Everyone knows the total supply is capped at 21 million coins—that part is hardcoded into the system and can’t be changed. But here’s the thing: due to the way the mining rewards work, we’ll never truly reach that 21 million. The reward for mining a block gets cut in half about every four years, so over time, you end up doing more and more work just to get a tiny fraction of a Bitcoin. It’s like using a cannon to kill a mosquito—tons of effort for very little in return.
Back in 2009 when Bitcoin first launched, mining was a piece of cake. You could earn 50 Bitcoins just for mining one block, and you didn’t need any fancy setup—just a regular computer running some software. It was like picking money up off the ground.
But then the reward started shrinking. In 2012, it dropped to 25 coins. Then 12.5 in 2016, 6.25 in 2020, and now in 2025, we’re down to just 3.125 coins per block. And you’re not alone—you’re competing against miners all over the world who are using top-of-the-line, specialized machines.
Mining today is nothing like the early days. You can’t just use a laptop anymore; you need powerful, expensive equipment that guzzles electricity. Sure, one Bitcoin might be worth tens of thousands of dollars now, which sounds great—but when you factor in the cost of mining rigs, electricity bills, and the rising difficulty level, the profits shrink fast. A single machine can cost thousands, and your monthly power bill could easily be in the hundreds. And even with a full setup—like a room full of mining machines—you still might not have enough computing power to consistently earn anything.
Looking ahead, it only gets worse. As the reward keeps shrinking every four years, eventually miners will be spending more on electricity than they earn from mining. At that point, it just won’t be worth it. Just like the gold rush—early on, anyone could find gold, but eventually, it became so rare that mining it wasn’t profitable anymore.
So while Bitcoin’s total supply is technically 21 million, in practice, it’s a different story. The way the system is designed, the rewards keep dropping until they’re nearly nothing. And way before we even get close to mining the final coins, many miners will already have dropped out because they simply can’t afford to keep going. That’s the trap built into the system—Bitcoin might look finite on paper, but in reality, it can never be fully mined.
