What is the maximum supply of Bitcoin?

[Tribalchief]

Introduction
As far as the world of business is concerned, supply happens to be an important aspect of economics. We can attribute this to the amount of goods or products available for use. This availability of goods in the market really tells a lot about whether the goods are wanted or not. Diverting our attention a little bit to the area of money, money, which happens to be an essential medium for the exchange of goods due to its wide acceptability, has a limited supply in every economy of a country. When money is in excess or insufficient, problems arise for those in that country. This supply has to be moderate in order to maintain a sustainable economy.

The world is gradually moving from a physical form of currency to a purely digital world. Digital currency such as Bitcoin happens to be a key figure here. Bitcoin has begun to gain vast adoption and popularity in the business world, and it's seen as a good asset worth investing in. Bitcoin also has its own supply which is usually activated by the protocol already designed. The mining mechanism happens to be the only way to introduce a new Bitcoin into circulation, thereby adding to the ones already in circulation. The amount of Bitcoin entering into circulation is reduced by half during halving, which is also part of the protocol in place. Kindly search through the platform to read more about halving.

Bitcoin Maximum supply
The maximum supply of Bitcoin allocated is 21 million. There has been some reduction over the years due to the mining process, where miners use several computer powers by consuming large amounts of energy to verify transactions in the blockchain, ending up with cryptocurrency as a form of reward. According to CoinMarketCap, there are 19.67 million Bitcoins in circulation, making up the current total supply, which means there are still over 1.3 million Bitcoins to be mined. It is important to note that the mining reward, which is the amount entering into circulation, is reduced by half every four years, thereby increasing demand. When there are more demands, prices increase. It is also important to note that the miners' reward for every puzzle solved was initially 50 BTC per block. The reward has since been reduced to 6.25 BTC per block after a series of halvings.

Bitcoin supply over the years
The chart below is a representation of Bitcoin increase in circulating supply over the years which was analyzed according to statista.com

In addition, the chart below also gives a representation of Bitcoin's price over the years.

Bitcoin made it's ATH recently in the march after hitting the $73.8k price, thereby beating it's previous ATH. This land mark was greatly attributed to the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs by the securities and exchange commission(SEC).

What Happens When we reach the maximum supply?
This happens to be a very interesting question that some of us are familiar with while others are not. Just as the protocol remains unchanged and halving continues to occur approximately every four years with a successive mining of 210,000 blocks, more Bitcoin is pumped into circulation, thereby meeting the maximum supply limit of 21 million. After all the 21 million Bitcoins have been mined, the halving protocol won't be effective due to its elapsed time. Miners' rewards would start coming from transaction fees and any other methods that might possibly arise in the future.

Chart reference
statista.com: https://www.statista.com/statistics/326707/bitcoin-price-index/

Other reference
coinmarketcap.com: https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/

NOTE: All the figures mentioned in this post may change over time due to the continuous mining process, except for the maximum supply, which remains constant at 21 million.

[hugeblack]

The maximum supply of Bitcoin allocated is 21 million.

[size=78%]In fact, the maximum amount of Bitcoin is 20999999.97690000 Bitcoins (floating point[/font][/size],) not 21 million, and the number is less than this, as a miner destroyed an entire block reward of 12.5. There is also a percentage of lost Bitcoins that were sent to POB addresses.[/size]

[ABCbits]

For other reader, image included by OP might not showing if you use Tor or certain VPN. If that happens, try different VPN or don't use either Tor/VPN.

After all the 21 million Bitcoins have been mined, the halving protocol won't be effective due to its elapsed time. Miners' rewards would start coming from transaction fees and any other methods that might possibly arise in the future.

FYI, miner (or rather mining pool) already offer TX acceleration service and including non-standard transaction (e.g. almost 4MB Ordinal TX) as additional income source.

[Tribalchief]

The maximum supply of Bitcoin allocated is 21 million.

[size=78%]In fact, the maximum amount of Bitcoin is 20999999.97690000 Bitcoins (floating point[/font][/size],) not 21 million, and the number is less than this, as a miner destroyed an entire block reward of 12.5. There is also a percentage of lost Bitcoins that were sent to POB addresses.[/size]

You have a point here, I must say, but my research never gave me a floating-point value, rather, it was an exact value of 21 million. I also referenced it based on where I got the exact value, and I would appreciate it if you could provide your own reference so other readers won't find things too complicated.

Certainly, there is a difference between 21 million and the floating-point value. Isn't it better to just use the approximate value that appears in major articles around the globe?

For other reader, image included by OP might not showing if you use Tor or certain VPN. If that happens, try different VPN or don't use either Tor/VPN.

Thanks for sharing this vital information. I hope readers who can't see the images come across your reply.

FYI, miner (or rather mining pool) already offer TX acceleration service and including non-standard transaction (e.g. almost 4MB Ordinal TX) as additional income source.

I guess the future is already now. Thanks for the info.

[Lucius]

You have a point here, I must say, but my research never gave me a floating-point value, rather, it was an exact value of 21 million. I also referenced it based on where I got the exact value, and I would appreciate it if you could provide your own reference so other readers won't find things too complicated.

Certainly, there is a difference between 21 million and the floating-point value. Isn't it better to just use the approximate value that appears in major articles around the globe?
~snip~

If you want to find out the exact data, then you have to dig deep, in other words go back to the years when Bitcoin was still a relatively new thing. Back then, people were discussing the total number of BTC that will ever exist, and it is true that it will not be 21 million coins.

Satoshi decided to start with a reward of 50 BTC per block and halve that reward every 210 000 blocks, which in the end gives the number 20999999.97690000 BTC. It is logical that people use round numbers because it is easier for them, and generally the difference is so small that it is negligible.

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