90% of the supply of 21 million bitcoins has been dug up! Only 10% can be dug in the next 119 years。

The total circulating supply of bitcoins reached about 18.9 million in the early hours of this morning, accounting for 90% of the total supply of 21 million bitcoins. This means that by 2140, only 10% of the bitcoin supply remains to be mined. Foreign media "BitcoinMagazine" analyzed that as most Bitcoin supply is held by illiquid entities, scarcity has now become more obvious, and sudden and strong supply shocks may be unavoidable.

90% of the supply of 21 million bitcoins has been dug up! Only 10% can be dug in the next 119 years

According to data from Blockchain.com, the current total circulating supply of bitcoin has reached 18.9 million, which is equivalent to 90% of the total supply of 21 million bitcoins. This means that by 2140, only 10% of the supply of bitcoin is left. Awaiting digging.

The veteran bitcoin magazine BitcoinMagazine marked this milestone on Twitter at 5 am on the 13th: Breaking news – 90% of the 21 million bitcoin supply has now been mined, and in the next 119 years, only left 10% of the supply is yet to be dug up!

Bitcoin supply mechanism

According to previous reports in the currency circle, Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto dug up the genesis block of Bitcoin in 2009 and generated 50 Bitcoins. According to Bitcoin’s mechanism, there will be a download every about 10 minutes. For a block, the reward will be halved every approximately 210,000 blocks.

In other words, the reward for the first 210,000 blocks is 50 bitcoins; from the 210,001th block to the 420,000th block, the reward for each block is 25 bitcoins. According to the calculation of the output time of each block is about 10 minutes, the output time of every 210,000 blocks is about 4 years, so Bitcoin will usher in the block reward halving every 4 years.

According to this mechanism, in the first four years after the birth of Bitcoin, each block reward is 50 Bitcoins; in the second four years, each block reward is 25 Bitcoins, and so on, until Bitcoin is around 2140 It was all dug up around the year.

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

"Interesting fact: 90% of the Bitcoin supply took 12.9 years to be released, and the next 9% of the Bitcoin supply will take about the same time to be released, and then 0.9% of the Bitcoin supply will also be spent. Released at the same time.

The time it took for the supply of Bitcoin to reach 18.9 million: 12.9 years

Time for Bitcoin supply to reach 20.79 million: 25.8 years

The time it took for the supply of Bitcoin to reach 20.979 million: 38.7 years

Exponential math is cool. "

Scarcity will cause prices to soar?

As 90% of the total amount of Bitcoin has been mined, "BitcoinMagazine" today wrote an article that pointed out that as the global popularity and usage of the Bitcoin network continue to increase, the demand for Bitcoin continues to increase, and there is a sudden and strong supply shock. It may not be avoided.

The article believes that after more than 90% of the bitcoin supply has been released, scarcity has now become more obvious, although the amount of bitcoin released cannot determine liquidity, because the released bitcoin can and often are in the market However, the fact is that most of the Bitcoin supply in circulation is held by entities with little or no history of selling.

As early as December last year, the on-chain data analysis company Glassnode issued a report to analyze the liquidity of Bitcoin supply, and divided the entities holding Bitcoin into three categories: high liquidity, liquidity, and lack of liquidity. The company’s research found that a total of 14.5 million bitcoins (78% of bitcoin circulation) are held by illiquid entities.

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

"BitcoinMagazine" believes that this means that HODL memes are very influential in the Bitcoin community. Many people are committed to preserving their Bitcoins until Hyperbitcoinization occurs, that is, when Bitcoin reaches full monetization. When they become an accounting unit, they can consume instead of sell.

In fact, most of the mined bitcoin supply is not very liquid. Some of the world’s largest bitcoin miners have begun to move into the HODL ranks this year. For example, Canadian miner Hut8 will mine in November last year. All the 256 bitcoins issued were delivered under custody. As of November 30 this year, the company has reserved 5,242 bitcoins.

Therefore, "BitcoinMagazine" concludes with 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 is not enough. To meet the sharply rising demand of large players such as hedge funds and central banks, the price of Bitcoin would soar until the dollar collapsed completely.