In March 2026, the Bitcoin network crossed a threshold that can never be crossed again. The 20 millionth bitcoin was mined.
95% of All Bitcoin Now Exist
That single number tells the story. Out of the 21 million bitcoin that will ever be created, 20 million are already here. That is 95.24% of the total supply.
Only one million remain. And they will take more than a century to create.
How We Got Here
When Bitcoin launched in January 2009, the block reward was 50 BTC. Every ten minutes or so, a miner earned 50 fresh coins for adding a new block to the chain. New bitcoin entered the world fast.
But the rules were set from day one. Every 210,000 blocks, roughly every four years, the reward gets cut in half. This is called the halving. It has happened four times since launch. Each cut slowed the flow of new coins.
The first 19 million took about 13 years. The next million took roughly four more. The pace keeps decelerating.
The Last Million
Today, miners earn about 450 BTC per day. That sounds like a lot. But the next halving, expected around April 2028, will cut that to roughly 225 per day.
The halving after that will cut it again. And again. And again. Each time, the trickle of new coins slows further.
The final fraction of a bitcoin is expected to be mined around the year 2140. By then, the total supply cap of 20,999,999.9769 BTC will be reached. That number falls just barely short of 21 million due to how Bitcoin’s code handles rounding.
No one alive today will see the last bitcoin mined. But the scarcity it creates is already here.
Why This Matters
Most forms of money can be created without limit. Governments print more when they decide it is needed. Bitcoin cannot do this. Satoshi encoded the supply schedule in 2009. It has never changed. For the full picture, read Bitcoin’s Monetary Policy Explained.
The 20 million milestone makes this concrete. The vast majority of bitcoin already exist. The remaining supply will drip out slowly over the next 114 years.
There is also a twist that makes the real supply even tighter. Researchers estimate that millions of bitcoin are permanently lost. These coins sit in wallets whose keys no one remembers. The actual circulating supply is likely well below 20 million.
What’s Next
To understand why scarcity gives Bitcoin value, read Why Does Bitcoin Have Value?. To learn how miners earn their rewards, see What is Bitcoin Mining?. For the story of every halving, read The Bitcoin Halvings.