By: Franklin Suarez
The amount of bitcoins in circulation is a topic of great interest, and while it is always changing, we can offer an estimate based on the most recent data.
Currently, approximately 19.44 million bitcoins have been mined, meaning this is the total amount that exists on the market right now.
However, the supply of bitcoins is not infinite. It is limited to a maximum of 21 million. Therefore, if we consider the 19.44 million already mined, we can deduce that there are still around 1.56 million bitcoins left to be mined.
This mining process is fundamental to the functioning of the network, as it is how new bitcoins are generated and transactions are validated.
One of the most intriguing questions is how many bitcoins have been lost or are locked in the vast network.
This issue is complex, as there is no precise method to track all the bitcoins that have disappeared.
It is estimated that a significant amount has been lost forever, and the reasons are varied. Many users have forgotten or misplaced the private keys needed to access their bitcoins.
In addition, failures in the storage devices where these keys were kept have led to unrecoverable losses.
There are also bitcoins that were sent to addresses generated with old protocols, which are no longer compatible with current networks.
Although there are no exact figures, it is believed that millions of bitcoins could be irretrievably lost.
It is important to note that the rate of creation of new bitcoins decreases over time. Approximately every four years, an event known as 'halving' occurs, which halves the reward for mining a block.
This means that the amount of new bitcoins added to the circulating supply becomes increasingly smaller. Furthermore, the distribution of bitcoins is not uniform; a small portion of addresses controls a large part of the total supply.
When the last Bitcoin is mined, which is estimated to happen around the year 2140, miners will stop receiving rewards in the form of new bitcoins. Instead, they will rely exclusively on transaction fees, which could influence the value and dynamics of the Bitcoin market.
#BTCMove #AltcoinSeason2025 #USJobsSurge256K #BinanceAlphaAlert #
