there is a strong movement to reclaim control and privacy but we also don't know if that will still be the case in a few decades.

Unless you have a crystal ball of course.

~
What does the last block mined have to do with the necessity of Bitcoin? My point was that it's going to always be necessary because third parties will only become more in control and there's always going to be at least a handful of people willing to escape from their chains.

I see where you are coming from now.
From what I understood of the OP's question, he's asking whether bitcoin will become unnecessary as cryptocurrency. That's where my reply to your "always necessary" came from.

I don't see a STRONG movement to reclaim control and privacy, otherwise we'd see significant anti-KYC and anti-taxation movements.

Ah yeah, I should have used growing instead.

In a few decades, things will only get worse. I can't imagine a future where we'd have more privacy than we have today or more privacy than we had 15 years ago. It's going to be worse because of technology.

I don't know. It could go either way depending on how people will respond to these technologies.

[20kevin20]

~ Unnecessary? Bitcoin will always be necessary.

We don't know that. With some articles estimating all bitcoins will be mined some time in 2140, I bet even Satoshi isn't confident that bitcoin will remain relevant/necessary in the next century.

We have to get rid of the third parties, but we're only providing them more control over us..

The people's concensus could also change over time. Right now, there is a strong movement to reclaim control and privacy but we also don't know if that will still be the case in a few decades.

Unless you have a crystal ball of course.

What does the last block mined have to do with the necessity of Bitcoin? My point was that it's going to always be necessary because third parties will only become more in control and there's always going to be at least a handful of people willing to escape from their chains.

I don't see a STRONG movement to reclaim control and privacy, otherwise we'd see significant anti-KYC and anti-taxation movements.

In a few decades, things will only get worse. I can't imagine a future where we'd have more privacy than we have today or more privacy than we had 15 years ago. It's going to be worse because of technology.

So I don't need a crystal ball to know what the future means for privacy.

[noormcs5]

Hello everyone. I started to mine BTC a couple of months ago, so I'm still a newbie in all the mining details, but I want to know more.

Good to know that you are actually mining the bitcoins. As i know it is not possible to mine bitcoins with a single machine at an individual level because of the difficultly increased too much. Let me know how you are mining the bitcoins and how much bitcoins you're getting ?

[Kakmakr]

If I may ask, what are you using to mine these so-called bitcoins? My apologies if I am wrong, but you sound very new to Bitcoin. Are you sure you are mining Bitcoin <BTC>? ...or are you possibly mining some wannabe fork coin, like Bitcoin Cash?

Let's get back to your questions : The last coin to be mined is built into a complex system of code in the protocol that was developed by Satoshi Nakamoto. He has predetermined specific actions to happen in parameters set in the code that will execute, once certain conditions has occurred. So based on the fact that current developers can read and interpret those parameters, certain calculations can be done to accurately predict when the last bitcoins would be provided as a Block reward in the future.  

So, based on those calculations, we will not be around to see that happen in 2140 <more or less 122 years from now>    

[canamani]

Is possible but who of use we are on forums will live more 122 years to catch that day, only our nephews will get it , i reffer here to people who not have already childrens.

[virasog]

Is possible but who of use we are on forums will live more 122 years to catch that day, only our nephews will get it , i reffer here to people who not have already childrens.

Maybe bitcoin will not survive until that day. 122 years is a lot of time and we may see any other currency taking over bitcoin and no one might be interested to mine all the Bitcoin. At the moment this seems not possible but we cannot predict what will be the price and usage of bitcoins in 122 years.