In fact, there are only 21 million BTC. It's that simple. Once everything is mined (this actually occurs around 2140), no new Bitcoin will enter circulation. The Bitcoin blockchain is customized around supply control rules, which means that only a fixed amount of minted BTC can be mined each year until a total of 21 million coins are minted. Once all 21 million BTC have been mined, the network will work somewhat as it does now, but for mining, there is an important difference.

What will mining do after all BTC are developed and utilized?

Once 21 million BTCs are minted, bitcoin miners can still participate in the blockchain discovery process, but they will not be rewarded with bitcoin blocks. However, that doesn't mean they can't benefit at all. In addition to block rewards, Bitcoin miners will also receive fees associated with each blockchain they explore and discover. Today, because mining forges about 900 BTC (about 39.8 million U.S. dollars) per day, transaction fees only account for a small part of mining revenue, but earn 60-100 BTC (2.6 million to 4.4 million U.S. dollars) a day. In other words, transaction fees only account for 6.5% of mining revenue at this stage - but by 2140, this proportion will soar to 100%. Simon King, CEO of Hashed, said that the loss of block rewards will not eliminate the enthusiasm for mining. Kim told Decrypt: “Even after the end of the block reward, the transformation of the BTC ecosystem and its influence as an important currency in the online world may drive major changes in mining adoption.

In April 2021, the transaction fee will increase to the highest value in 2017. In fact, if a Bitcoin miner only gets a regular 6.5% reward, he won't be able to profit from Bitcoin, so switching to a reward structure based purely on transaction fees will almost certainly destroy the current mining network. However, if the usage of the Bitcoin network explodes, the competition for the blockchain space may increase dramatically. According to ByBitCEOBenZhou, this may lead to an increase in mining transaction fee rewards - similar to the situation in the BTC bull market in 2017. Zhou said: "As the mining reward decreases each time, the transaction fee will play an increasingly prominent role for a long time before the final BTC is mined." Transaction fees may be inversely proportional to the reduction in mining revenue, and as compensation . Beyond that, Eric Anziani, chief strategy officer at Crypto.Com, suspects that rising bitcoin prices and falling energy costs could mean mining remains a profitable and persistent endeavor.

He said: "In many people's eyes, with the rise of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, their prices should also rise rapidly, which is enough to make up for the relatively low rewards of each block. In addition, as the mining process becomes more efficient. , renewable resources are ubiquitous, and the electricity cost of mining will be reduced, so that they can continue to operate and maintain the Internet." December 2017 - the highest value of transaction fees will continue until mid-to-late April 2021 - when Bit When the coin was worth $14,000, the total daily transaction fees soared to 1,495 BTC. As a result, miners earned a total of $21 million in transaction fees that day — about half of what they earn today from block rewards today. Bitcoin’s average variable cost was a 2017 high of $55.17. This figure hit a new historical record of $59.87 on April 21, 2021. In the past ten days, it was only US$14.86, and the average transaction fee soared by more than 300%. In simple terms, mainly because BTC internet demand is high. More people using the network generally means higher transaction fees.

What if mining stops mining BTC?

While there is an analysis that transaction fees will be enough to encourage future mining, not all will. Obviously, if most mining—or even all mining—stops mining Bitcoin, the Bitcoin network will continue to change in many ways. You can still look at which wallet address owns BTC and how many BTC you own, then you can also look at the integrated historical data of each virtual currency transaction. But sure new deals need to be mined. If mining stops producing new blocks, it is virtually impossible to spend any Bitcoins in the future. This is also a warning of the doomsday of the Bitcoin network, but many people think that only trading can persist.

Threat to Selfish Mining

The study cites "anomalous" mining techniques that would weaken Bitcoin's security. Of particular concern is that "selfish mining" chooses to keep its own blocks, not to release blocks as soon as they are found, hoping to trick the network into consuming extra network resources to find additional blocks that never make it to the blockchain . Studies have shown that this "selfish" mining method "performs even better in the transaction fee system than the block reward system", because in the current block reward model, the value of the entire blockchain is It's the same, but in the transaction process, in the cost model, selfish mining can make more money by owning the blockchain for a longer period of time.

Summarize

Overall, the exploitable BTC hard cap is 21 million, with a final forge around 2140. Once the supply reaches its maximum value, Bitcoin miners will not receive block rewards. Assuming that the Bitcoin protocol has not changed significantly from today, they can get transaction fees in return.