It’s a symbolic marker for Bitcoin (BTC): 90% of the supply has now been distributed. An opportunity to ask when the last bitcoins will be mined
90% of bitcoins have been mined
If we refer to the data published by the Blockchain.com website, we see that more than 18.89 million bitcoins have been mined, out of the 21 million that will eventually exist. These are of course produced at a regular frequency, and we can see the impact of the last halving in May 2020:
Bitcoin supply (Source: Blockchain.com)
So it has taken Bitcoin almost 12 years to reach this milestone. But it would be misleading to think that the supply of BTC will dry up in the coming years. The halvings that will take place regularly (every four years or so) will indeed gradually reduce the supply. Bitcoins will therefore be mined more and more slowly.
What this means is that the last bitcoins will theoretically only be mined in the year 2140, according to the latest estimates. What happens after that is a matter of speculation, but it is conceivable that transaction fees will become the main economic incentive for those securing the network.
Bitcoin, a bulwark against inflation
For its defenders, the main interest of Bitcoin is precisely its limited supply. Unlike a fiat currency, more can only be produced. The difference with the dollar is particularly telling. At present, fears of prolonged inflation are based in particular on the billions artificially injected into the US economy. Everything points to a gradual loss of value of the dollar, which has already lost value over the past decades.
The Bitcoin model was created to counteract this: as the supply is limited, its price cannot be “diluted” in the same way as a fiat currency. Born out of the 2008 crisis, Bitcoin is now showing its relevance to the current crisis, as investors look for assets that do not lose value so easily.
So far, halvings have propelled the price: in May 2020, BTC was still worth less than $10,000. The gradual reduction in supply could therefore continue to drive the price of the largest cryptocurrency.
