In 2140, when the last Bitcoin is mined, the total cap of 21 million will be officially set, and this cryptocurrency network that has been running for over a century will face a fundamental turning point— the block rewards that support miners will completely disappear, and the burden of network security will fall entirely on transaction fees.
This is not an unreachable concern. For Bitcoin, block rewards serve not only as the motivation for miners to validate transactions and maintain the network but also as the core pillar of its decentralized security mechanism. Once this pillar is removed, whether transaction fees can take over becomes a critical question regarding its survival.
Experts from various crypto institutions in Singapore generally believe that a century-long buffer period has given the Bitcoin community ample preparation time. If demand continues to grow, transaction fees are expected to naturally fill the reward gap. As OKX CEO Gracie Lin stated, the core variable at that time will depend on how much the market's demand for block space can expand.
Optimists believe that by 2140, Bitcoin may have become the core digital infrastructure of the global financial system. Sammi Li, co-founder of JuCoin, likens it to high-end real estate where every inch is valuable: 'When a resource is both scarce and indispensable, people are naturally willing to pay a high price for it.' Deep involvement from institutions will become a key driver— scenarios like corporate fund transfers, cross-border payments, and large transactions on second layers will generate stable and high transaction flows, making high fee models reasonable.
The second-layer solutions, especially the Lightning Network, are seen as important auxiliary forces. They can both divert small, high-frequency transactions to relieve congestion on the main chain and support main chain activities through operations like opening and closing channels. Lior Aizik, CEO of XBO, explains: 'These improvements allow Bitcoin to accommodate everyday small payments while also carrying large transactions, all while maintaining the simplicity and value of the main chain.'
However, the risks cannot be ignored. If transaction fee growth does not meet expectations and miners' profit margins shrink, it could lead to a sharp decline in hash rate—OKX's Lin warns that in extreme cases, 20%-30% of computing power could exit, directly weakening the network's resistance to attacks. More troubling is the potential erosion of the principle of decentralization: when small miners can no longer bear the cost pressure, computing power may concentrate in the hands of a few giants, straying from the original intention of Bitcoin's creation.
Fortunately, time is on Bitcoin's side. In the next 115 years, the community has enough space to experiment and adjust, allowing the economic mechanism to self-adapt. As Li said: 'If Bitcoin still retains value at that time, the market will spontaneously find ways to protect it.' This transformation spanning over a century tests not only technological iteration but also the community's adherence to core principles— ensuring that Bitcoin after 2140 remains a decentralized, secure, and reliable store of value, rather than a digital specimen displayed in a museum.
