The 18 millionth bitcoin will be dug out this week, and the remaining 3 million bitcoins will still need 120 years.

Bitcoin miners will mine the 18 million bitcoins this week, leaving only the remaining 3 million bitcoins to be released before the distant 2140 stop mining.

3 million bitcoins, it takes 120 years to dig out

The data of the monitoring resource Blockchain confirmed that as of October 14, the total supply of Bitcoin has reached 17.92 million.

According to the block calculation, the remaining supply before the 18 millionth bitcoin should enter circulation before the start of next week.

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Analyst Rhythm pointed out on social media on Monday:

"It takes about 120 years to mine the remaining 14.3% or about 3 million bitcoins."

Source: blockchain.info

The intensity of miners' competition for Bitcoin has never been so high, and its hash rate (computing power) has hit record highs this year.

Bitcoin miners create new bitcoins each time they successfully verify the trading block, and the time interval occurs approximately every ten minutes. Every four years, the block rewards they receive will be cut in half, which means that “casting” the same amount of new bitcoin will require more work.

Therefore, although 85% (18 million) of the total supply of 21 million BTCs is about to enter the market since 2009, the remaining 15% takes much longer.

As previously reported, even after the end of the bitcoin mining phase (21 million bitcoins are all dug), the real circulating bitcoin is unlikely to exceed 75%, because some of the bitcoins have been used for various reasons. (lost private key, etc.) becomes a "dead coin" and can never be used anymore. According to different calculation methods, the researchers believe that these lost coins account for about 20% of the supply.

Therefore, at most only 15 million people may have a complete bitcoin. Given the existence of Bitcoin whales, the number of users who can own 1 bitcoin in the future will be very rare.

Hodlers hoard a lot of bitcoin

While the 18 million milestone is not a technical achievement for the Bitcoin network, industry entities are excited about it, and storage startup Luno describes it as an "exciting week."

At the same time, the composition of Bitcoin holders is changing. This week's data shows that in 2019, the number of addresses with more than 1000 BTCs has become more and more. Previously, due to the market downturn, investors showed less interest, and this year's address balance trajectory has changed from the same level that has been maintained for the past five years.

Before the Mt.Gox crash in early 2014, wallet holders increased their balance to more than 1000 BTC at a similar rate.

Commentators said at the time that the motivation for the owner to hoard bitcoin came from technical curiosity. Given the current price of BTC / USD, financial incentives have contributed to the enthusiasm of 2019 holders to hoard bitcoin.

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