$BTC $ETH When all 21 million bitcoins will be mined (expected around the year 2140), no new bitcoins will be created. But Bitcoin won’t just shut down — here's what will happen:

🔄 1. No More Block Rewards — Only Transaction Fees

Right now, miners get:

Block reward (new BTC issued)

Transaction fees (paid by users)

Once the 21M limit is hit:

Block reward = 0

Miners will only earn from transaction fees

🧾 2. Transaction Fees Will Become the Main Incentive

Miners will keep validating blocks and securing the network, but:

Their income depends 100% on fees

Users will likely pay higher fees to get faster confirmations

If demand for Bitcoin remains high (especially in congested blocks), the fee market can still be profitable.

⚙️ 3. Mining May Become More Competitive (or Centralized)

Since there's no guaranteed block reward:

Only the most efficient miners (cheap electricity, strong hardware) will survive

Risk: centralization if only big players can afford to keep mining

🔐 4. Bitcoin Will Still Work

The protocol is designed to:

Run indefinitely even without new issuance

Maintain the same rules, just with miners working for fees instead of inflationary rewards

So users can still send/receive BTC, store value, and use it normally.

💡 5. Price Could Be More Stable or Higher

Once there’s zero new supply:

Bitcoin becomes purely deflationary

Scarcity might drive higher value

Investors might treat it even more like digital gold

⚠️ 6. Network Security Depends on Fees

If fees aren’t enough to motivate miners:

Hashrate might drop

Network becomes more vulnerable to attacks (like 51%)

That’s why fee adoption and scalability (e.g., Lightning Network) matter long term.

__________________________

Bitcoin won’t die when mining ends — but the economy behind it will shift completely from inflation rewards to transaction-based incentives. If the fee market grows and Bitcoin demand remains strong, the system can still function securely.