what happens when all bitcoins are mined?

[helstad]

I'm fairly new to bitcoin and I'm still trying to understand some of the basics, but I'm curious about what will happen when all bitcoins have been mined. What will happen to all the "mining industry" that seems to drive the bitcoin world?

[bitcoin_bagholder]

If all goes according to plan, the miners will still be there surviving on transaction fees to secure the blockchain.

[twister]

I'm fairly new to bitcoin and I'm still trying to understand some of the basics, but I'm curious about what will happen when all bitcoins have been mined. What will happen to all the "mining industry" that seems to drive the bitcoin world?

This question has been discussed several times, you'll find a lot of answers here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=176365.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=52673.0
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3326.0

[Madness]

I'm fairly new to bitcoin and I'm still trying to understand some of the basics, but I'm curious about what will happen when all bitcoins have been mined. What will happen to all the "mining industry" that seems to drive the bitcoin world?

I'am not experienced on this field a lot but I guess none of us is going to be alive by then or we will be simply so so old . It will be taking much time for mining all the existing Bitcoins . but I would say the price will rise crazy if bitcoin is alive by then of course

[Omikifuse]

Main effects:

Bitcoin miners will only get rewards by transaction fees. So they might increase the transaction fees or shut down the machines.

Less Bitcoin will be dumped in the market by miners.

At least Doge more or less reached the end of mining reward phase. I hope Bitcoin does better when his time arrives

[Sindelar1938]

Miners live off the transaction fees that will then drive the entire economics of mining

[aNtiClocK]

You will loose all and the owners becomes millionare.

Thanks

[BitcoinAddicts]

miners will continue to mine for tx fees
if you have noticed we pay a fees of 0.0001BTC when transfering bitcoin

[Amph]

miners will continue to mine for tx fees
if you have noticed we pay a fees of 0.0001BTC when transfering bitcoin

but i don't think they can sustain maining with it, unless they have free electricity

[DannyHamilton]

I'm fairly new to bitcoin and I'm still trying to understand some of the basics, but I'm curious about what will happen when all bitcoins have been mined.

Over 120 years from now, when we're all dead?  I'm sure they'll figure it out.  I'm not concerned.

What will happen to all the "mining industry" that seems to drive the bitcoin world?

"Mining" is actually a popular nickname for "transaction processing".  "Miners" confirm transactions into the blockchain, and in exchange for this service they receive a "Block reward" that is equal to the sum of the current block subsidy plus the transaction fees of all the transactions that they confirmed in the block.

The block subsidy is currently 25 newly created bitcoins every block.  That subsidy is cut in half (and rounded down to the nearest satoshi) every 4 years.  So, in 2016 the block subsidy will be reduced to 12.5 BTC, and in the year 2020 it will be reduced to 6.25 BTC, and so on.

Meanwhile, as bitcoin becomes more popular the total number of transactions will increase.  This will result in more transaction fees for the "miners".

Eventually the amount of the block reward from transaction fees will be larger than the amount from the subsidy.  Perhaps at that time we'll stop calling it "mining" and instead call it what it really is: "transaction processing".  Instead of calling people "miners", we may start calling them "transaction processors".

In a bit over 120 years, the subsidy will drop from 0.00000001 BTC per block to 0 BTC per block.  Long before that bitcoin will either have succeeded in maintaining security with transaction fees or it will be long since dead.

[LOBSTER]

The fees will decrease to 1 Satoshi and the transaction volume to 1 Billion per day. Maybe...

[LiteCoinGuy]

well, 2140 is a long way to go:

[goosoodude]

Once all are mined, it will survive on transaction fees provided the price rises enough by then. Its still quite far away and there is some talk of moving it to a PoS based scheme later on which would mean mining wont be needed.

[franckuestein]

If you want to know what happens to miners: they're going to receive the bitcoins that come from the transactions fees.

If you're talking about our position, maybe each bitcoin is going to be more valuable, so… one unity can be split in more decimals.
Anyway, here you have bitcoin units like mBTC --> https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Units  

[LOBSTER]

well, 2140 is a long way to go:

And wie have already so many Coins...curious

[Domino]

miners will continue to mine for tx fees
if you have noticed we pay a fees of 0.0001BTC when transfering bitcoin

but i don't think they can sustain maining with it, unless they have free electricity

Bitcoin price may be a lot higher then, or there may be be less and less miners (hence lower and lower difficulty).

[Gervais]

miners will continue to mine for tx fees
if you have noticed we pay a fees of 0.0001BTC when transfering bitcoin

but i don't think they can sustain maining with it, unless they have free electricity

Bitcoin price may be a lot higher then, or there may be be less and less miners (hence lower and lower difficulty).

That's true, but what if the cost of the electricity and miners outweighs the fees. If the fees are too much users wont pay them and bitcoin could become useless if its not cost effective.

[Domino]

miners will continue to mine for tx fees
if you have noticed we pay a fees of 0.0001BTC when transfering bitcoin

but i don't think they can sustain maining with it, unless they have free electricity

Bitcoin price may be a lot higher then, or there may be be less and less miners (hence lower and lower difficulty).

That's true, but what if the cost of the electricity and miners outweighs the fees. If the fees are too much users wont pay them and bitcoin could become useless if its not cost effective.

Possible. To many bitcoiners, one of the big advantages of bitcoin is its low fee. If bitcoin price doesn't go high enough, the miners may start to ask for higher transaction fee as halving occurs, and start the vicious cycle (higher fee -> less transactions -> higher fee -> ... )

Interestingly, when bitcoin reward dropped from 50 btc to 25 btc, the transaction fee went down as well.

[b!z]

As other users have stated, when all bitcoins have been mined, the incentive for miners to continue will be transaction fees. There will need to be enough transactions going around or the price will have to be high enough for miners to continue while staying profitable, I assume.

I hope this answers your question!

[grendel25]

As other users have stated, when all bitcoins have been mined, the incentive for miners to continue will be transaction fees. There will need to be enough transactions going around or the price will have to be high enough for miners to continue while staying profitable, I assume.

I hope this answers your question!

I've been at this for over a year and never really thought about it.  So when all the blocks dry up, miners continue to mine workable hashes for which they'd get a piece of the transaction fee?  It just seems like something that would be done by mainstream businesses as opposed to miners.  Are miners currently mining for a piece of the transaction fee?  Seems like that's not something exclusive to when the coins dry up but something that would be going on all along.