Are there 19 million Bitcoins or 21 million?

Welcome to the cryptohunt jam where we spend one minute a day to explain crypto. In plain english.

You and us, we’ve talked about this a few times now. Theoretically, there could be 21 million Bitcoins out there, but only 19 million are actually in circulation. Why is that?

Let’s take a step back in history! The year is 2008. Investment banks are collapsing under the load of their own bad financial products, and governments are bailing them out. And people are mad: The governments are printing money to do it, which is creating inflation. You, the normal citizen who caused no harm, suddenly see prices increase everywhere around you.

Bitcoin, which came out shortly after in 2009, is believed to have been created in response to these policies. The idea was: What if we created a new type of money that nobody can mess with, not even the government?

To make that happen, it was written in code that there can only ever be a maximum of 21 million Bitcoins. But things started out much more moderately than that - only 1m were in circulation. The rest is set aside as rewards for mining, the process that validates transactions. It costs money to operate the hardware, and so this reward was made part of Bitcoin.

Which brings us to today. 18m or the 19m existing Bitcoins have all been earned through mining, and 2m are left until the maximum of 21m is reached. Sounds like a small amount, but it will likely take another 50 years to get there thanks to a process called Halfing. Go check out episode 50 for that.

Disclaimer: This podcast references our opinion and is for information purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Do your own research and seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.