In addition to investing in Bitcoin through stock exchanges, there is another way to make money with Bitcoin, which is to mince the crypto coins. However, the white paper states that up to 21 million Bitcoins will become available. That leaves a nice question for the weekend. What happens when the last Bitcoin is mined? We'll tell you the answer in this article.
Minning BTC, how does that work?
A transaction in Bitcoin is recorded. These transactions are collected in a block. A block is closed every 10 minutes. Special computers then make an automated mathematical calculation. The owner of the computer who is the first to submit a good result of the calculation gets the right to approve the transactions in that block. There is also a risk of manipulation of the Blockchain. As a reward, the owner of that computer also receives a mining reward. This is currently 12.5 BTC. So every 10 minutes, 12.5 new BTCs appear on the market.
How many coins have already been mined?
In concrete terms, this means that 1,800 new Bitcoins are currently provided every 24 hours. At the time of writing, out of a total of 21 million available Bitcoins, 18,208,750 have been issued. That is 86.708%. You can see the booth live on various sites. This means that there are (only) 2,791,250 Bitcoins left to be released. Question is what happens when the last Bitcoin is released. Miners will no longer be able to get a new BTC as a reward, while mining is necessary to continue validating the Blockchain.
What if the last Bitcoin is mined?
On the basis of the above, it already appears that there must be a financial interest for the miners to continue to approve the transactions on the Blockchain. It is therefore expected that when no more Bitcoins are issued, the transaction costs will increase. The miners will charge a fee for the capacity they have to use to approve a transaction. It is difficult to estimate how much this fee will be. At today's prices of energy and high equipment depreciation, the mining of one Bitcoin cost between $5,100 and $8,500, depending on the location and cost. Depending on the Bitcoin's price at the end of the mining era and inflation, the correct cost can only be calculated at that time.
Should we prepare for the end of Bitcoin mining?
we carefully conclude that you still have some time. Because of the regular issuance (every 10 minutes) and the set reward, we can estimate very accurately when the last Bitcoin will be mined. Satoshi Nakamoto has provided for the so-called Bitcoin halving in his plan. Every 4 years, the mining reward is halved. This also halves the number of crypto coins to be issued per transaction and per day. The logical consequence of this is that the Bitcoin will become much scarcer. Insiders invariably expect large price increases during and after a Bitcoin halving. If we take these factors into account, the last Bitcoin will not be mined until the year 2140.
