James Atkins
Editor
Editor
Are you curious like many bitcoin enthusiasts and want to know the exact number of bitcoins in circulation? Then you’re in the right place as today’s post has all the information you’re looking for and more. While there is currently about 18.81 million bitcoin in existence, this number changes every 10 minutes as new blocks are mined. And just so you know, every new block mined adds 6.25 bitcoins into the total circulation.
When Satoshi Nakamoto launched bitcoin, he designed it in such a way that there would only be 21 million bitcoins in circulation. At the moment, we have 18.81 million bitcoin in circulation. So once miners mine the last block, we would have mined 21 million bitcoins. At this point, we will no longer be able to mine new blocks. To this end, the bitcoin in circulation will exchange hands from people looking to sell to people interested in buying.
Like we mentioned earlier, there are only ever going to be 21 million bitcoins in circulation. That said, miners are still able to mine new blocks of bitcoins every 10 minutes. The remaining bitcoins yet to be mined are 2,196,398.8. Nonetheless, even if miners can no longer mine bitcoins, you should still be able to buy bitcoins from willing sellers across different exchanges.
At the moment, the total number of bitcoins in circulation is 18.81 million. In the future, there are only going to be 21 million bitcoins in circulation. And so long as exchanges stay in business with bitcoin users always willing to exchange their bitcoin for cash or for other digital assets, you’ll always find bitcoins to buy.
While there is no exact answer to this question, recent studies show that nearly 3 to 4 million bitcoins are lost forever. Nevertheless, it is almost impossible to know the exact number of bitcoins lost and that’s because each bitcoin on the blockchain network looks exactly the same as the ones lost. That said, we can make some educated guesses based on how long bitcoin has remained in a wallet addressed unmoved.
To be honest, no bitcoin is really lost, and that’s because some bitcoins remain permanently locked away. And since we know where all the bitcoins are, we can’t say that it is lost or missing. When we use the word lost, it is more like saying someone locked the coin in a box and lost the key to that box. And since the box is impossible to open without the key, it’s easy to see why people ask this question.
There are currently 144 new blocks of bitcoins mined every day. And since there are 6.25 bitcoins per block, it means that 900 bitcoins are added to the total bitcoins in circulation daily. Thanks to the advancement in technology and miners adding new hardware to their mining rig, we are beginning to see new blocks mined every 9.5 minutes instead of the original 10. With this powerful technology, new bitcoins are created faster. So on a good day, you’ll see more than 900 bitcoins created.
As you may already know, new bitcoins can only be created through mining. In the same vein, we have told you the total number of bitcoins that will ever be mined. But as of the time of putting together this guide, only 18.81 million bitcoins have been mined. Also, keep in mind that this number changes every 10 minutes as new blocks are added to the bitcoin network.
Since new bitcoins are created every 10 minutes, we can’t exactly say how many blocks are yet to be mined, but just to give you a rough estimate, there are currently 698,577 blocks of bitcoin that have been mined.
There are a lot of arguments regarding how many bitcoins Satoshi has. While some people argue that Satoshi Nakamoto has around 900,000 bitcoins, others think this is not true and believe that he has around 300,000 bitcoins. With this debate, it’s hard to know the exact figure.
We can’t say for sure the exact number of bitcoins that have been stolen. That said, the MT. Gox hack is the largest bitcoin hack, with nearly 850,000 bitcoins lost to hackers. In 2016, another hack resulted in the loss of 120,000 bitcoins from Bitfinex. Putting the two hacks together, at least 970,000 bitcoins have been lost.
Nevertheless, stolen BTC doesn’t mean the same thing as lost BTC as it is very likely that all stolen BTCs are still very much in circulation, and many may not even be in the hands of the original hackers.
It’s almost impossible to know the number of bitcoin millionaires as many millionaires have emerged from this industry. That said, with some quick math, we can estimate the number of bitcoin millionaires that have been created so far. Stay with us as we take you through all that.
Let’s assume that the current bitcoin price is $48205.38; this means you’ll need to have 20.74 bitcoins to be regarded as a bitcoin millionaire in dollars. And since there are currently 18.81 million bitcoins in circulation, it means that there is an average of 904,435 people who currently have 20.74 bitcoins. In reality, though, the number is much smaller, and we currently estimate that there are at least 30,000 to 60,000 people with over $1 million worth of bitcoins.
There are tons of miners on the bitcoin network. At the moment, Slushpool has a total of 200,000 miners. Unsurprisingly, Slushpool has 12% of the network’s hashrate. If all pools have the same number of miners, it means that there would be nearly 1,000,000 miners on the bitcoin network.
All things being equal, we expect the last bitcoin to be mined sometimes in 2140 when we expect the last halving to happen. However, a lot of things can change especially given the rate of technological advancements. As of now, we can only speculate.
With technological advancements, the advent of mining pools, and miners increasingly adding new hardware to their mining rig, we are seeing new bitcoins created every 9.5 minutes instead of the original 10 minutes. So the more we continue or try to predict when the last halving will occur, the harder things become. And just so you know, a lot can change in 120 years. Don’t forget, even Satoshi Nakamoto didn’t foresee the launch of mining pools. So we can only keep our fingers crossed and see how things progress on the bitcoin network.
The block subsidy for miners will be a meager 0.000000011641532 BTC per block. At the moment, the current block reward is 6.26 bitcoins. There will be at least 30 more halvings before it goes to 0. If you divide 6.25 bitcoins by two 29 times, then you’ll get 0.000000011641532.
At the moment, miners earn the bulk of their money from block rewards. When all 21 million bitcoins have been mined, it means miners will no longer be rewarded with block rewards. In the future, when users execute bitcoin transactions, the fees attached to each successful transaction will be paid to miners as a reward for their services of securing the network and validating transactions. So it invariably means that miners will be part of the bitcoin network for the foreseeable future as they provide more than just mining services.
There aren’t a lot of bitcoin billionaires out there. But with the bitcoin price currently hovering at $46,000, you can best believe that the network boasts a number of billionaires. And just in case you have forgotten, the Winklevoss twins were bitcoin billionaires since the price of bitcoin crossed $10,000 as they owned over 100,000 bitcoins.
As at the time of putting together this guide, there are nearly 67 million Litecoin (LTC) in circulation. More so, we are expecting the Litecoin block halving in August 2023. We don’t know how massive it will be, but we expect to see some significant movement in price.
Historically, Gold’s supply has increased by nearly 2% every year. Unfortunately, bitcoin’s supply has continued to decrease more than 2% since the start of 2020, and we expect it to further decrease by 1% after the 2024 halving.
And when that happens, we expect a big debate between Bitcoin and gold enthusiasts.
Many coins on the market today are exact copies of Bitcoin’s source code. For instance, Bitcoin Cash is a fork of Bitcoin with just a few things exempted. Similarly, Litecoin is a fork of Bitcoin. The only difference is that Litecoin has a different block time and mining algorithm.
To be honest, no one really has any concrete information on this. That said, we know that there are at least over 100 million ether in circulation, but we aren’t sure of the exact number. More so, there is no real cap on the total number of ETH that can be mined just the way you have on the bitcoin network. Also, ETH isn’t a fork or clone of Bitcoin like Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and others.
New bitcoins are created through a system of mining, and this is done using powerful hardware. And just so you know, miners are rewarded with new bitcoins every 10 minutes, a reward for finding new blocks. That said, the amount of time needed to mine a bitcoin invariably depends on how much mining power a miner has. Thanks to advancements in technology, miners now find new bitcoins every 9.5 minutes.
It can be pretty challenging to state for sure who has more bitcoins. But if rumors are anything to go by, then it is believed that Satoshi Nakamoto has more bitcoins, with many people believing that he has over 900,000 bitcoins.
Bitcoin adoption is sweeping through countries at an incredible speed that we can’t say for sure which countries are more interested in bitcoin. But if web traffic data is anything to go by, then countries like the UK, United States, Germany, Canada, Nigeria, Russia, China, and Australia have shown tremendous interest. Some of these countries are home to some of the largest exchanges in the world.
Bitcoin has been around for almost 12 years. To be precise, bitcoin was launched in 2009, and since then, it has continued to increase in value. While bitcoin continues to woo more people, we are beginning to see wealthy individuals, governments, and large corporations adopt this incredible technology. This year, companies like Tesla started receiving bitcoin as a means of payment. In the same vein, El Salvador made bitcoin its legal tender. This proves that the future of bitcoin is bright and shouldn’t be ignored.
While bitcoin has attracted a lot of criticisms, the technology backing Bitcoin has proven to be almost indispensable. So if you’re still skeptical about bitcoin, there are many reasons to want to give this technology a second thought. From robust security architecture to transparency to hassle-free and quick transactions, bitcoin has shown a lot of promise that just can’t be ignored.
Even though it seems like bitcoin miners will be directly affected by the finite supply of bitcoin, with many bitcoin pessimists of the opinion that this will force bitcoin miners off the network once the last bitcoin is mined, there are many positive sides to the bitcoin blockchain, and we will tell you all about it in a bit.
Sure, there will only be 21 million bitcoins in circulation; bitcoin miners will likely remain on the network for the foreseeable future. While bitcoin miners are rewarded with bitcoins for finding new blocks, that is not the only job they perform on the bitcoin network. So even after the last bitcoin has been mined, miners will still earn a percentage of fees for validating new transactions.
Though these fees today represent a few hundred dollars per block, we expect the fees to rise significantly to many thousands of dollars per block, especially as the network continues to see massive daily transactions. More so, as the price of bitcoin skyrockets, we expect these fees to also change significantly. At the end of the day, we expect the bitcoin network to function as a closed economy, where transaction fees will be assessed much like taxes.
It is important to note that it will take nearly 100 years before the last bitcoin is mined off the network. But before 2140 approaches, we expect miners to enjoy the years leading up to 2140 receiving rewards that are just tiny portions of the last bitcoin to be mined. The dramatic decrease in reward size may force miners to discover new technologies aimed at improving the mining process on the bitcoin network.
It is also important to state that a lot can change on the bitcoin network between now and then. Again considering how much bitcoin has changed in just a decade, you can best believe that we are still yet to maximize the full potentials of this technology fully. The next couple of years will be truly significant for bitcoin as we expect new protocols, new methods of recording transactions, and a host of other factors to remarkably transform the bitcoin mining process.
And there are lots of amazing reasons why anyone should be interested in bitcoin, and we will show you just a few. In January this year, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), in a letter, authorized the use of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin as a method of payment. In the same vein, Paypal also introduced Bitcoin transactions to its ecosystem. As if that’s not enough, Tesla also announced that it would receive payment for its models in bitcoin. Though the company later recanted its decision citing environmental concerns, we are optimistic that bitcoin is on the right trajectory, and it is only a matter of time before it wins everyone over.
Since bitcoin launched in 2009, it has become a global sensation, with millions of people across the globe jostling to get a piece of the pie. While there are currently 18.81 million bitcoins in circulation, there are only ever going to be 21 million bitcoins ever created. And like many sectors, bitcoin has created millions of jobs across different industries. While miners on the bitcoin network get rewarded with new bitcoins for finding new blocks, a lot of bitcoin millionaires have emerged from simply buying and holding bitcoin. At the moment, one bitcoin is trading around $46,500, but we expect the price to touch $100,000 in a couple of years.
I have been writing copy for blockchain-related projects since 2017. I understand the importance of being able to communicate clearly and effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences. By leveraging my understanding of the crypto industry trends, I can help increase adoption in this rapidly evolving landscape.
