How Many Bitcoins Are There? Everything You Need to Know About Bitcoin’s Supply

It’s a question that almost every new crypto investor asks: how many bitcoins are there, really? It sounds simple at first. But the deeper you go, the more this question reveals why Bitcoin is unlike any other form of money the world has ever seen. Unlike traditional currencies that can be printed endlessly at the discretion of central banks, Bitcoin operates on a radically different system, one grounded in math, code, and scarcity.

Understanding Bitcoin’s total supply isn’t just a matter of trivia. It’s central to grasping why Bitcoin matters, why it’s valuable, and why some people believe it could eventually replace gold or even challenge the way global finance works. The fixed, limited supply of Bitcoin isn’t a footnote. It’s the foundation of the entire protocol. It’s what gives Bitcoin its scarcity, and it’s what separates it from every fiat currency that’s ever existed.

So let’s answer the question properly.

Yes, there is a maximum of 21 million bitcoins that will ever exist. That number was hard coded into Bitcoin’s source code by its mysterious creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, and it has never changed. It cannot be inflated. It cannot be rewritten. And no single person, not Satoshi, not the president of any country, and not a billionaire CEO, can increase that supply. That kind of hard limit is rare in the world of money.

But if you’re wondering how many of those bitcoins are in existence today, the answer is slightly more nuanced. As of now, over 19.7 million bitcoins have already been mined. That means we’re nearly 94 percent of the way to reaching Bitcoin’s full supply. The final few million bitcoins are being released gradually, approximately every ten minutes, as rewards to miners for validating transactions and securing the network.

And here’s where it gets even more interesting. Bitcoin’s block rewards are programmed to decrease over time. This process is called a halving, and it happens roughly every four years. Each halving cuts the number of new bitcoins entering circulation in half. Eventually, the reward will drop to zero. The last bitcoin is projected to be mined sometime around the year 2140. After that, no new bitcoins will ever be created.

This makes Bitcoin not just rare, but predictably rare.

And unlike gold, we don’t have to guess how much Bitcoin is left. We can verify it down to the last satoshi, which is the smallest unit of Bitcoin. That transparency is a major part of what makes Bitcoin trustworthy. You don’t have to believe anyone’s word for it. The blockchain records everything. It’s open, decentralized, and unchangeable.

In this blog post, we’ll explore how many bitcoins there are, how many have been lost forever, how many are still left to mine, and why this matters for the future of money. If you’re holding Bitcoin, or even just thinking about it, understanding its supply is one of the most important things you can learn.

Let’s break it all down.

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Key Takeaways

• Bitcoin has a fixed supply of 21 million coins, making it permanently scarce by design
• Over 19.7 million bitcoins have already been mined and are currently in circulation
• New Bitcoins are added to the network every 10 minutes through mining rewards
• The last Bitcoin is expected to be mined around the year 2140, completing the supply
• Millions of Bitcoins are estimated to be lost forever, reducing the usable supply even more

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What Is the Total Supply of Bitcoin?

The 21 million limit is built directly into Bitcoin’s source code. This cap ensures that Bitcoin is scarce, and that scarcity is a large part of what gives it value. In the traditional financial system, inflation reduces the purchasing power of your money over time. Central banks have the ability to expand the money supply through monetary policy. But with Bitcoin, the rules are written in code and enforced by a global network of decentralized computers. No central authority can change how many bitcoins will ever exist.

The logic behind this cap was introduced by Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. By limiting the total number of coins that will ever be produced, Satoshi created a form of money that mimics the scarcity of gold, but with far more precision. While we can only estimate how much gold is left in the earth, we know exactly how many bitcoins will exist and how many are still left to be mined.

Bitcoin is released gradually over time through a process called mining. Roughly every ten minutes, a new block is added to the blockchain, and the miner who successfully adds that block is rewarded with newly minted bitcoins. This reward started at 50 bitcoins per block when Bitcoin launched in 2009. Every four years, the reward is cut in half through a process called a halving. As of now, the reward is 3.125 bitcoins per block, and it will continue to decrease until all 21 million bitcoins are in circulation.

Because of this predictable reduction in issuance, the rate at which new bitcoins are introduced into the market slows down over time. This is the opposite of how most traditional currencies work. With each halving, the supply becomes even more constrained, which is why many people compare Bitcoin to a form of digital gold. Investors see the fixed supply as a safeguard against inflation and currency devaluation.

What makes Bitcoin unique is that the entire supply schedule is transparent. Anyone can verify the current circulating supply and track the creation of new coins using public blockchain data. This level of transparency has never existed in modern monetary systems. It removes the guesswork and puts every participant on equal footing.

How Many Bitcoins Are in Circulation Today?

If the total supply of bitcoin is capped at 21 million, then how many bitcoins are there in circulation right now? This is a question that gets asked every day by curious investors, skeptics, and even experienced crypto users who want to stay up to date. The answer isn’t static. It changes every few minutes as new blocks are mined and new bitcoins are created

As of today, there are over 19.7 million bitcoins in circulation. That means nearly 94 percent of all the bitcoins that will ever exist have already been mined. The pace of new bitcoin creation slows down every four years due to halving events, which cut the mining reward in half. So while we are getting closer to the full supply, the remaining bitcoins will be released much more slowly than the ones that came before.

To understand this number better, it helps to know how circulation works on the Bitcoin network. When miners validate a new block, they are rewarded with newly created bitcoins. Those coins are then available to be sent, stored, or traded by whoever receives them. This is what we mean when we talk about bitcoin entering circulation. It is not sitting idle in code. It is part of the living, moving network.

Every ten minutes, 3.125 new bitcoins are added to the supply. That adds up to roughly 450 new bitcoins every day. Over the course of a year, more than 160,000 new bitcoins are mined. But as time goes on and the block rewards continue to decrease, this number will shrink dramatically. By design, the supply curve is asymptotic. That means the last few percent of bitcoin will take more than a hundred years to release into the network.

What makes this even more interesting is that the real circulating supply might be lower than the blockchain suggests. Not all mined bitcoins are accessible. Some are permanently lost, forgotten in old wallets, or sent to invalid addresses. This means that while over 19.7 million bitcoins have been created, the number of bitcoins that are actually available for use is likely several million less. That level of scarcity adds another layer to the economic model behind Bitcoin.

The blockchain keeps a transparent and public record of every coin mined and every transaction ever made. This allows anyone in the world to verify the current circulating supply. You do not need permission to check the data. You do not need to trust a central authority. The blockchain tells the story in real time, and it cannot be altered or hidden.

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When Will All Bitcoins Be Mined?

One of the most fascinating features of Bitcoin is its predictable and transparent supply schedule. When people first learn that the total number of bitcoins is fixed at 21 million, the next logical question is, when will all bitcoins be mined? It’s a good question, and the answer reveals even more about why Bitcoin is different from every other monetary system that has ever existed.

According to the current mining schedule, the final bitcoin will be mined around the year 2140. That is more than 100 years from now. While that may seem like a long time, the vast majority of bitcoins have already been mined. As of today, over 19.7 million bitcoins are in circulation, which means fewer than 1.3 million are left to be created.

So why does it take more than a century to mine the rest?

The reason lies in the way Bitcoin’s block rewards are structured. When the Bitcoin network launched in 2009, miners received 50 bitcoins as a reward for validating a block. That reward is not permanent. It is cut in half approximately every four years in an event called a halving. This means that over time, the rate at which new bitcoins are introduced into the system slows down significantly.

In 2012, the reward was reduced from 50 bitcoins to 25. In 2016, it was halved again to 12.5. Then in 2020, it dropped to 6.25. As of now, the current reward is 3.125 bitcoins per block, and it will be reduced again in the next halving, expected to occur in 2028.

Each halving event increases the level of scarcity. It also extends the timeline for reaching the total supply. This system ensures that Bitcoin’s issuance rate becomes more conservative over time. The new supply trickles into the market more slowly, which reinforces Bitcoin’s role as a scarce digital asset.

By the time we reach 2140, the reward will become so small that it will effectively reach zero. At that point, no more bitcoins will be created. All 21 million will have been mined. But the network will not stop functioning. Miners will continue to secure the blockchain, not by collecting new bitcoins, but by earning transaction fees from users who move bitcoin around.

This transition is expected to shift the incentives for miners. As block rewards disappear, transaction fees will become the primary source of revenue. For this to work, the Bitcoin network must remain valuable enough for users to continue paying those fees. So far, this model appears sustainable, especially as adoption increases and Bitcoin becomes more integrated into the global financial system.

The fact that we can project the end of bitcoin issuance down to the year and even to the month shows how precise and disciplined the system really is. There is no guesswork. There are no surprises. The supply curve is visible to anyone who wants to study it. This transparency is one of Bitcoin’s most powerful traits, especially in contrast to the unpredictability of fiat monetary policy.

Knowing that all bitcoins will be mined by 2140 helps users understand Bitcoin not just as a currency, but as a long-term store of value. It allows individuals and institutions to plan with certainty, knowing exactly how the supply will evolve over time.

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How Many Bitcoins Have Been Lost Forever?

Bitcoin is a bearer asset. That means the person who controls the private keys to a wallet also controls the coins within it. If those private keys are lost, stolen, destroyed, or forgotten, the bitcoins associated with them cannot be recovered. There is no customer support hotline. No reset button. No way to reverse the situation. Once access is lost, the coins are as good as gone.

Estimates vary, but most blockchain analysts agree that somewhere between 3 and 4 million bitcoins are lost permanently. That is nearly 15 to 20 percent of the total supply. This includes coins from the earliest days of Bitcoin, when people mined and stored BTC casually, never expecting it to become valuable. Back then, bitcoins were often kept on laptops, old hard drives, or digital wallets that were never backed up.
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Perhaps the most famous example is the story of a British man named James Howells. In 2013, he accidentally threw away a hard drive containing the private keys to a wallet with over 8,000 bitcoins. He has since spent years petitioning his local government for permission to dig through a landfill to find it. At today’s prices, that hard drive would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. But without those keys, the coins are untouchable.

Another category of lost bitcoins includes coins sent to invalid addresses. These are addresses that were mistyped or formatted incorrectly. When bitcoins are sent to these dead ends, they can never be retrieved. There are also cases where users burned their bitcoins intentionally, sending them to provably unspendable addresses as a symbolic gesture or protest.

Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious creator of Bitcoin, is believed to hold around one million bitcoins in early wallets that have never been touched. Whether these coins are truly lost is unknown, but they have remained inactive for over a decade. If they never move, they might as well be removed from the supply in practical terms.

Lost coins reduce the actual circulating supply of bitcoin. This means that even though the cap is 21 million, the real usable supply is lower. From an economic standpoint, this increases scarcity. Fewer available coins mean more pressure on price as demand rises. In this way, lost bitcoins have an indirect impact on the value of those that remain in use.

It is a harsh reality that losing access to a wallet can mean losing a fortune. But it is also part of what makes Bitcoin powerful. There are no shortcuts and no centralized control. With great freedom comes great responsibility. Bitcoin rewards those who take custody of their wealth seriously. And in a world where many coins are already gone forever, the ones still in circulation are even more precious.

What Is Bitcoin’s Circulating vs. Total Supply?

When people search how many bitcoins are there, they often expect a single number. But in reality, there are two numbers that matter: Bitcoin’s total supply and its circulating supply. These two figures tell different stories, and understanding the difference between them is key to grasping how Bitcoin works as an economic system.

The total supply refers to the maximum number of bitcoins that can ever exist, which is 21 million. This number is written into Bitcoin’s codebase and is enforced by the network. No more can be created. It is a fixed ceiling, not subject to change by any single authority or organization. As of now, more than 19.7 million of these bitcoins have already been mined.

Circulating supply, however, is the number of bitcoins that are currently available for use in the market. These are coins that are not only mined but also accessible and potentially movable. This figure is always smaller than the total supply, and for several important reasons.

First, not all mined bitcoins are actively circulating. A large percentage of coins are being held in wallets by long-term holders, companies, or institutions. Many of these wallets are cold wallets, meaning they are kept offline for security purposes and are rarely, if ever, accessed. Some of these holdings are strategic reserves, and some belong to investors who have no plans to sell anytime soon. These coins are technically in existence but functionally out of reach.

Then there are the bitcoins that are simply lost. Whether due to forgotten passwords, discarded hard drives, or user error, millions of bitcoins are estimated to be permanently inaccessible. These coins still exist on the blockchain, but without the private keys to unlock them, they are as good as gone. This further reduces the practical circulating supply.

Wallet activity also plays a role in defining what is truly circulating. Blockchain analytics firms such as Glassnode and Coin Metrics track wallet behavior to assess how much bitcoin is actively being moved and traded. These firms separate coins into categories based on their dormancy and spending history. Some wallets have not moved their coins in more than five years. Others are used regularly for transactions. These data points help analysts understand the actual liquidity of the Bitcoin network.

For example, if a wallet has not moved any bitcoin in over a decade, and the owner has never interacted with it again, it is reasonable to assume those coins are either being held extremely long term or are completely lost. On the other hand, wallets that regularly send and receive bitcoin contribute to the real day-to-day circulation of the asset.

The difference between total and circulating supply is more than a technicality. It directly impacts market behavior. When people say bitcoin is scarce, they are not just talking about the 21 million limit. They are referring to the even smaller number of coins that are actually accessible and available for trade. That number is likely several million less than what the blockchain shows.
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Understanding the gap between total and circulating supply helps explain Bitcoin’s price movements, its appeal as a store of value, and the way investors treat it over time. Not all bitcoin is equal in the market. Some of it is permanently out of play. And that scarcity is one of the reasons Bitcoin continues to hold long-term interest across the world.

How Bitcoin’s Limited Supply Impacts Its Value

Bitcoin’s supply is hard capped at 21 million coins. That number will never change. No central bank, company, or government can inflate the supply or introduce new coins beyond this limit. As a result, Bitcoin functions as a deflationary asset. This means that over time, as demand increases and supply remains fixed, the value of each unit tends to rise.

Deflationary assets are rare in the modern financial system. Most fiat currencies are inflationary, meaning their purchasing power decreases over time as more units are created. Bitcoin stands in direct contrast to this model. Because the supply is known, finite, and predictable, investors can calculate long-term expectations based on scarcity rather than speculation about central bank policy or money supply expansion.

This scarcity has led to Bitcoin being referred to as “digital gold.” The comparison is not just metaphorical. Like gold, Bitcoin is mined, has a capped supply, and is considered a hedge against inflation. But unlike gold, Bitcoin is more portable, divisible, and easier to verify. There are no doubts about how much Bitcoin exists or who controls it. Every coin, transaction, and issuance event is recorded transparently on the blockchain.

The idea of Bitcoin as digital gold has gained traction with both retail and institutional investors. At the individual level, more people are beginning to recognize the appeal of owning an asset that is free from government control and immune to monetary debasement. As fiat currencies lose value due to inflation and excessive debt issuance, Bitcoin becomes an alternative store of value

Institutional investors have taken this idea even further. Companies like MicroStrategy have made headlines by converting large portions of their corporate treasuries into bitcoin. Their reasoning is simple. They view holding cash as a liability in an inflationary environment. Bitcoin, with its fixed supply and deflationary structure, offers a long-term hedge. MicroStrategy’s strategy was followed by other major firms and signaled a shift in how digital assets are perceived by traditional finance.

More recently, major institutions like BlackRock have entered the space through investment vehicles such as bitcoin ETFs. These products allow traditional investors to gain exposure to bitcoin without holding the asset directly. The approval of spot bitcoin ETFs in various jurisdictions is a clear sign that institutional demand is growing. And a large part of that interest is driven by Bitcoin’s limited supply and predictable issuance model.

Every time demand rises, the fixed supply puts upward pressure on price. There is no central authority that can dilute the value of existing coins. This is part of what gives Bitcoin its unique appeal in the global financial system. As more people and institutions search for assets that can preserve value over time, Bitcoin continues to stand out.

Its scarcity is not just a technical feature. It is the foundation of its economic model, and it has a direct impact on how Bitcoin is priced, perceived, and adopted by the world.

Can Bitcoin’s Supply Ever Be Increased?

One of the most common questions people ask after learning that Bitcoin has a fixed supply is whether that supply can ever be changed. With over 19.7 million bitcoins already mined and a hard cap of 21 million built into the protocol, the idea of altering that number may seem far-fetched. Still, it’s worth exploring how Bitcoin works at a technical and social level to understand why the supply is so difficult to change and why it almost certainly never will be.

From a technical perspective, Bitcoin is open-source software. Anyone can view the code, copy it, modify it, or propose changes to the rules that govern the network. In theory, this means someone could publish a version of Bitcoin that allows for a larger supply — for example, 30 million coins instead of 21 million. But this is only part of the story. In practice, Bitcoin’s rules are enforced not by any one person, but by a global network of thousands of independent nodes and miners.

These nodes validate transactions and enforce the rules of the network, including the rule that limits the supply to 21 million. If someone attempted to change the supply cap, they would have to convince a majority of the network’s participants to adopt that change. This would require overwhelming consensus from developers, miners, node operators, wallet providers, exchanges, and users around the world. And that kind of agreement is almost impossible to achieve, especially when it comes to changing the core monetary policy of the system.

More importantly, there is no incentive for the community to agree to increase the supply. One of the main reasons people trust Bitcoin is because its rules are predictable and unchangeable. The fixed supply is not a bug — it is a feature. It gives bitcoin its scarcity, which is what underpins its value. Increasing the supply would undermine the trust that has been built over more than a decade and would likely cause a loss of confidence among both retail and institutional holders.

There is also precedent for how the Bitcoin community handles proposed changes. In 2017, a major debate erupted over block size limits, leading to a fork in the network. Those who wanted to increase the block size to allow faster transactions created a new coin called Bitcoin Cash. The original Bitcoin continued as Bitcoin Core, and it retained the original rules, including the 21 million cap. Today, Bitcoin Cash exists, but it has a fraction of the value, users, and security of Bitcoin. This event proved that trying to change Bitcoin’s core rules typically results in a new coin, not a change to the existing one.

The reality is this: Bitcoin’s supply cannot be increased unless the overwhelming majority of the global Bitcoin community agrees to it. Given the cultural, technical, and economic foundations of the network, that is extremely unlikely. The people who use Bitcoin value its predictability, transparency, and resistance to manipulation.

So while it is technically possible to propose a change, the answer to whether Bitcoin’s supply can ever be increased is a practical no. The system was built to be decentralized, governed by consensus, and resilient to changes that threaten its monetary policy. That is exactly why so many people believe in it. It is money that cannot be printed, inflated, or manipulated — not even by the people who run the system.

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What Happens After All Bitcoins Are Mined?

With a fixed supply of 21 million coins, Bitcoin has a built-in end point. But what happens when we reach it? What happens after the very last bitcoin is mined? While the year 2140 may sound distant, this question is critical to understanding how the Bitcoin network is designed to function long term. The answer reveals why Bitcoin is more than just digital money. It is a self-sustaining ecosystem that adapts and evolves over time.

To understand what happens when all bitcoins have been mined, we first need to revisit how the Bitcoin network works. Right now, miners are rewarded with newly created bitcoins for validating blocks and securing the network. This block reward is how new bitcoins enter circulation, and it also serves as a powerful incentive for miners to contribute computing power to the blockchain.

As of now, each block mined generates 3.125 new bitcoins. But that number is not fixed. It continues to decrease every four years through a process called halving. Over time, the block reward gets smaller and smaller. Eventually, by the year 2140, the reward will reach zero. At that point, no new bitcoins will be issued, and the supply will be complete.

So if miners are no longer receiving new bitcoins, what incentive will they have to keep mining?

The answer lies in transaction fees. Every time someone sends bitcoin, they attach a small fee to that transaction. These fees are collected by miners. As the block reward disappears, transaction fees are expected to become the primary source of income for miners. In fact, this transition has already begun. Fees are playing an increasingly important role, especially during times of high network activity when users are willing to pay more to get their transactions confirmed quickly.

For this model to work in the long term, the network must remain active and valuable. If people continue to use Bitcoin for payments, savings, or other forms of financial activity, then the demand for block space will remain strong. This demand supports a healthy fee market, which in turn supports miner incentives. As adoption grows, the network can survive and thrive even without newly minted bitcoins.

Some critics argue that relying on transaction fees alone may not be enough to secure the network. They worry that without the financial incentive of new coins, miners might leave, and the blockchain could become vulnerable. But Bitcoin was designed with this future in mind. The slow, gradual nature of halving gives the ecosystem time to adapt. By the time we reach the final block in 2140, the network will have had more than a century to evolve.

It is also worth noting that Bitcoin’s capped supply gives it long-term economic appeal. As the number of new coins entering the system drops to zero, scarcity increases. This reinforces Bitcoin’s identity as a store of value. When combined with a sustainable transaction fee economy, the system can continue operating as a decentralized, secure, and transparent form of money.

After all bitcoins are mined, the blockchain will still function. Miners will still validate transactions. Wallets will still send and receive funds. Nothing breaks. The only difference is that the flow of new coins will stop. The system, built from the ground up to be predictable and trustless, will continue doing exactly what it was designed to do.

The Bottom Line

Bitcoin’s fixed supply of 21 million coins is one of its most powerful features. It cannot be changed, inflated, or manipulated. With over 19.7 million bitcoins already mined and a portion of that supply lost forever, the number of truly available coins is even smaller than most people realize.

From how it’s released to when it will stop, Bitcoin’s supply schedule is predictable and transparent. Whether you’re a beginner or a long-time holder, understanding how many bitcoins there are is key to understanding why Bitcoin is valued the way it is.

Scarcity, security, and trust are built into every part of the system. And as the world continues to search for reliable stores of value, Bitcoin stands alone with a supply model that no other currency can match.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: How many Bitcoins are there right now?
A: Over 19.7 million bitcoins have already been mined and are currently in circulation.

Q: What is the total supply of Bitcoin?
A: Bitcoin’s total supply is capped at 21 million coins. This number will never increase.

Q: How many Bitcoins are left to mine?
A: Around 1.3 million bitcoins are still left to be mined as part of the fixed 21 million supply.

Q: When will the last Bitcoin be mined?
A: The final bitcoin is expected to be mined in the year 2140 due to Bitcoin’s halving schedule.

Q: Can the supply of bitcoin ever be increased?
A: No. Any change would require global consensus, and Bitcoin’s community is strongly committed to the fixed cap.

Q: How many Bitcoins are lost forever?
A: It’s estimated that 3 to 4 million bitcoins are permanently lost due to forgotten keys or inaccessible wallets.

Q: What happens when all bitcoins are mined?
A: Miners will be paid only through transaction fees, and the Bitcoin network will continue to operate as usual.

Q: How often are new bitcoins created?
A: A new block is mined approximately every 10 minutes, releasing 3.125 new bitcoins per block.

Q: Why is Bitcoin’s fixed supply important?
A: Bitcoin’s capped supply makes it scarce, which helps protect its value and prevents inflation over time.

Q: Is it too late to buy Bitcoin since most have been mined?
A: Not at all. Bitcoin is divisible, and you can buy a small amount at any time, even if one full coin is too expensive.

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