I’m worried about the future of Bitcoin

[coolcoinz]

Even if we consider OP's option that the reward goes to 0 causing a collapse, which won't happen, but let's play a game that it does. You have until around the year 2140 until it does. All of us who are posting here today will be dead over 40 years before that happens. Should we really care?

Even our children won't be there to see it happen. It's like worrying about The Sun burning out, which will inevitably happen, but that's such a distant problem we should rather focus on other things. Things that may impact the way we transact and how the next generation will. What will happen 2 generations from now is up to them. Hopefully the planet will still be habitable by then

[Asiska02]

I heard that the reward is halved every 4 years after each halving, so the reward miners will receive will always approach zero. To maintain the Bitcoin network, the price of Bitcoin must keep rising infinitely, which is impossible. Could there be a point where the value of the Bitcoin miners receive is almost zero, and the Bitcoin network collapses due to a lack of miners?

You can’t tell if the possibility or impossibility of bitcoin price increase will continue or now. We have seen what factors causes the market to increase in price and also those same factors that are causing the price to decline. If they continue to stand, we won’t think of a time the market will stop rising because it won’t as long as those factors are still active and contributing positively to its growth.

By the time the market will get to that point where their are no miners, we will not be alive to witness it. With the number of bitcoins left to mined and the years it’ll take for that to happen, it should be about almost a century from now. Should we bother to talk about that when we won’t even be there to witness it? You should know that even if there are no blocks to mine, the miners will still be active to approve transactions and get incentives of transaction fees as theirs.

Is it possible that Bitcoin could increase its total supply in the future? But that would certainly cause Bitcoin’s price to drop significantly.

In my opinion, that will disrupt the whole network. That is what has made it stand out amongst the rest. If there’s any changes to its total supply, the uniqueness of it will not stand again. I just feel that is not something that will even happen but just don’t want to be so sure of it as one can’t tell what the future entails.

[zillion007]

bitcoin will take care of itself , is  not going anytime soon

[passwordnow]

@OP, don't be worried with the future of Bitcoin. It is here to stay and about the fees? well, that's going to take a lot of time and considering the halving, it's estimated up to 2140 that the last supply will be mined. And let's say that BTC is still around at that year, as pooya said, as long as there are people that continues to transact bitcoin, it is no longer the miners doing it to mine but to confirm transactions and they'll still get paid.

And for the supply of BTC, there's no need to add the cap of it. 21M BTCs are already enough to cover everything and that's why the impact of halving makes it harder to acquire in the next years to come. There have been talks about scaling it up but I don't know with that and everything seems to be taken care of and it's all fine. So why worry with something that you have no control about? worry about it when it comes but for the meantime, we don't have to worry about it and focus on yourself and accumulation while we're still able to do so.

[lionheart78]

I heard that the reward is halved every 4 years after each halving, so the reward miners will receive will always approach zero. To maintain the Bitcoin network, the price of Bitcoin must keep rising infinitely, which is impossible. Could there be a point where the value of the Bitcoin miners receive is almost zero, and the Bitcoin network collapses due to a lack of miners?

It does not need for the price of Bitcoin to rise infinitely, all it needs is for mass adoption where people will transact with Bitcoin.  If ever the plan happens (people using Bitcoin for day to day transaction) miner reward will be possibly way greater than the initial 50 BTC reward per 10 min.

Is it possible that Bitcoin could increase its total supply in the future? But that would certainly cause Bitcoin’s price to drop significantly.

Could Bitcoin switch to PoS like Ethereum? That would also cause Bitcoin’s price to fall.

I don’t know if my understanding is correct

If there is a consensus for Bitcoin total supply increase then it is possible since it is only a code, but I doubt that the consensus will agree on that.

Anything is possible on the Bitcoin Network as long as there is a consensus or agreement among the majority of the network participants.

[ImThour]

This is how the demand and supply works mate, which takes up the price of Bitcoin per Dollar. If you think Bitcoin Miners will be going in a disadvantage in the long run, you are completely wrong. I can confirm that there is a time or period in the market where they do take loss or even sell their mined Bitcoins to recover operational costs but in the long run, it's a win-win for all of us.

[Dailyscript]

You should be worried about yourself if you do not have Bitcoin in your portfolio. While people are busy rushing into the train you are busy wondering where the train would land. Buddy, Bitcoin is the asset of the future, what you see happening today is what should happen in Bitcoin as it is what we would be talking about in the future. Dont forget this day, someday in the future, most people will regret why they never bought Bitcoin today. Mark my words.

For what reason? PoW is better than PoS. Not only that miners will benefit. The miners will pay for electricity. This will help increase employment in electricity companies. Unlike PoS.

I think at the time the last block will be mined, miners will only earn from transaction fee. I don't see any how the reward will become zero. Maybe there will be a surge in transaction fees . Though op ask a good question but then he should understand that Bitcoins price is driven by its scalability and limited supply and no there will not be a way to increase the supply. If ever this happens, it will reduce the trust alot of us has in Bitcoin. And screw PoS. Look how the eth network is more like a mess. We can't compare it in any way to that of the PoW used by Bitcoin.

I dont want to drive this conversation toward ETH but truly the network is only surviving due to a large number of investments and market capitalization but even at that it is messy.

That by the way though. I agree with you here. There won't be a time when the reward will become zero, not now not even in the future. Perhaps OP should check the number of transactions per hour. Not even the Iran war can cause a decline in transactions. As long as there are more transactions the last block will be mined and a reward will be distributed.

[AmoreJaz]

This is how the demand and supply works mate, which takes up the price of Bitcoin per Dollar. If you think Bitcoin Miners will be going in a disadvantage in the long run, you are completely wrong. I can confirm that there is a time or period in the market where they do take loss or even sell their mined Bitcoins to recover operational costs but in the long run, it's a win-win for all of us.

Definitely, they are not only in the accumulation stage but at some point, they need to sell also to recover their operational cost. Unless, they have other sources of income aside from mining of btc. It means, they have other assets to fall back into whenever the price is not good in the market.

Would be very hard for miners to just accumulate and see the price going up. For sure, they are also selling some of their stash if they see their opportunity particularly when the price seems to be bullish in the market. Remember, they also need to sustain their mining operations.

[markm]

You can check out IXCoin, and its sibling I0Coin, if you want to see an actual experiment of what could happen to bitcoin when its block subsidies finally run out.

IXCoin was created specifically to empirically observe such a case, then because IXCoin developer saw fit to assign a "pre-mine" for bribing exchanges to list it and other developers to launch explorers and exchanges and so on for it, I0Coin was created without pre-mine (zero premine, hence I zero coin) to make a supposedly cleaner case/experiment.

Both are still alive to this day, IXCoin with a miner reward pool anyone can optionally donate to that pays 1 IXC per block reward if that pool still has any coins left and I0Coin with its reward having halved down to 0.001 or so by now.


-MarkM-

EDIT: Both also are among the highest difficulty coins out there... Though folk don't seem to actually care about "security" nowadays it often seems.

[Abiky]

I heard that the reward is halved every 4 years after each halving, so the reward miners will receive will always approach zero. To maintain the Bitcoin network, the price of Bitcoin must keep rising infinitely, which is impossible. Could there be a point where the value of the Bitcoin miners receive is almost zero, and the Bitcoin network collapses due to a lack of miners?

Is it possible that Bitcoin could increase its total supply in the future? But that would certainly cause Bitcoin’s price to drop significantly.

Could Bitcoin switch to PoS like Ethereum? That would also cause Bitcoin’s price to fall.

I don’t know if my understanding is correct

Not impossible. History has shown us BTC goes up after each halving event. A new ATH is achieved before the next halving. If this keeps up, miners will be able to stay in the "profit zone" even after the block reward subsidies. I believe all of the BTC will be mined by 2140. What will happen beyond that point is a wild guess. Neither of us will be alive by then. I'm certain Bitcoin will have a bright future. Especially when governments and banks have shown huge interest in it. So there's no reason to be worried about the long-term prospects of the cryptocurrency.

Of course. Don't expect BTC to switch to PoS. The algorithm is flawed by design. It makes the Blockchain centralized and less secure over time. Why do you think ETH is dominated by whales and big exchanges? If Bitcoin goes PoS, it will be the end of it. Institutional investment firms and those with a lot of money will be able to influence the future direction of the project. At its current state, these players can only control the supply but not the network (secured by classical PoW). Hope it stays that way forever.

[MusaMohamed]

Not impossible. History has shown us BTC goes up after each halving event.

The chart shows this.

A new ATH is achieved before the next halving.

This cycle, Bitcoin makes its new all time high before its halving, a first time in its history. In previous cycles, a new all time high only appears many months after its halving.

If this keeps up, miners will be able to stay in the "profit zone" even after the block reward subsidies. I believe all of the BTC will be mined by 2140. What will happen beyond that point is a wild guess.

I don't know, 2140 is too far from now. I believe and hope that Bitcoin will continue its existence till 2140 and after that too, or at least next 40 or 50 years, to give me enough time to invest in it and get profit, as well as my children can get benefit from my successful investment too.

[AFR002eeN]

 if the price or fees don't rise enough, it could result in lower miner profitability, potentially reducing the number of miners and compromising the security of the network. It is possible that mining could become less profitable for smaller miners, but this would likely result in mining centralizing rather than the network collapsing altogether.

[DisabledAF]

I heard that the reward is halved every 4 years after each halving, so the reward miners will receive will always approach zero. To maintain the Bitcoin network, the price of Bitcoin must keep rising infinitely, which is impossible. Could there be a point where the value of the Bitcoin miners receive is almost zero, and the Bitcoin network collapses due to a lack of miners?

Is it possible that Bitcoin could increase its total supply in the future? But that would certainly cause Bitcoin’s price to drop significantly.

Could Bitcoin switch to PoS like Ethereum? That would also cause Bitcoin’s price to fall.

I don’t know if my understanding is correct

You're right that Bitcoin’s mining rewards get smaller every 4 years, which might make it seem like miners could eventually stop if they aren’t making enough. However, in the future, miners will mostly earn money from transaction fees, not just the block rewards. So, as long as people are using Bitcoin and making transactions, miners will still have a reason to keep mining.

As for increasing the total supply of Bitcoin, it’s very unlikely. Bitcoin’s limit of 21 million coins is a core part of what makes it valuable, and changing it would cause a lot of trust issues.

Switching to Proof of Stake (PoS), like Ethereum, would also be a big change that most Bitcoin supporters wouldn’t want. It’s possible, but it would face a lot of resistance and could hurt Bitcoin's value.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

I heard that the reward is halved every 4 years after each halving, so the reward miners will receive will always approach zero. To maintain the Bitcoin network, the price of Bitcoin must keep rising infinitely, which is impossible. Could there be a point where the value of the Bitcoin miners receive is almost zero, and the Bitcoin network collapses due to a lack of miners?

Is it possible that Bitcoin could increase its total supply in the future? But that would certainly cause Bitcoin’s price to drop significantly.

Could Bitcoin switch to PoS like Ethereum? That would also cause Bitcoin’s price to fall.

I don’t know if my understanding is correct

Well, your understanding is not correct, non of the things you mentioned is possible with bitcoin aside from that a time will come in the future when it will no longer be possible to mine bitcoin, because all 21 million bitcoins have been mined and it all have entered into circulation. But even at this point, miners can still make money from bitcoin transaction fees - you should know that miners are the ones that confirm transactions on the blockchain, and which ever fees we pay go to them. So, when that time comes that Bitcoin can no longer be mined, miners will have to depend on making money from the fees those transacting in bitcoin pay for their transaction to pass through the blockchain.

And so you know, bitcoin can never be switched to POS, and it's totally supply can never be increased either.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

Well, your understanding is not correct, non of the things you mentioned is possible with bitcoin aside from that a time will come in the future when it will no longer be possible to mine bitcoin, because all 21 million bitcoins have been mined and it all have entered into circulation

You did not understand it correctly.

After all 21M bitcoins in total supply appears from Bitcoin blocks, Bitcoin miners will still be able to mine bitcoin through confirming Bitcoin transactions. They will no longer get Bitcoin block subsidy but it's wrong to say they will no longer be able to mine bitcoin.

If after 2140, no more bitcoins can be mined by miners, they will all shut down their mining rigs and Bitcoin blockchain will stop working, network will die too.

How is the 21 Million Bitcoin Cap Defined and Enforced?
Future Bitcoin Supply.

[Antotena]

I heard that the reward is halved every 4 years after each halving, so the reward miners will receive will always approach zero. To maintain the Bitcoin network, the price of Bitcoin must keep rising infinitely, which is impossible. Could there be a point where the value of the Bitcoin miners receive is almost zero, and the Bitcoin network collapses due to a lack of miners?

Is it possible that Bitcoin could increase its total supply in the future? But that would certainly cause Bitcoin’s price to drop significantly.

Could Bitcoin switch to PoS like Ethereum? That would also cause Bitcoin’s price to fall.

I don’t know if my understanding is correct

Fact check me, I remember some months ago here in this forum when miners were making thousands in thousands of dollars worth of Bitcoin from transaction fees because of Ordinal inscription on Bitcoin network that were taking all the block space and the money the were making was even bigger than the mining block reward they get from Bitcoin comfirmation, so it's not really until Bitcoin price continue to go up before they make money but it's expected but it doesn't mean it will happen.

Expectations is different from the reality, I don't think it's the way a lot of us are expecting the price to continue to go up but definitely the price of today wouldn't be the same in the next 5 years and don't be surprised if we go lower if things goes south for Bitcoin. I just know that the transaction fees will definitely be enough for the miners in the future and not really dependent on block rewards.

[Forsyth Jones]

Are you really more concerned about miners than the transaction fees (fiat-based) we will pay in the future when bitcoin is super-hyper-mega valued? lol

Miners will continue to receive financial incentives anyway, as long as there are people using the bitcoin network to power the network.

If the block reward is reduced to zero sats when the last halving occurs arond 2140, their only incentive is the transaction fees they already receive in addition to the block reward.

I don't expect bitcoin to switch to PoS, because not only is it not in the interest of the community, but we all know that with PoS, it would be more vulnerable to centralization.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

Are you really more concerned about miners than the transaction fees (fiat-based) we will pay in the future when bitcoin is super-hyper-mega valued? lol

It's chicken and eggs story!

You can not only wonder about eggs but at the same time you don't care about chickens. Because without eggs, no more chickens; and oppositely without chickens, no more eggs.

If Bitcoin miners stop working, you will not be able to spend your bitcoins because no miners means no confirmation for your transaction; and no receiver, no trade partner will accept unconfirmed transaction as a payment of a trade.

Miners will continue to receive financial incentives anyway, as long as there are people using the bitcoin network to power the network.

Yeah, they will continue to receive their income in both Bitcoin block subsidy and Bitcoin transaction fees. The first income source, Bitcoin block subsidy will continue coming to Bitcoin miners till 2140, and the second income source, Bitcoin transaction fees will continue coming to Bitcoin miners in all confirmed Bitcoin blocks and transactions in future even after 2140.

[pooya87]

Both are still alive to this day,

I wouldn't use the term "alive" to describe them. I couldn't find any I0Coin explorer or exchange. That is a dead coin.

IXCoin has an explorer and basically is on no exchange (is on Yobit, which isn't even counted as an exchange) and there is no trade volume. Nobody uses it either, I did a quick check and in 2024 (over the past 10 months) the only time anybody used this coin was on 2024-08-10 when someone spammed the blocks with 13 tx/block for about 18 times! 99% of the other blocks are completely empty (only coinbase tx) and 1% have 1-2 txs in them and a handful of blocks over the past 10 months have slightly higher than that.
The mining isn't consistent either which is clear from the number of blocks found per day
chainz.cryptoid

EDIT: Both also are among the highest difficulty coins out there...

I believe that is because IXCoin is being merge mined by bitcoin miners. So what you see is actually part of Bitcoin's hashrate/difficulty that is keeping this dead coin artificially alive for virtually no cost.
In other words it is not like people are actually mining them the same way they are mining other PoW coins like bitcoin.

[Smartprofit]

We don't know the future. Currently, many countries are creating a new form of money - central bank digital currencies (CBDC). In fact, creating a CBDC is tantamount to creating a digital concentration camp, since CBDCs allow the government to completely control all the citizens' money flows. As a result, a situation arises where the money no longer belongs to the people.

Central bank digital currencies are antagonists to Bitcoin. Can Bitcoin coexist with CBDCs? I don't have an answer to this question....

Will humanity have enough energy to develop artificial intelligence, industry, agriculture, and in addition, Bitcoin? After all, electricity is a limited resource. I don't have an answer to this question either....

Will Bitcoin developers be able to resist pressure from those in power if they start convincing them that Bitcoin needs to be transferred to a new consensus algorithm (PoS)? I don't know the exact answer to this third question either...

The future is unknown to us.