Bitcoin has crossed a major supply milestone after miners produced the 20 millionth coin. The event occurred in March 2026 as the network continued issuing new coins through its programmed mining process. With only one million bitcoins left to mine, more than 95% of the total supply now exists.
Fixed supply rooted in 2009 code
Bitcoin operates with a fixed maximum supply of 21 million coins, embedded in the system by creator Satoshi Nakamoto in January 2009. Each block confirms transactions and introduces newly minted bitcoin, but the code strictly caps how many can exist. Thousands of independent nodes verify every block and enforce the same rules, making supply increases impossible without broad network consensus.
Halving cycles cut block rewards
Bitcoin's issuance follows a declining schedule built into the protocol. Block rewards decrease roughly every four years through halvings: from 50 BTC per block at launch to 25, then 12.5, then 6.25. After the 2024 halving, the reward fell further to 3.125 BTC. As a result, annualized supply inflation now stands below 1%.
Remaining million to take over a century
Although only one million coins remain, mining will continue for many decades. The halving schedule gradually extends the timeline for new issuance. According to the protocol design, miners will release the remaining supply over more than a century, with each halving reducing the reward paid for securing the network. Most bitcoins already circulate today, and the network keeps producing blocks under the same issuance rules introduced in 2009 — a testament to software-based supply predictability rather than institutional policy.