AgeraS (OP)
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February 22, 2014, 07:09:42 PM |
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As bitcoin approaches 2140, when "the last satoshi is created," how does the protocol handle this operation? Additionally, when people say, "there will never be more than 21 million bitcoins created," does that mean that technically there will not be more than 21 million bitcoins but that there can be slightly more than 21 million and it will never hit 22 million? In other words, is there an asymptote at 21 million, or 22 million, or neither because when the last satoshi is created is the exact same time it technically hits 21 million and the protocol checks and stops coinbase rewards?
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markjamrobin
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February 22, 2014, 07:12:12 PM |
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As bitcoin approaches 2140, when "the last satoshi is created," how does the protocol handle this operation? Additionally, when people say, "there will never be more than 21 million bitcoins created," does that mean that technically there will not be more than 21 million bitcoins but that there can be slightly more than 21 million and it will never hit 22 million? In other words, is there an asymptote at 21 million, or 22 million, or neither because when the last satoshi is created is the exact same time it technically hits 21 million and the protocol checks and stops coinbase rewards?
The reward continues to half; when it halves too much, the block reward will round to 0.
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AgeraS (OP)
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February 22, 2014, 07:23:16 PM |
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The reward continues to half; when it halves too much, the block reward will round to 0.
Cool, so as long as the smallest unit is 10^-8 it rounds out at that point. Thanks.
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TheRealSteve
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February 22, 2014, 07:27:16 PM |
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Note that as a consequence of the math and precision used it's not actually 21 million, but 20,999,999.9769 - which apparently can be tweaked a bit to give 20,999,999.999999999496 . Of course right now the smallest unit being handled is 0.00000001, so (and at this point I'm guessing - not sure how the code behaves for this) it would actually end up being 20,999,999.99999999. 21 million is close enough, though.
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MakeBelieve
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February 22, 2014, 07:37:48 PM |
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i've asked similar questions about hitting the 21 million mark and came to the conclusion it will not happen.
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lphelps
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February 22, 2014, 07:39:02 PM |
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by 2140, everyone that's alive right now will be dead and gone... not our problem..
the only thing I can hope for is each BTC goes up in value to about $100K. That way people would own just fractions of a BTC and still be doing quite good..
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davida
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February 22, 2014, 07:47:48 PM |
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I thought it was 2040 we will started to enter the decimal amounts of bitcoins per block..
And i also thought the 21m was slightly lower than the final amount of coins produced... Can anyone back me up on this?
It should be simple enough to do the maths and work that out..
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cr1776
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February 22, 2014, 07:53:16 PM |
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cr1776
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February 22, 2014, 07:53:50 PM |
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+1 Everyone cremated or buried will be dead and gone. Alcor, well, there is a >0 chance.
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DannyHamilton
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February 22, 2014, 09:34:10 PM |
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Note that as a consequence of the math and precision used it's not actually 21 million, but 20,999,999.9769
And due to a bug in some mining software in the early years of bitcoin, it will never even reach as high as 20,999,999.9769. I can't remember exactly how man y bitcoins were permanently wiped from the blockchain, but the final number of bitcoins in existence will be less than 20,999,999.9769.
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Coinsy
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February 22, 2014, 09:54:51 PM |
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Wow so they cloned the protocol and moved the decimal point? Sounds revolutionary!
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un_ordinateur
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February 22, 2014, 10:32:31 PM |
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As bitcoin approaches 2140, when "the last satoshi is created," how does the protocol handle this operation? Additionally, when people say, "there will never be more than 21 million bitcoins created," does that mean that technically there will not be more than 21 million bitcoins but that there can be slightly more than 21 million and it will never hit 22 million? In other words, is there an asymptote at 21 million, or 22 million, or neither because when the last satoshi is created is the exact same time it technically hits 21 million and the protocol checks and stops coinbase rewards?
Since the block reward started at 50 BTC, and halves every 4 years, then the total amount of btc produces is a geeometric series, which has a finite sum, of 21 million. If there was infinite precision to the coins, then it would exactly hit 21 million. However, the coins cannot be subdivided more that the 8th decimal place. At one point, the halving of the reward will get lossy, and the coins actually rewarded will always be the "perfect" value rounded down to the nearest satoshi. At one point the coins rewarded will be rounded to 0, and no more bitoins will be created. But since along the way, the rounding was always down, a little less that the "perfect" amount will have been created. That being said, it is very possible that some times in the future, the protocol gets updated to allow a greather subdivision of the coins. (21 million bitcoins gives about 1000 satoshis per human being. It is not a lot of precision.) If it happens, then maybe the lossyness of the halving will start later, and the total amount of btc will be nearer to the "perfect" value. ALSO, as it has been said earlier in the thread, some coins that were mined early on have been permently destroyed. So the total coins in circulation will be even lower than that.
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Ginos
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February 23, 2014, 01:50:33 AM |
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i wonder how much for 1 bitc at that time .
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vpitcher07
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February 23, 2014, 02:14:37 AM |
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i wonder how much for 1 bitc at that time .
either 0 or greater than $50,000
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Bitcoin: The currency of liberty 1HBJSf3Lm9i8KxjZ7fuoN9FJ8hniniFbv4
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HorseCoin
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February 23, 2014, 02:32:05 AM |
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i'm guessing $1 million. cause no one is finding any bugs in Bitcoin, EVER!
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FeedbackLoop
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February 23, 2014, 03:04:53 AM |
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+1 Everyone cremated or buried will be dead and gone. Alcor, well, there is a >0 chance. If you guys are going to post off-topic you might at least post a more serious longevity foundation whose in house research may very well lead to a cure to more than a few devastating age related diseases: http://www.sens.org/
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tinus42
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February 23, 2014, 03:52:43 AM |
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by 2140, everyone that's alive right now will be dead and gone... not our problem..
the only thing I can hope for is each BTC goes up in value to about $100K. That way people would own just fractions of a BTC and still be doing quite good..
It's highly unlikely that Bitcoin still exists in 2140. Something even better will have been invented by then.
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_tenletters
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February 23, 2014, 07:09:43 AM |
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+1 Everyone cremated or buried will be dead and gone. Alcor, well, there is a >0 chance. 2140 is 124.8 years away. This lady lived to be 122.4 years old. Even without any increases in average lifespan at all, the increased population makes it likely someone alive today will be alive in 2140, without defrosting anyone.
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