By Mahe, Foresight News
Original title: Only 1 million unmined Bitcoins remain, and the last one won't be available until the 22nd century?
Around 9 PM on March 10th, the 20 millionth Bitcoin was mined. This means that 95.2% of the total supply of 21 million BTC has been mined, leaving only 1 million to be mined over the next 114 years.
On January 3, 2009, Satoshi Nakamoto mined the Genesis Block(also known as block 0) of the Bitcoin network, marking the official launch of the Bitcoin blockchain. Now, 17 years have passed.
Over the course of time, BTC has risen from $0.06 to $126,000 in 2025, growing from a geek toy into a massive crypto asset with a market value that once exceeded $2.5 trillion, demonstrating its powerful vitality to everyone.
Putting aside the phenomenal returns, there are still some noteworthy data points in the history of Bitcoin's development.
The chart's horizontal axis covers the period from 2010 to 2026, with each bar corresponding to a specific indicator, marked from left to right with the number of days required. The shortest is "transfer volume exceeding 20 million BTC," taking only 729 days, roughly corresponding to early 2011. At that time, Bitcoin was still in its early stages, with a low price, but significant on-chain liquidity had already accumulated.
Subsequently, it took 830 days for total BTC transaction volume to exceed $20 million, 841 days for market capitalization to surpass $20 million, and 880 days for daily transaction volume to exceed $20 million. These early metrics marked Bitcoin's transformation from an experimental protocol to an asset with real value.
Over time, the time required for on-chain activity metrics has gradually increased. It took 1336 days for daily transaction volume to exceed 20 million BTC, 1398 days to create 20 million UTXOs, 1436 days to spend 20 million UTXOs, 1636 days to accumulate 20 million Bitcoin transactions, and approximately 1756 days to have 20 million addresses.
Most of these data are concentrated between 2013 and 2014, just after Bitcoin underwent its first halving (in November 2012, the block reward was reduced from 50 BTC to 25 BTC), and the network ecosystem began to enter a phase of substantial expansion.
It took 2,906 days, nearly 8 years, for total BTC transaction fees to exceed $20 million. This reflects the extremely low transaction fees in the early days, which only gradually accumulated as network demand increased and congestion worsened. The milestones of 20 million non-zero balance addresses, 20 million profitable addresses, and 20 million monthly active addresses were reached in 3,197 days, 3,198 days, and 3,248 days respectively, roughly corresponding to the 2017 bull market. During this period, Bitcoin gradually entered the public eye, and the number of addresses holding Bitcoin increased significantly.
The longest bar corresponds to "20 million BTC being mined", which took 6,267 days, or about 17 years and 2 months.
The total supply of Bitcoin is capped at 21 million, issued through block rewards, halving every 210,000 blocks (approximately 4 years). The initial reward was 50 BTC/block, decreasing to 25 BTC/block after the first halving. In 2020, the reward halved to 6.25 BTC/block, totaling approximately 19.6875 million Bitcoins. The fourth halving occurred in April 2024, reducing the reward to 3.125 BTC/block. We are currently in this cycle. Each halving reduces the rate of new coin issuance, enhancing asset scarcity and creating a correlation with price cycles.
The remaining mining time for approximately 1 million BTC is estimated at about 114 years, based on the current block reward and halving schedule. The current reward is 3.125 BTC per block, with approximately 164,000 new BTC added annually. After the halving in 2028, the reward will decrease to 1.5625 BTC per block, and will continue to decrease thereafter. In the final stage, issuance will proceed slowly in units of satoshis, until all BTC are mined by around 2140.
This is precisely the core logic behind Bitcoin's design: rapid initial distribution lays the foundation, while extremely low distribution rates later reinforce its "digital gold" attributes. Miners' future revenue will increasingly rely on transaction fees to maintain network security.
The 20 million milestone is not the end, but the beginning of a new phase. As the remaining supply is slowly released, Bitcoin's narrative as digital gold will be further strengthened.
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