Escuche esta historia
--:--
3:29
Bitcoins are running out! There are only 10% left to mine
Bitcoin is the most popular and valuable cryptocurrency on the market, it was programmed 13 years ago. When Satoshi Nakamoto designed it, it was established that there could only be a total of 21 million bitcoins in the entire world.
Although a few years ago this figure seemed difficult to reach, the boom in cryptocurrencies meant that more and more bitcoins were mined each year.
As of today, there are only about 10% of bitcoins left. That is, about 19 million of them have already been mined, which worries many people about what could happen when it runs out.
What will happen when bitcoins run out?
This is a question that many people ask, and it is that we remember that the miners (those in charge of processing the transactions) receive rewards. Then, when the number of bitcoins runs out, they will no longer be able to obtain these rewards, that is, mining as it is currently known will die.
This does not mean that transactions will stop being processed, but rather that miners will start receiving commission income instead of receiving rewards. However, one thing to be clear about is that the commissions will probably generate much less than what is obtained with mining.
This is something to keep in mind, since many miners will probably disappear or go to mine other coins that are more profitable.
In any case, this will also depend on the price of bitcoin when this happens.
If the price is high it is likely to be profitable for the miners, but if the price is low it may not be so. This scenario would mean the probable demise of miners and bitcoin.
In any case, there is still time for this to happen, so it is not known what could happen until then. If you have investments in bitcoin and this worries you, you should know that there is still plenty of time for this to happen.
Can't more bitcoins be "created"?
Many can probably come to think that the solution to this problem is to "create more bitcoins" once they run out. This is impossible, since bitcoin was programmed that way and that cannot be altered.
The only way to do something similar would be to hard fork bitcoin and this could cause more problems than benefits.
This currency was created for a purpose and altering it in this way would mean changing its essence. Let's remember that within the community there are many "purists" and this could cause a cataclysm that could end up with the currency.
How long will it take to mine that remaining 10% of bitcoins?
If you are worried about this, you should know that you still have enough time to make a decision. Today, miners receive 6.25 bitcoins for each block, this amount is shared among all. From the year 2024, this figure will be halved, that is, miners will get 3,125 bitcoins per block as a reward.
This will help extend the duration for a few more years, according to experts, it is likely that bitcoins will run out sometime between the years 2135 and 2140. This means that people who currently invest in bitcoin have nothing to worry about.
About 5 million bitcoins are out of circulation
Of the 19 million bitcoins on the market, about 5 million of them are lost. It is unlikely that these bitcoins cannot be recovered. These correspond to the following cases:
About 1.1 million of these bitcoins belong to Satoshi Nakamoto, the father of cryptocurrency, and are out of circulation.
Around 3.7 million bitcoins have been lost due to their owners not remembering their access codes.
The rest have been burned on purpose over time.
So, we have that all bitcoins can never be available in circulation. This is a positive thing, as this scarcity drives the price of the coin up. And this is because there are fewer coins to distribute among users.
