Bitcoin has officially passed 20 million coins mined, a milestone that puts the network at roughly 95% of its total 21 million supply. The remaining supply — under a million bitcoin — will be released gradually over the next century-plus through block rewards.
The crossing happened this week as miners processed another block, pushing the cumulative issuance past the 20 million mark. It's a number that has been on the horizon for years, but the last stretch is the slowest part of the whole schedule.
The math of the last 5%
Bitcoin's supply schedule is baked into its code. Every four years or so, the block reward gets cut in half — a process called the halving. That means the final coins aren't going to show up quickly.
The last bitcoin isn't expected to be mined until sometime around the year 2140. By then, the block reward will have shrunk to a fraction of a satoshi, and miners will be running almost entirely on transaction fees.
The pace of issuance has already slowed dramatically. The most recent halving, in 2024, cut the reward from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block. The next one is expected in 2028.
Why the number matters
Crossing 20 million isn't just a round number for collectors. It's a hard reminder that bitcoin is a fixed-supply asset — no one can mint more of it, no matter how much demand shows up.
That scarcity is the whole argument. But it also means the network is entering a phase where the economics of mining start to shift. With fewer new coins coming out, fees become a bigger part of the equation. The transition is gradual, but it's already underway.
The timing is notable too. Bitcoin has spent months trading in a range, and this milestone lands in a quiet stretch for the broader market. That doesn't make it less significant — it just means the moment passed without much fanfare.
What's left
Roughly 1 million bitcoin remain to be mined. That's a little over 4.7% of the total supply, spread across more than a century of blocks.
For context, the first 20 million coins took about 17 years to produce. The last 1 million will take roughly 115. The asymmetry is by design — the halving schedule front-loads issuance, then tapers it off to near nothing.
Miners will keep processing transactions regardless. The reward structure just changes. And for holders, the milestone is a simple fact: there's less new supply coming every year, and eventually, none at all.
The next checkpoint is the 2028 halving, when the block reward drops to 1.5625 BTC. That's when the final million gets a little closer — and the clock on the last 5% keeps ticking.
