Bitcoin Hits 19 Million Milestone; Only 2 Million Left to Mine
With the max supply set at 21 million, the Bitcoin (BTC) network—crypto’s leading currency—is now only left with two million Bitcoin to mint. The coin has reached a total of 19 million mined in circulation according to the records last April 1st, 2022.
Bitcoin’s historic benchmark happened at around 7 PM (GMT +8:00) last Friday, in block 730002, when the 19 millionth Bitcoin was mined by SBI Crypto and entered the circulation. SBI Crypto earned 6.32 BTC, roughly $293,000 for the trouble in transaction fees and block reward.
The mint was considered historic as the Bitcoin enthusiasts pointed out that mining the coin’s remaining numbers will take the next 100 years. Satoshi Nakamoto, the brains behind the cryptocurrency, wanted the supply to be finite so upon building the network the inventor set the maximum supply to 21 million.
In a sense, Nakamoto developed the cryptocurrency primarily as a form of digital gold and put a ceiling on the total supply of BTC to replicate the limited number, in physical terms, of gold. The capped supply is done for a variety of reasons, such as keeping inflation at bay, producing artificial scarcity, price manipulation, and enhancing the token’s appeal.
However, some studies suggests that the amount is actually less than 21 million
Accordingly, the Bitcoin dashboard at clarkmoody.com, which was leveraged to record the 19 million bitcoins mined into existence on Friday, shows there’s only 1,999,781.23 BTC left to mint.
So far in the Bitcoin timeline, the community is currently at the third halving, when the first bitcoin was mined it was at 50 BTC reward per block, now it is down to 6.25BTC per block. This will continue until around block 84,000 when it drops to just 3.125 BTC per block. The next halving, where the issuance rate is cut in half, is scheduled for 2024.
According to data, we are now in the 4th era and the last Bitcoin, expected to be mined in the year 2140, will be mined in the 34th era when the reward will be just 0.00000001BTC per block.
This article is published: Bitcoin Hits 19 Million Milestone; Only 2 Million Left to Mine
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