Bitcoin Supply: Over 95% Has Already Been Mined
If there was ever a reason to consider bitcoin as a long-term investment, this chart would be it. It tracks bitcoin’s total supply since Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first bitcoin block on January 9, 2009. Today, over 95% of all the bitcoin supply has already been created by miners. The remaining 5% will take another 115 years or so to mine – with all 21 million coins mined by 2140.
How the bitcoin supply schedule works
When someone sends bitcoin (or BTC), that transaction goes into a block with around 2,000 other transactions. Miners then compete to crack the code for that block, so they can earn bitcoin mining rewards. Those rewards increase the bitcoin supply.
Back in 2009, miners earned 50 BTC per block. But because the mining reward halves every four years, they earn just 3.125 bitcoin per block today. Of course, those coins are worth a lot more money these days, thanks to bitcoin’s massive price appreciation over the years. And in 2140, when there are no more coins left to mine, miners will still earn bitcoin transaction fees. Assuming bitcoin’s price can keep trending higher over time, those fees could be worth a lot by then.
Bottom line: the bitcoin supply increases at a slower and slower rate. 95% of all the bitcoin in the world has already been mined, which makes bitcoin extremely scarce already.
What about the fiat currency supply?
Meanwhile, here’s a chart of the US M2 money supply growth since 1959 (M2SL, TradingView). The M2 money supply includes total cash, deposits, and liquid savings in the US economy – and the picture is completely different:
The supply of US dollars (and pounds, euros, yens, etc) is not fixed. Unlike bitcoin, it has an unknown maximum.
So that’s why people own bitcoin in the long run (despite its volatility) – because of its fixed supply. And so far, that scarcity has driven up demand, too.
As usual, none of this is investment advice. If you liked this post, check out my free newsletter for how-to guides and investment insights across crypto, stocks, metals, and more.
