Supply + Circulation
Release Schedule
- Controlled supply selease schedule
- Half of remaining supply put into circulation every 4 years which is divided/disbursed in 10 minute increments (see mining)
- Total supply of 21 million will be in circulation by 2140*
- Currently circulation just about to pass 17 million (why this matters)
- Next halving in 2022
- 4 million lost (approximate; private keys gone so coins can’t be moved)
- 5 million in deep cold storage (Szabo’s million + early entrants like Wences Cesares)
*Bitcoin will never actually reach 21 million units, as barring a protocol change, the total supply will fall short by at least one satoshi. That’s because on May 17, 2011, the miner “midnight magic”—for reasons that remain unclear—claimed a 49.99999999 block reward, rather than an even 50.
Bitcoin Currency Breakdown
Divisible into 100,000,000 pieces (0.00000001 or 8 decimal places)
- 1 Satoshi = 0.00000001 ฿
- 100,000 Satoshi = 0.001 ฿
- 1,000,000 Satoshi = 0.01 ฿
- 10,000,000 Satoshi = 0.1 ฿
- 100,000,000 Satoshi = 1 ฿
If 1 bitcoin = $20,000 USD, 1 Satoshi equals $0.00020 (two-hundredths of a penny)
Unit Terminology
- Small amounts of bitcoin used as alternative units are millibitcoin (mBTC), bit (ƀ) and satoshi (sat).
- Named in homage to bitcoin’s creator, a satoshi is the smallest amount within bitcoin representing 0.00000001 bitcoins, one hundred millionth of a bitcoin.
- A bit equals 0.000001 bitcoins, one millionth of a bitcoin or 100 satoshis.
- A millibitcoin equals 0.001 bitcoins, one thousandth of a bitcoin or 100,000 satoshis.