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Bitcoin The Almighty Buck

Bitcoin Reaches Milestone: 19 Millionth Bitcoin Mined (axios.com) 88

Posted by EditorDavid from the counting-coins dept.
Bitcoin hit a milestone Friday "that gets the world ever closer to the moment when the final new bitcoin will enter the world," reports Axios. "The supply of coins broke 19 million..."

"Bitcoin is hard-coded so that it has both a predictable emission schedule and a hard cap of 21 million bitcoin."

Bitcoin was created to be money "with a fixed supply that no one can change," the article points out. But it'll be a long time before the price of bitcoin actually feels any effect: The next network-level event likely to impact price is the next time the block reward drops in half, which will happen in a little over two years.... The 18 millionth bitcoin was mined in 2019, but the 21 millionth won't be mined until roughly 2140, provided the network sticks to the plan. That's because every four years the emission schedule drops in half.
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Bitcoin Reaches Milestone: 19 Millionth Bitcoin Mined More

Bitcoin Reaches Milestone: 19 Millionth Bitcoin Mined

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  • "every four years emission schedule drops in half" (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 ) on Saturday April 02, 2022 @10:02PM (#62412214)
    They clearly have a different grasp of that word than I do.

    • I want to know what happens when the final bitcoin is "minted".

      All those mines are going to shut down so all that computing power that's supposed to make the blockchain secure will vanish. It suddenly makes the 51% attack much, much easier to do.

      • Haven't transaction fees increased proportionally with the decrease in mining reward? When the reward is 0 the transaction fees will make up 100% of the miners revenue and the users of Bitcoin will incur the full cost of maintaining the network.

        So as long as the value of Bitcoin doesn't take a nose dive you won't see a mass exudes of miners making a 51% attack trivial to perform.

        • I can't imagine all those mines will be able to pay the electricity bill through transaction fees.

          If they shut down, Bitcoin becomes vulnerable.

          If they charge $100 per transaction the price will nosedive.

          Either way it's game over for Bitcoin.

          • You should read up on "Layer 2" systems like The Lightning Network. This video [youtu.be] does a good job of explaining how it works. In theory it will allow an individual to buy a cup of $4 cup of coffee with Bitcoin even if a miners were charging even something as insane as $100,000 (or any amount) per transaction

      • Look it up. The information is readily available.

  • And nothing (Score:5, Funny)

    by Luthair ( 847766 ) on Saturday April 02, 2022 @10:21PM (#62412254)
    of value was created.

  • ...is not a milestone.

  • The economic ignorance (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Baron_Yam ( 643147 ) on Saturday April 02, 2022 @10:36PM (#62412278)

    The economic ignorance behind the way Bitcoin operates is only outclassed by the smug claims of the cultists who think it's an improvement over existing economic systems despite all the obvious proof to the contrary.

    If it was possible to use Bitcoin as a currency - the original claim before it failed so badly it became 'a store of value' - the economy trying to run on it would turn deflationary and stagnant overnight.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Pentium100 ( 1240090 )

      IIRC one of the main points about bitcoin was that, unlike fiat currency, you cannot print it to infinity, causing inflation and taking away savings. Bitcoin was made to approximate gold or something like that, but digital.
      1. limited total supply (there's only so much gold on Earth)
      2. slowing down production (once you mined all the easily accessible gold, it gets harder and harder to mine what's remaining and you produce less of it than before)
      However, unlike gold, it is digital, so it does have some advant

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by thegarbz ( 1787294 )

        IIRC one of the main points about bitcoin was that, unlike fiat currency, you cannot print it to infinity, causing inflation and taking away savings. Bitcoin was made to approximate gold or something like that, but digital.

        You repeat the parent's point: Bitcoin is founded on economic ignorance. There's a very real reason the world switched to fiat currencies, and that reason can be seen in the few countries who moved back to some standard, then suffered far worse than all their peers during an economic crisis as there were no handles to get the economy back on track.

        The idea that you can't print money is a good thing is precisely why these zealots need to go take a basic economics course. Inflation taking away savings is a pr

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by Xenna ( 37238 )

          There's no reason we couldn't have fiat currencies based on Bitcoin as a reserve currency. That would give you your inflationary layer, which we've been telling ourselves we 'need'. (I suspect it's more like, we couldn't create a non-inflationary money so we learned to live with it)

          In the mean time the digital and open nature of bitcoin would make it possible for individuals to put their money in a non-inflationary base layer.

          Best of both worlds.

          • There's no reason we couldn't have fiat currencies based on Bitcoin as a reserve currency.

            There's no reason I could hammer a nail into each of my toes, but I don't because I'm not completely stupid. The choice of underlying reserve is based entirely on stability. There's a reason that many unstable countries peg their currency to the USD as a reserve. Picking bitcoin for this instead would be breathtakingly stupid.

        • Rich people invest into assets: gold, real estate, rare paintings, fine wine... Because these are not subject to inflation, but appreciate over time. But most assets have quite a few downsides to them:
          Gold is a physical object that can be stolen, it's heavy, difficult to move and partition.
          Real estate is clunky, immobile, requires maintenance, might be destroyed by natural disasters.
          Rare paintings, fine wine... you get the idea.

          Bitcoin is a strictly limited asset that due to being digital, has none of the a

          • Indeed they do. But rich people do not drive the economy of a country, that lies on the shoulders of the poor and middle class.

        • You repeat the parent's point: Bitcoin is founded on economic ignorance. There's a very real reason the world switched to fiat currencies, and that reason can be seen in the few countries who moved back to some standard, then suffered far worse than all their peers during an economic crisis as there were no handles to get the economy back on track.

          Or to put it another way: if the size of the economy increases, then the supply of money also should increase.

          It's the difference between thinking of money as a

        • But doesn't inflation also encourage waste and "production for the sake of production"? I am not an economics expert, so I do not really know.

          To me it looks like it's very easy to get "too much" inflation, for example, what is happening now. And there is no way around it, other than just buying gold or whatever and keeping it, hoping it does not go down in value.

          • But doesn't inflation also encourage waste and "production for the sake of production"? I am not an economics expert, so I do not really know.

            Yes. But what you call production for the sake of production other people call GDP, sales, jobs, etc. Buying that shiny new iPhone every year contributes to the economy despite the waste. It keeps people at Apple and in factories in China employed, who in turn get paid and spend their money on whatever else.

            You may have heard of the term "consumer confidence index" which is the overall confidence a consumer has in their current economic situation. It's important because when confidence drops, spend drops, w

            • As someone who buys something and uses it for a longtime, I guess I'm bad for the economy.

              OTOH how to prevent my savings going down in value? Just buy gold or stuff everything into index funds?

      • one of the main points about bitcoin was that, unlike fiat currency, you cannot print it to infinity, causing inflation and taking away savings. Bitcoin

        And that point was stupid and wrong. People rant about how all this money was created, but the fact is that a ton of money is also destroyed every year and the supply hasn't actually gone up that much. Also, some 60% of recent inflation can be pinned on corporate greed, they are raising prices and collecting record profits, they are NOT raising prices just to cover costs. If they were, inflation would have stayed to very manageable levels.

        Further, currency has to change hands in order to do work. This is li [etymonline.com]

    • Couple comments.

      I was early. Real early. Lost more coins than most could bare to think about. Got salty.

      Came back. Bought coin. Realized Bitcoin for what it is - a protocol for storing energy, digital value.

      It's still .. very early. Those coins will be distributed; you can see it happen in real time on chain.

      I'm writing this for posterity, though - it's still early, realize what Bitcoin is, realize it's dominance is as obvious as that of tcp/ip on the internet, and get on board.

      Watching folks spout FUD here

  • Here's another milestone to consider (Score:4, Interesting)

    by timholman ( 71886 ) on Saturday April 02, 2022 @10:44PM (#62412290)

    It is estimated that approximately 100,000,000 people worldwide own all the Bitcoin mined so far. That's 1.3% out of a population of 8 billion. That 1.3% owns 90.5% of all the BTC that will ever exist.

    And it gets worse than that. It is estimated that about 10,000 "whales" own about 30% of all BTC. That's 0.00013% of humanity.

    So assuming Bitcoin ever became "money" and actually displaced all other currencies, 98.7% of us would already be paupers thanks to a deflationary currency that will absolutely ensure our economic slavery.

    Consider that the next time a BTC evangelist preaches about the wonders of Bitcoin. It's isn't about you ... it's about him. He wants to be part of that 1.3%.

    • It's also estimated that less than 1 million farmers own 95% of the corn in the world. Why we allow ourselves to be corn slaves to these overlords is simply beyond me.

      • Re:Here's another milestone to consider (Score:5, Funny)

        by cpurdy ( 4838085 ) on Saturday April 02, 2022 @11:25PM (#62412314)
        I for one welcome our new corn overlords.

      • It's also estimated that less than 1 million farmers own 95% of the corn in the world. Why we allow ourselves to be corn slaves to these overlords is simply beyond me.

        The funny thing about corn - there isn't a finite supply of it that can never increase. Anyone can plant corn and start farming it. I'm not particularly worried about becoming a corn slave, because corn isn't deflationary by design.

        And when it comes down to it, I'm really not worried about becoming a Bitcoin slave, either. Not because lots

        • Right but your issue with bitcoin seems to be that it's concentrated into a small percentage of users. I hate to break this to you, but that's true of damn near everything, and it's especially true of fiat.

        • The funny thing about corn - there isn't a finite supply of it that can never increase. Anyone can plant corn and start farming it.

          There really isn't a finite supply of Bitcoin, either. None of us will be alive when it's mined out, and the code itself is open source. If the bulk of the miners decide it is in their best interests to make a modification to the block rewards, they will. That's also assuming Bitcoin even hangs around that long. If the vinyl record resurgence is any indication, future generations will be collecting Bitcoin because it's "retro".

          • There really isn't a finite supply of Bitcoin, either. None of us will be alive when it's mined out

            You mean no one will be alive if it's mined out?

            • Since the date the block rewards are set to end is so far off into the future, it's essentially moot. The decision whether or not to stick with the original plan depends entirely on the whim of future generations.

    • I dont see how thats any different from what we currently have. I agree bitcoin isn't the future... but crypto in general is. (it's gonna be algorand and it's co-chairs)

    • mostly same can be said for gold.

    • It is estimated that approximately 100,000,000 people worldwide own all the Bitcoin mined so far. That's 1.3% out of a population of 8 billion. That 1.3% owns 90.5% of all the BTC that will ever exist.

      And it gets worse than that. It is estimated that about 10,000 "whales" own about 30% of all BTC. That's 0.00013% of humanity.

      So assuming Bitcoin ever became "money" and actually displaced all other currencies, 98.7% of us would already be paupers thanks to a deflationary currency that will absolutely ensure our economic slavery.

      Consider that the next time a BTC evangelist preaches about the wonders of Bitcoin. It's isn't about you ... it's about him. He wants to be part of that 1.3%.

      This has to be the biggest stretch of an argument I've seen yet. A lot of slashdot commenters need to go back to school and stay awake in economics classes.

    • And how does that compare to wealth in general?

  • Sep 20, 2021,
    > The process of creating Bitcoin consumes around 96 terawatt-hours of electricity annually, more than is used by the Philippines, a nation of about 110 million.
    > That usage, which is close to half-a-percent of all the electricity consumed in the world, has increased about tenfold in just the past five years.

    https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/bitcoin-uses-more-electricity-than-the-entire-nation-of-philippines-why-is-it-so-energy-intensive-is-going-greener-possible/arti

    • The hash rate 5 years ago was 2 compared with 150 or so in September. So if the increase was only tenfold that's really some testament to how much asics have improved in efficiency.

      • It makes no difference how much ASICS increase in efficiency, because the mining difficulty automatically adjusts to utilize all available hashrate to produce block rewards at the same intervals. 99% of the miners could drop offline and the number of Bitcoins mined would still remain unchanged - it would, however, use 99% less electricity (and the blockchain itself would also be 99% less secure, but that's beside the point).

        • the mining difficulty automatically adjusts to utilize all available hashrate to produce block rewards at the same intervals.

          The hashrate is the total computing power of all miners. Increasing mining difficulty has the effect of forcing users of less efficient mining rigs to drop out of the supply chain. The affect on climate is hard to pin down, but certainly the situation has improved since China kicked it's miners out, and absolutely less than Philippines which I understand still mainly burns coal.

          • The other thing that the ASIC arms race creates is a never-ending stream of e-waste, as unprofitable rigs are scrapped. Even if upgrades ultimately result in less power usage (which I strongly doubt, since miners are going to run their rigs based on profitability - any electrical savings will just mean they can buy and put an increased number of rigs online), you can't avoid the e-waste aspects.

            Proof-of-work is just inherently wasteful by design.

            • Yes but I imagine landfilling inefficient asics always has a net-positive climate impact. Similar to how if we could force out some 10yr old power hogging laptops and replace with M1 macbooks. You need to balance the up-front cost against lifetime power consumption.

  • Seriously...can anyone explain why the limit of 21M matters? Yes I realize it's meant to prevent infinite inflation by hard limiting the supply of coins, but people buy things using fractions of coins now. One day a pack of gum might cost BC 0.000001 and next year it might cost BC 0.0000001. Eventually it could cost BC 0.00000001. The total supply of coins doesn't have to change when you can keep fractioning them infinitely.

    • Yeah, that's how the pyramid scheme works. You convince later entrants that they get to buy your point-naught-naught-naught-ad-nauseam-something of a Bitcoin for what you paid for your bigger fraction and make a tidy profit.

      The problem is, as more people catch on to the fact that they might not be able to sucker the next person far enough past the decimal point, the scheme starts falling apart.

    • Seriously...can anyone explain why the limit of 21M matters?

      Yes, there are people who can explain this.

      The total supply of coins doesn't have to change when you can keep fractioning them infinitely.

      You CAN'T keep fractioning them infinitely.
      There's a limit, and that limit is 1/100,000,000th, a.k.a one Satoshi [investopedia.com].
      So a pack of gum can fall to 10 Satoshi (0.0000001 BC.), or 1 Satoshi (0.00000001 BC.), but it can't fall to 0.1 Satoshi. (0.000000001 BC.)

      • My understanding is that additional decimal points could be added with consensus of the network though. It's only a limitation as currently written.

  • End blackchain (Score:3)

    by rantrantrant ( 4753443 ) on Sunday April 03, 2022 @06:41AM (#62412682)
    Yes, I'm here to say pretty much the same thing as most other people here: It's time to end blockchain. It's never going to be anything other than an albatross around the world's neck. It's raised too many problems & solved none, unless you benefit from very high-risk trading (crypto-bros & their scams), drug/human trafficking, & ransomware. It's time to end it now.
  • So how energy will be wasted in the next 118 years for another 2 million Bitcoins ? Will Bitcoins still be around ? How much will be hacked and stolen by 2140? How much will be forever lost due to lost/forgotten encryption keys ? Hard drive failures many be main cause or person dies w/o sharing their key.

    • I think nobody here realized the typo in the article. If the rate is halved and it took 3 years to get here, then it's 6 + 12 years, or 2040, not 2140.

  • Bitcoin milestones should be reported in 1000ths of a degree centigrade of global warming: milli-delta-centigrades or MDCs.
  • You're all a bunch of fools wasting valuable time and resources with intrinsic value on something that has zero intrinsic value. Meanwhile somewhere the trolls that created this troll-meme in the first place are cumming bucketloads and laughing their asses off at how dumb you all are.
    Then there's NFTs, which you're all falling for also.
  • To be honest, I am very interested in what will happen when the last bitcoin is mined, because a new era of bitcoin is likely to begin. Now I trade on the stock exchange using BitcodeAI [bitcodeai.software] , and this greatly facilitates the trading process, as it is an opportunity to get passive income without having knowledge and special skills.

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