The price of the bitcoin token, which is one of the most popular crypto tokens, is reportedly decreasing.
The price of bitcoin had strengthened in November 2021, with a price range of 70 thousand US$/BTC, but has now fallen drastically at 43 thousand US$/BTC. This means that the price of Bitcoin has fallen by almost 40%.
Even though the price of Bitcoin is decreasing, some experts say its value will increase again. This is because the supply of Bitcoin is increasingly limited, but the interest and demand are higher.
The inventor of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, said at the beginning of its launch that the supply of Bitcoin was limited to only 21 million.
Quoted from CoinMarketcap, the number of bitcoins in circulation now reaches 18.86 million, meaning that there are still 2.14 million pieces of Bitcoin that can be mined.
When will Bitcoins run out?
Let’s try to analyze the estimated time when Bitcoin will be mined out. In 2009, according to Statista, there were a total of 1.3 million Bitcoins mined. If the number of Bitcoins in circulation over the last 12 years rose from 1.3 million to 18.86 million, then the average Bitcoin mining per year is around 1.5 million Bitcoins.
Based on this calculation, Bitcoin mining time is only less than 2 years away. It means that all Bitcoins will be mined before 2024.
Luckily it’s not that simple. Bitcoin can only be obtained through mining by conducting an audit to validate Bitcoin transactions. Those who successfully carry out the audit will receive a reward in the form of a number of Bitcoin chips. Every 4 years the number of blocks that must be mined reaches 210,000 blocks. This means that every year 52,500 blocks are mined.
The interesting thing about this is, the amount of Bitcoin rewards given will decrease by half every 4 years. In 2019, the reward given is 50 Bitcoins for 1 successfully mined block. Then, in 2020 yesterday, the Bitcoin reward has shrunk to 6.25 Bitcoin for every 1 block that is successfully mined.
If in one year 52,500 blocks were mined and the reward was 6.25 Bitcoins, then in one year Bitcoin production reached 328,125. As an illustration, in 2021 there will be around 320,000 BTC produced.
Using these assumptions, as well as the Bitcoin reward that will decrease by half every 4 years, then the remaining 21 million Bitcoins will only be mined in 12.6 years or to be precise in early July 2034.
Is it still worth?
However, as it continues to come under pressure from world regulators such as global central banks because Bitcoin is considered a threat to the long-established monetary system, is Bitcoin mining still worth it?
