Bitcoin Approaches 17 Million Mined BTC Milestone
The mysterious, enigmatic Satoshi Nakamoto may have mined the very first 50 Bitcoins in 2009, but after nine years of trading and mining the blockchain, the 17 millionth Bitcoin BTC will be mined at some point during the next few days. While it will be a significant milestone and a cause for celebration for Bitcoin, it will also mean that 80% of the entire Bitcoin protocol of 21 million is now in circulation.
While the mythical (some would say fantasy) figure of Satoshi Nakamoto – the so-called Father of Bitcoin – was undoubtedly a great visionary, it’s doubtful that he (or she, or they) could have ever imagined just how big an impact their cyber currency would have had on the globe in little more than a decade. Today Bitcoin is one of the most searched for terms on the internet (258 million and counting), which is a fair reflection of a phenomenon that has crossed over into almost every aspect of daily life.
Forget the whole ethos of freedom and spirit of cryptocurrency for a moment, Bitcoin is all things to all people; from something as trivial as a cool gift for a teenager to give to his girlfriend (albeit a very small sliver), to a way a wealthy footballer playing in the Premier League can regularly send money to the remote African village he came from without the corrupt local bank taking its cut.
But what will happen when the last ever Bitcoin is mined? Will Bitcoin still be as relevant and useful when a single BTC is worth $50,000 or more?
21 Million And Out
When Satoshi Nakamoto created the Bitcoin protocol, he did so with the intension of creating a scarcity that deliberately differs from a traditional monetary system. With fiat currency, there is no real limit to the amount of bills that can be printed and coins that can be minted, thus leading to the capacity for inflation. By contrast, the amount of Bitcoin that will be produced is finite, with a limit or protocol of 21 million.
Satoshi Nakamoto based the obtainment of Bitcoin on the way gold is mined. To successfully mine for gold, money, labor and time must be invested. Those three factors also come into play when mining for Bitcoin. And in the same way that the quality of gold must be validated and valued, Bitcoin's network is sustained by the work of the miners, who are also responsible for validating and writing the transactions into the blockchain. These miners then reap the reward when they are and paid in Bitcoin.
When Will BTC No.17 Million Be Mined?
Bitcoin protocol provides a block time of ten minutes, and a current reward for each block of 12.5 bitcoin. What this basically means is that every ten minutes a new block is filled, complete with a variable number of transactions, which is then written to the blockchain. Therefore in theory at least, 1,800 new Bitcoin can be mined every day.
However, if one were to examine the block times of the past three months, they would reveal that there are significant fluctuations on the blockchain. Because of these block time fluctuations, an accurate prediction cannot be made as to exactly when that 17-millionth Bitcoin will be mined. All we know is that it will happen soon.
Bitcoin “Halving”
After every 210,000 blocks, the reward for mining Bitcoin is cut in half. This is known as Bitcoin Halving. Since Bitcoin was first mined by its creator Satoshi Nakamoto in January, 2009, who then rewarded himself with 50 Bitcoins for is efforts, the amount of reward for miners has been slowly but steadily decreasing. The reward remained at 50 Bitcoins for the first 209,999 blocks, until the first "halving" of rewards occurred at block 210,000.
The first Bitcoin Halving - which saw the amount of BTC earned reduced from 50 to 25 - took place in November 2012. The latest and current halving took place in July 2016, and reduced the total Bitcoin awarded to 12.5. The next halving is expected to take place around May 29, 2020.
When Will The Very Last Bitcoin Be Mined?
If we assume that there will be no global interventions made by the financial and crypto powers that be (demanding that another 21 million Bitcoin be created), we can also assume that the Bitcoin protocol will remain the same over the coming years. Based off that criteria, we can basically forecast that the very last Bitcoin will be mined and dismantled due to Reward Halving in May 2140.
However, 2140 will not see the end of Bitcoin, far from it. When all 21 million Bitcoins have been mined, the validation and writing of transactions into the blockchain will still take place. However, as with any other highly desirable but limited asset, the value of Bitcoin will very much depend on how great the demand is for it. But even if BTC was to rise to $250,000 per coin, Bitcoin would still be able to function perfectly well as a currency, albeit one where payments for goods would often involve minute fractions.
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://www.bitmoneynews.com/bitcoin-news/bitcoin-approaches-17-million-mined-btc-milestone/