Altcoin News: Up Until Now 85% of All Bitcoins Have Been Mined

August 1, 2019, by Marko Vidrih on ALTCOIN MAGAZINE

85% of the Bitcoin total supply has been mined by today.

According to Blockchain.com, 17,850,000 Bitcoins was released this Thursday. As a result, there are still 3.15 million Bitcoins, which the miners will have to produce in the next 120 years — until 2140.

Image credit: CoinMarketCap

Thus, only 17,850,000 people can currently own a Bitcoin. In reality, however, part of Bitcoins is considered to be forever lost, because of which the amount of available cryptocurrency can be significantly lower. Thus, the company Chainalysis in 2017 calculated that the number of lost Bitcoins can reach 4 million.

The restriction of Bitcoin emissions, which was laid down in the protocol by Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of the cryptocurrency, is generally viewed as a positive factor since it leads to its deficiency.

“Coins must somehow be distributed initially, and the constant rate of extraction seems to be the right formula,” Nakamoto wrote in the mailing list in 2008.

Bitcoins in circulation. Source: Blockchain

In May 2020, another Bitcoin halving will be held or the reward for adding blocks to its blockchain will be reduced from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC. Up to this point per day, miners will receive an average of 1,800 BTC for performing their work on adding blocks to the blockchain and ensuring its safety.

Author: Marko Vidrih