#BitcoinHolders
Bitcoin’s hard cap, also known as the supply limit, can theoretically be changed, however, such a change would be very unlikely to occur. There are incentive and governance models in the bitcoin protocol that protect the hard cap of 21 million coins.
What Is the Bitcoin Hard Cap?
The Bitcoin hard cap is the maximum number of bitcoin that can ever be created, which is set at 21 million BTC. This hard limit on the total supply of Bitcoin is a key feature of Bitcoin’s monetary policy, designed to create scarcity and prevent inflation. Satoshi Nakamoto encoded this limit into Bitcoin’s source code, which is enforced by network nodes.
The hard cap is reached through the process of halving, where the reward for mining new blocks is cut in half approximately every four years, gradually reducing the rate at which new bitcoin are created until the hard cap or limit is reached. It’s estimated that the last bitcoin will be mined around 2140, bringing the supply to a total of 21 million.