when there is no bitcoins left to mine..

[Exidous]

Then what? The miners need to stay online to verify transactions, what will be the incentive to keep miners on if there isn't anything to mine. Who will keep servers running to verify the transactions? Just curious, all these people buying these rigs and there won't be anything to use them for when bitcoin stops mining. Any thoughts?

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[medialab101]

I've been wondering the same thing 

[P_Shep]

fees.

[AltorXP]

That really isn't enough...fees are a VERY tiny percentage of the amount being sent
Miners wouldn't make more than $50 a day

[Light]

That really isn't enough...fees are a VERY tiny percentage of the amount being sent
Miners wouldn't make more than $50 a day

Trust me, by the time we get to the point where all 21 million BTC have been mined and the only thing supporting the continued mining will be fees, there will be enough transactions and the value in BTC to make sure mining is sustainable. I wouldn't worry about it, we're a while away from it happening.

[An amorous cow-herder]

I wouldn't worry about it, we're a while away from it happening.

Yeah, its still a long way to till that happens. Still, basicly the amount of transactions done in Bitcoin basicly need to be where Paypal is today to. If that happens before mining payout stops there is no reason to worry, but its definately a pretty high goal.

[reznor]

Well this are the same questions many have in their minds especially when you're looking to this graph 

https://blockchain.info/charts/total-bitcoins

[Rannasha]

That really isn't enough...fees are a VERY tiny percentage of the amount being sent
Miners wouldn't make more than $50 a day

The idea is that as Bitcoin becomes more widespread, the amount of fees collected will go up along with the value of a coin. So by the time the block rewards have decreased to dust-amounts, the fees should be enough for miners to keep mining. In total number of coins they may not be that many, but if Bitcoin succeeds and goes mainstream, a single coin will be worth enough that mining should still be profitable.

And in the end, if mining is unprofitable, the difficulty will decrease and that will fix it.

[alh]

I really don't understand the end-game for miners. When the last Bitcoin is mined, what's to become of the 100 Petahsh of equipment out there? There isn't any way that can be supported by transaction fees. I am sure I don't want to own a 100 Terahash of gear when the last coin is mined, because there is no way it will continue to even pay it's electricity bill. There will have to be massive write-downs in the value of equipment and facilities I would think. This situation will come into much clearer focus after a couple more halvings in block payout.

[User705]

We will likely all be dead by then so it's not that big of a concern.

[Rannasha]

I really don't understand the end-game for miners. When the last Bitcoin is mined, what's to become of the 100 Petahsh of equipment out there? There isn't any way that can be supported by transaction fees. I am sure I don't want to own a 100 Terahash of gear when the last coin is mined, because there is no way it will continue to even pay it's electricity bill. There will have to be massive write-downs in the value of equipment and facilities I would think. This situation will come into much clearer focus after a couple more halvings in block payout.

You're thinking way too short-term. When the block rewards become insignificant, the idea is that Bitcoins have gone up considerably in value (or failed and crashed to zero) and it takes way less coins to pay for the electric bills than it does now. Additionally, the amount of transactions should be way higher, which increases fee earnings.

Since the reward-halvings will go on even when the reward drops below 1 BTC, the transition from miners primarily living off block rewards to miners living off transaction fees will be smooth and if transaction fees don't grow quickly enough in value, difficulty adjustments will make mining easier as less efficient miners quit. There will be no single moment where people will be saying "well, that's the last coin, lets hope the fees are enough now". Eventually there'll be a point where the block reward goes from 1 satoshi to zero, but other than it having symbolic value, noone will care.

[Akka]

That really isn't enough...fees are a VERY tiny percentage of the amount being sent
Miners wouldn't make more than $50 a day

Why? As long as you make some money simply by running a machine, people will do it. And if there is enough money to be made more people will join mining.

With the amount of fees we can simply set how much equipment will be used to secure the Network, but setting mining to be profitable is impossible.

Also, as long as the Network is secure, low transaction fees are IMO more important than some guys getting money for creating Hot Air.