Bitcoin has been mined up to 95%, but the last one will have to wait until the 22nd century.

Author: Mahe, Foresight News

Original Title: Only 1 Million Bitcoins Left Unmined, Will the Last One Have to Wait Until the 22nd Century?

Around 9 PM on March 10th, the 20 millionth Bitcoin was mined. This means that 95.2% of the total supply of 21 million BTC has been mined, leaving only 1 million remaining over the next 114 years.

On January 3, 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto mined the Genesis Block (also known as Block 0), marking the official launch of the Bitcoin blockchain. It has now been 17 years.

Over time, BTC has risen from $0.06 to $126,000 in 2025, growing from a geek toy to a massive crypto asset with a market cap once exceeding $2.5 trillion, demonstrating its strong vitality.

Aside from the incredible returns, there are some noteworthy data points in Bitcoin’s development history.

The chart’s horizontal axis covers 2010 to 2026, with each bar representing a specific metric, labeled with the number of days needed from left to right. The shortest is “Transfer volume exceeding 20 million BTC,” taking only 729 days, roughly early 2011. At that time, Bitcoin was still in its early stages, with low prices, but on-chain liquidity was already accumulating significantly.

Next, it took 830 days for the total BTC transferred to exceed $20 million, 841 days for the market cap to surpass $20 million, and 880 days for daily transfers to exceed $20 million. These early indicators marked Bitcoin’s transition from an experimental protocol to an asset with real value.

As time progressed, the time needed for on-chain activity metrics gradually increased. It took 1,336 days for daily transfers to exceed 20 million BTC, 1,398 days to create 20 million UTXOs, 1,436 days to spend 20 million UTXOs, 1,636 days for Bitcoin to reach 20 million transactions, and about 1,756 days to have 20 million addresses.

Most of these data points cluster between 2013 and 2014, coinciding with Bitcoin’s first halving (November 2012, when block rewards dropped from 50 BTC to 25 BTC), marking the start of substantial network expansion.

The total payment fees exceeding $20 million took 2,906 days, nearly 8 years, reflecting very low transaction fees in early days until rising demand and network congestion caused fees to accumulate. The addresses with non-zero balances, profitable addresses, and active addresses reaching 20 million each occurred around 3,197 to 3,248 days, roughly during the 2017 bull market. During this period, Bitcoin gained widespread attention, and the number of holding addresses grew significantly.

The longest bar corresponds to “20 million BTC mined,” taking 6,267 days, about 17 years and 2 months.

The total supply cap of Bitcoin is 21 million coins, issued through block rewards, halving approximately every 210,000 blocks (about 4 years). The initial reward was 50 BTC per block, halved to 25 BTC, then to 6.25 BTC after the 2020 halving, totaling about 19.6875 million coins; the 2024 halving will reduce it to 3.125 BTC. Currently, we are in this cycle, with each halving halving the new coin issuance rate, reinforcing scarcity and linking to price cycles.

Based on current block rewards and halving schedules, the remaining approximately 1 million BTC will take about 114 years to mine out. With a current reward of 3.125 BTC per block, roughly 164,000 coins are added annually; after the 2028 halving, the reward will drop to 1.5625 BTC, then continue decreasing. In the final phase, issuance will proceed slowly in Satoshi units until around 2140, when all coins are expected to be mined.

This is the core logic of Bitcoin’s design: rapid distribution in early stages to establish the foundation, followed by extremely slow issuance to reinforce its “digital gold” status. Future miner income will rely more on transaction fees to maintain network security.

The milestone of 20 million coins is not the end but the beginning of a new phase. As the remaining supply is released gradually, Bitcoin’s narrative as digital gold will be further strengthened.