Bitcoin Scarcity Reaches New Milestone with 85 Percent of Coins Mined

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As of today, August 1, ofically 85 percent of all possible Bitcoin has been mined and entered circulation. This means that there is only 15 percent left to be come as Bitcoin approaches its next halving. 

Bitcoin was designed to be anti-inflationary. It has a limited supply of 21 million coins, and as the creation of coins heads towards that final target, it is much harder to create new coins. This slows supply and inevitably ups demand. 

It has taken 10 years to mine 85 percent of all the Bitcoins we have today, but the final 15 percent are predicted to take 120 years to extract because of increased mining difficulty. 

Only three million left

The 15 percent remaining to be mined represents 3.15 million coins, whereas the 85 that have been added to the circulating supply are 17.85 million, yet, incredibly it will take 120 times longer to extract those final coins. 

Bitcoin’s design leads to an increase in scarcity of coins, and a way to beat inflation, which in turn is designed to boost its price as time goes on. Miners are also aware of this as they know that in less than a year’s time scarcity is going to increase by 50 percent overnight. 

Bitcoin's mining reward is set to half in May of next year which is being viewed as a big step in the progression of the coin. This means that rewards from solving a bitcoin block will be rewarded with 6.25 coins rather than 12.5 which is the case now. 

Mining on the rise

In July, Bitcoin’s mining hash rate - that is the amount of computing power it takes to mine a block - was at its highest. This indicates that miners are happy to seek out new coins despite the price not being at its highest. In fact, the hash rate was eight-times higher in July than it was when Bitocin crossed $20,000.

It could well be that miners are starting to stock up ahead of the halvening in May 2020 as they are aware that the production of new coins halving will lead to a lower supply, and inevitably, a higher demand on a scarcer asset.

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