90% of Bitcoin's 21 million supply has been mined! Only 10% left to be mined in the next 119 years

According to data from Blockchain.com, the current total circulating supply of Bitcoin has reached 18.9 million, equivalent to 90% of the total supply of 21 million Bitcoins. This means that before 2140, only 10% of the Bitcoin supply will be left to be mined.

The veteran Bitcoin magazine BitcoinMagazine specially marked this milestone on Twitter at 5 a.m. on the 13th: Breaking news-90% of the 21 million Bitcoin supply has now been mined, and in the next 119 years, only 10% of the supply remains to be mined!

Bitcoin supply mechanism

According to previous reports in the currency circle, Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto mined the Genesis block of Bitcoin in 2009 and generated 50 bitcoins. According to the Bitcoin mechanism, the next block will appear approximately every 10 minutes, and the reward will be halved every approximately 210,000 blocks.

That is to say, the reward for the first 210,000 blocks is 50 bitcoins; from block 210,001 to block 420,000, the reward for each block is 25 bitcoins. Based on the production time of each block of about 10 minutes, the production time of every 210,000 blocks is about 4 years, so the block reward of Bitcoin will be halved every 4 years.

According to this mechanism, in the first four years after the birth of Bitcoin, the reward for each block is 50 bitcoins; in the second four years, the reward for each block is 25 bitcoins, and so on, until all bitcoins are mined around 2140.

It is worth noting that after 90% of Bitcoin was mined, Bitcoin Core developer Jimmy Song specifically pointed out an interesting mathematical calculation on Twitter today:

“Fun fact: 90% of Bitcoin supply took 12.9 years to be released, the next 9% will take roughly the same amount of time to be released, and the next 0.9% will take the same amount of time to be released.

Time for Bitcoin supply to reach 18.9 million: 12.9 years

Time for Bitcoin supply to reach 20.79 million: 25.8 years

Time for Bitcoin supply to reach 20.979 million: 38.7 years

Exponential math is cool.”

Will scarcity cause prices to soar?

With 90% of the total amount of Bitcoin already mined, Bitcoin Magazine wrote today that as the Bitcoin network continues to gain popularity and usage around the world, demand for Bitcoin continues to increase, and a sudden and strong supply shock may be inevitable.

The article argues that scarcity has now become more apparent after more than 90% of the Bitcoin supply has been released. Although the amount of Bitcoin released cannot determine liquidity, because the released Bitcoin can and often is traded on the market, the fact is that most of the Bitcoin supply in circulation is held by entities with little or no selling history.

As early as December last year, on-chain data analysis company Glassnode released a report analyzing the liquidity of Bitcoin supply, dividing entities holding Bitcoin into three categories: highly liquid, liquid, and illiquid. The company's research found that a total of 14.5 million Bitcoins (accounting for 78% of Bitcoin in circulation) are held by illiquid entities.

Glassnode pointed out at the time: Although mined bitcoins can be traded on the market, most of them are held by people who have no intention of selling.

Bitcoin Magazine believes that this means that the HODL meme is very influential in the Bitcoin community, and many people are committed to saving their Bitcoin until Hyperbitcoinization occurs, that is, when Bitcoin reaches full monetization and becomes a unit of account, they can consume it instead of selling it.

In fact, most of the mined Bitcoin supply is not very liquid. Some of the world's largest Bitcoin miners have begun to HODL this year. For example, Canadian miner Hut8 delivered all 256 Bitcoins mined in November last year to custody. As of November 30 this year, the company has reserved 5,242 Bitcoins.

Therefore, Bitcoin Magazine finally makes an optimistic conclusion: once people, institutions and governments begin to realize how scarce Bitcoin is, the fear of missing out (FOMO) mentality will reach a whole new level, and supply shocks may be unavoidable because there will not be enough supply to meet the sharply rising demand from large players such as hedge funds and central banks, thereby triggering a surge in Bitcoin prices until the US dollar collapses completely.