Anybody know what happens when Bitcoin hits 21M circulating supply?

[Shavedcoconut]

Hi guys! So, yeah, as you must know already, all crypto has a finite supply meaning its not going to be mineable forever I guess, but what actually happens when bitcoin hits 21 million max besides it not being mineable anymore? Does this increase the value quicker? Let me know if you know, i dont know the answer and would love to hear what you have to say

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[jmlona]

Hi guys! So, yeah, as you must know already, all crypto has a finite supply meaning its not going to be mineable forever I guess, but what actually happens when bitcoin hits 21 million max besides it not being mineable anymore? Does this increase the value quicker? Let me know if you know, i dont know the answer and would love to hear what you have to say

It will still be POW but miners will only receive the fees involved instead of coins additionally. In theory if nothing changes demand ways then the price should increase because there's less downward pressure on the price by miners selling their coins. Of course we'll all be dead by then anyway.

[Thirdspace]

inflation will take care of that, most likely the price of bitcoin will be a lot higher than now
the miners will then depend solely on fees from mined transaction to support (calculate profit) their mining operations
you can read more about "finite bitcoin supply" topic on this wiki page
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Controlled_supply#What_happens_when_all_the_bitcoins_are_mined.3F

[mostkey]

this could be one of the speculations, and maybe this might actually happen ..

inflation will take care of that, most likely the price of bitcoin will be a lot higher than now
the miners will then depend solely on fees from mined transaction to support (calculate profit) their mining operations
you can read more about "finite bitcoin supply" topic on this wiki page
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Controlled_supply#What_happens_when_all_the_bitcoins_are_mined.3F

and now, let's review, if we look at the trading system (legal) bitcoin prices could have gone up, when the demand for orders is still a lot. because with a limited supply, this will be very profitable, because fewer items, if with a lot of enthusiasts, it will be expensive

[odolvlobo]

The question has been asked thousands of times. A simple search would have given you the answer:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+happens+when+Bitcoin+hits+21M+circulating+supply

[Hydrogen]

Its not so much a question of what happens when all 21 million bitcoins are mined. But rather a question of when will all 21 million bitcoins be mined. The current estimate for 100% of all bitcoins being mined is the year 2140. This means all bitcoins being mined likely won't become a real issue until 122 years in the future.

The typical question people ask when hearing of this is: "what happens if people buy a lot of ASICs and global mining power increases exponentially, won't all 21 million bitcoins be mined faster"? If hashpower increases at a high rate, mining difficulty will also increase in an effort to maintain a steady and consistent flow of new bitcoins being introduced into supply.

Anyways long story short, all 21 million bitcoins being mined likely won't happen until 122 years from now. By then someone will likely have found a solution or built a better bitcoin, in which case, it isn't likely to be a major or critical issue.

[bill gator]

Your question is not properly formulated in my estimation. Everyone is giving you advice on where to read more about this, and I suggest you do the reading they are suggesting to you. You are able to use the search function and find endless discussion on this topic.

I just have one basic correction, Bitcoin will never reach 21M in circulating supply. There have been too many bitcoins lost to missing keys, the genesis block not having private keys and things like this. Circulating supply is much lower than the amount in existence. Bitcoin mining will not conclude within any of our lifetimes, so I wouldn't worry about it too much unless you're planning on writing prophetic visions.

[k@suy]

Your question is not properly formulated in my estimation. Everyone is giving you advice on where to read more about this, and I suggest you do the reading they are suggesting to you. You are able to use the search function and find endless discussion on this topic.

I just have one basic correction, Bitcoin will never reach 21M in circulating supply. There have been too many bitcoins lost to missing keys, the genesis block not having private keys and things like this. Circulating supply is much lower than the amount in existence. Bitcoin mining will not conclude within any of our lifetimes, so I wouldn't worry about it too much unless you're planning on writing prophetic visions.

LOL  so true. Subtracting to that 21M supply also, is Satoshi Nakamoto 980,000 bitcoins stash which idly sitting only. This means that bitcoin right now is still undervalue if you compared to the world population. If each one has 1 BTC, it only needs 21,000 people but the world has billions inhabitants. The proportion is huge, where bitcoin will likely to be more expensive in the  future.

[Shavedcoconut]

Its not so much a question of what happens when all 21 million bitcoins are mined. But rather a question of when will all 21 million bitcoins be mined. The current estimate for 100% of all bitcoins being mined is the year 2140. This means all bitcoins being mined likely won't become a real issue until 122 years in the future.

The typical question people ask when hearing of this is: "what happens if people buy a lot of ASICs and global mining power increases exponentially, won't all 21 million bitcoins be mined faster"? If hashpower increases at a high rate, mining difficulty will also increase in an effort to maintain a steady and consistent flow of new bitcoins being introduced into supply.

Anyways long story short, all 21 million bitcoins being mined likely won't happen until 122 years from now. By then someone will likely have found a solution or built a better bitcoin, in which case, it isn't likely to be a major or critical issue.

Thanks for your answer. I see what your saying, i asked out of curiousity as of what, but had also asked the question of when. Good questions.

[Thirdspace]

Subtracting to that 21M supply also, is Satoshi Nakamoto 980,000 bitcoins stash which idly sitting only.

wow really 980k BTC stashed by Satoshi Nakamoto? can you give me link to more info about it.
it will be an interesting one to read, I wonder if anyone tracking these coins.
it could lead to the discovery who Satoshi actually is.

would circulating supply be similar to money supply? maybe we should say spendable supply instead

Money Supply
While the number of bitcoins in existence will never exceed slightly less than 21 million, the money supply of bitcoins can exceed 21 million due to Fractional-reserve banking.

Spendable Supply
The theoretical total number of bitcoins, slightly less than 21 million, should not be confused with the total spendable supply. The total spendable supply is always lower than the theoretical total supply, and is subject to accidental loss, willful destruction, and technical peculiarities

[squatz1]

No more rewards for people in bitcoin for mining, and I'd guess the rest of it would have to be made up by fees being increased. Though we wouldn't have to get to the amount of fees were at now due to the fact that the mining equipment is going to have to innovate, prices are going to decrease and mining is going to get quicker --> that's how the world works.

So yeah, no more rewards.

[ralle14]

Subtracting to that 21M supply also, is Satoshi Nakamoto 980,000 bitcoins stash which idly sitting only.

wow really 980k BTC stashed by Satoshi Nakamoto? can you give me link to more info about it.
it will be an interesting one to read, I wonder if anyone tracking these coins.
it could lead to the discovery who Satoshi actually is.

You can just easily search that on google. If you're lazy here's the thread about satoshi having 1 million bitcoins. I doubt those bitcoin address would help us find who Satoshi really is.

would circulating supply be similar to money supply? maybe we should say spendable supply instead

Right, at the moment it's almost at 17 million. It depends on your preference both have the same meaning. Most people here are used to seeing "circulating supply" because it's used in the website of coinmarketcap.

[13abyknight]

Given that the difficulty increases exponentially as we reach closer to the 21 million cap, it's going to take a while for it to happen but when it does, prices would already be going berserk towards the sky. The only question is when it will happen and if miners will be ready to sustain just from the transaction fee. All we can do is wait and watch as things unfold.

[Mometaskers]

Price would definitely be higher considering no new coins are being mined, no to mention all the coins that got lost along the way. The supply and demand factor of the price would still be in play but how much that would affect the priced depends on how much bitcoin has penetrated the economy at that time. If it has already become a secondary currency in many countries, I can't see the price falling drastically even in the worst of times.

[Shavedcoconut]

Price would definitely be higher considering no new coins are being mined, no to mention all the coins that got lost along the way. The supply and demand factor of the price would still be in play but how much that would affect the priced depends on how much bitcoin has penetrated the economy at that time. If it has already become a secondary currency in many countries, I can't see the price falling drastically even in the worst of times.

I totally agree with this. Coins lost + no new coming into circulation + further expansion and application of the coin must increase it’s value, almost surely.

[STT]

^^ Doesnt have to be true and depends how you measure price.  In dollars every price rises as the government continually spends more then is made in tax revenue and so the monetary base is growing more then the economy leading to higher prices for anything.
Thats not a crypto effect and will occur in any case.

Mining still occurs as transactions are confirmed in this way, fees will form the block reward and there is none given by the network itself.   Efficiency could also mean the block is cheaper to solve at that point even if difficulty has risen.    Every economy has a tendency to move towards efficient working process, or the path of least resistance.

[cellard]

Subtracting to that 21M supply also, is Satoshi Nakamoto 980,000 bitcoins stash which idly sitting only.

wow really 980k BTC stashed by Satoshi Nakamoto? can you give me link to more info about it.
it will be an interesting one to read, I wonder if anyone tracking these coins.
it could lead to the discovery who Satoshi actually is.

You can just easily search that on google. If you're lazy here's the thread about satoshi having 1 million bitcoins. I doubt those bitcoin address would help us find who Satoshi really is.

would circulating supply be similar to money supply? maybe we should say spendable supply instead

Right, at the moment it's almost at 17 million. It depends on your preference both have the same meaning. Most people here are used to seeing "circulating supply" because it's used in the website of coinmarketcap.

theymos has said several times in the past that satoshi having "1 million coins" is more like a myth than reality. The amount of people mining on the early days is higher than expected. For example theymos said that he was mining way earlier than a lot of people would expect, so im sure there are more people like that mining since the early days, at some point you can't really know how many coins satoshi really had.

And as far as 21 million coins mined, we will be all dead by then, let the people of the future worry about that, but the idea is that the transaction fees will be enough of an incentive for miners to keep mining.

[BitcoinTurk]

I never made an estimate because I thought I would not live until that time. Most likely Bitcoin will reach very serious values until then. On the subject of mining, I think people will turn to other crypto currency derivatives. As a result, Bitcoin is the best in the market, but not in a monopoly market.

[vaughn125]

Hi guys! So, yeah, as you must know already, all crypto has a finite supply meaning its not going to be mineable forever I guess, but what actually happens when bitcoin hits 21 million max besides it not being mineable anymore? Does this increase the value quicker? Let me know if you know, i dont know the answer and would love to hear what you have to say

Well, in my opinion, by the time that this actually happens, I think that bitcoin's issues would have been solved already. Now if that would be the case , then I think that the prices by this time would be very expensive and would be much more stable and slowly rise up as the demand increases and the supply being held on to tightly by the owners. It would most likely be an expensive collector's item / great store of value like gold. That is what I think.

[boyshx]

Hi guys! So, yeah, as you must know already, all crypto has a finite supply meaning its not going to be mineable forever I guess, but what actually happens when bitcoin hits 21 million max besides it not being mineable anymore? Does this increase the value quicker? Let me know if you know, i dont know the answer and would love to hear what you have to say

Yes it will increase the value very fast considering the fact that the demand is still high. Other wise there will be no effect on the prices if the demand goes down over the time with the supply as well. However there will be dramatic changes in the fee structure and mining abilities. Miner will be there to confirm your transactions and the reward that they will receive will be part of the fees and nothing else. That is how they will earn the whole thing so to keep it running they will need to grab huge fees and thus over the time bitcoin could get costly when we will come to extinguishing level.