The Bitcoin (BTC) network, on Friday, April 1, 2022, passed a significant milestone when records revealed that 19 million Bitcoins had been mined. At a block height of 730,034, a watershed moment occurred, and there are now just two million blocks remaining to mine. At 7:05 p.m., the total amount of bitcoin in circulation was 19,000,004.68 BTC (ET)
When Satoshi Nakamoto created the Bitcoin network, the inventor set the maximum supply to 21 million, and research showed that the number is a hair less than 21 million. Some estimates indicate there will only be 20,999,817.31 BTC.
The bitcoin dashboard at clarkmoody.com, which was leveraged to record the 19 million bitcoins mined into existence on Friday, showed only 1,999,781.23 BTC left to find.
The coin issuance increases by 6.25 bitcoins per block whenever a miner finds a block ($289,656). A block is discovered roughly every ten minutes, and the next block reward halving is expected to occur on or around May 3, 2024.
People can anticipate the time frame between difficulty adjustment modifications and the next halving since BTC supply is programmed, mathematical, and ultimately predictable. The Bitcoin network’s annual inflation rate is 1.74 per cent at the time of writing, and the annual inflation metric will continue to fall after each halving.
While statistics show that 19 million bitcoins have been mined, no one knows how many are currently in circulation. Because there are an unknown amount of unobtainable or lost coins that will never be spent, this is the case.
On the other hand, Satoshi Nakamoto explained the problem of lost coins when he stated that unobtainable bitcoins would make the crypto asset scarcer and hence more valuable. “Lost coins merely increase the value of everyone else’s coins by a small amount. Consider it a gift to everyone,” Nakamoto remarked.
Because the second halving is scheduled in 2024, block rewards are expected to stop producing new bitcoin by the year 2140, and the miner-reward system will be exclusively based on transaction fees.
At 7:05 p.m. (ET), 19 million bitcoins were mined, leaving roughly 109,966 blocks to mine until the next reward halving.
