How Many Bitcoins Are There? Total Supply and Lost Coins Explained

Bitcoin’s inherent scarcity is one of its most lauded technical advantages. By design, only 21 million Bitcoins will ever be mined. This scarcity contributes to its increasing value over time, prevents inflation, and solidifies its position as a digital store of value. Therefore, a common and important question is: How many Bitcoins are actually in circulation?

This article breaks down how much Bitcoin exists today, how much ever will, and why the real number is likely far lower than you think.

Let’s dive in.

The Short Answer: Bitcoin Current Circulating Supply

A cryptocurrency’s circulating supply denotes the amount of coins that are publicly available to buy and sell. At the time of writing, the amount of Bitcoin in circulation is r approximately 19.99 million BTC. However, this supply fluctuates every 10 minutes or so, which is the average time it takes to add a new block on the Bitcoin blockchain.

To explain, Bitcoin is a proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain, meaning that new coins are created through a process called mining. In this process, network participants known as miners are responsible for gathering transactions, verifying them, and organizing them into a new block. 

To incentivize the validation of a new block, miners receive a block reward, which consists of a block subsidy (a predetermined amount of newly created BTC) plus any associated transaction fees. This entire process repeats itself until Bitcoin’s maximum supply is reached.

The Hard Cap: Why Only 21 Million?

The maximum, and total, number of Bitcoins that can ever exist is fixed by design at 21 million. Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator(s) of the blockchain and cryptocurrency, hardcoded this limit into Bitcoin’s source code to create scarcity and position Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation.

So, why did Satoshi choose 21 million?

The creator(s) made an “educated guess” about the number, intending to create Bitcoin denominations that would eventually be comparable to established fiat currencies. This decision also aimed to make BTC divisible, where each Bitcoin splits into 100 million smaller units called satoshis, which provides flexibility in pricing. 

Despite its capped supply, this granularity enables Bitcoin to facilitate different transaction amounts, including micro-transactions and large transfers. In other words, daily transactions remain practical even when the BTC price increases significantly. 

Consequently, the hard cap makes Bitcoin intrinsically deflationary, unlike fiat money, which operates on an inflationary model, allowing central banks to increase their supply at will. Its deflationary model increases its scarcity over time, which, theoretically, increases its value due to decreased supply.

When Will the Last Bitcoin Be Mined?

As of early 2026, over 95% of the 21 million Bitcoin max supply has already been mined. With the vast majority of BTC already issued, the remaining 5% will be gradually released until the last Bitcoin (specifically, the last satoshi) is mined. 

Bitcoin’s supply schedule is programmed to decrease the issuance rate over time through a process called halving. This event automatically cuts the block subsidy by 50%, or in half. Halving occurs roughly every four years, or specifically, every 210,000 blocks.

When Bitcoin launched in 2009, the original reward for mining a block was 50 BTC. That number has reduced by half every four years, meaning that there have been four halving events to date.

The halving timeline is as follows:

• 2012 – The first halving event that reduced the mining reward to 25 BTC per block.
• 2016 – Cut the subsidy to 12.5 BTC per block.
• 2020 – The block subsidy dropped to 6.25 BTC per block.
• 2024 – The most recent halving cut the incentives to 3.125 BTC per block.

With new blocks produced roughly every 10 minutes, approximately 144 blocks are added to the Bitcoin blockchain daily. This rate currently introduces about 450 new BTC into circulation each day, based on the most recent halving event. This daily issuance will continue until the next halving, anticipated to occur in 2028, which will drop the reward to 1.5625 BTC per block – roughly 225 BTC per day.

Bitcoin’s supply cap will be reached after approximately 28 more halving events, with the last satoshi technically estimated to be mined around 2140, meaning that the last of the 21 million BTC will be issued over a century from now. 

Lost Bitcoins: Why the Real Supply Is Low

While the majority of BTC has already been issued, the real circulating supply is actually lower. This is primarily due to an estimated 3 to 4 million BTC being permanently lost or otherwise inaccessible. 

Technically speaking, the precise amount of permanently lost Bitcoin is difficult to determine: wallet inactivity by long-term holders is often used as a proxy, though this could be due to strategy rather than loss. Additionally, the actual circulating supply is reduced by dust transactions, which are cryptocurrency amounts too small in value to be worth moving. These tiny amounts often accumulate as change from transactions or mining fees, and because the cost to move them typically exceeds their value, they effectively sit idle and are removed from practical circulation.

There are a few factors that can lead to the permanent loss of Bitcoin:

1. Forgotten or Lost Private Keys 

Your Bitcoin lives on the blockchain, and you can only access it through the associated Bitcoin wallet and its corresponding private keys. Unlike traditional financial systems, Bitcoin doesn’t have a central authority to reset or recover lost keys. That is to say, losing these keys means you permanently lose access to your Bitcoin.

2. Unrecoverable Password or Secret Recovery Phrases

Consequently, even when using some of the best Bitcoin wallets, a secret recovery phrase (SRP) is essential for recovering access to your coins. The SRP acts as a backup should you lose your hardware wallet due to theft, loss, or destruction. Losing or forgetting this phrase means there is no way of regaining access to your funds.

Furthermore, forgetting something as simple as a password or PIN to your secure storage could also mean losing your BTC forever. A notable example is entrepreneur Stefan Thomas, who is locked out of his Bitcoin because he can’t recall the password for his IronKey hard drive. This drive contains the private keys to his wallet, and he has only two attempts remaining before the contents are permanently encrypted.

3. Storage Device Loss, Failure, or Destruction

Early Bitcoin users often stored their private keys on hard drives, paper wallets, or USB devices. The failure, loss, or malfunction of these storage devices, without a backup or recovery plan, could lead to the permanent loss of the associated Bitcoin.

A notable case is James Howells’ unfortunate tale. This Welsh computer engineer mistakenly discarded a laptop hard drive containing the private keys for 8,000 BTC (now worth hundreds of millions) in the Dockway landfill.

4. Death of Owners Without Inheritance Planning

Another significant occasion is when a Bitcoin holder unexpectedly dies without providing their private keys, SRPs, or an inheritance plan to their beneficiaries. In contrast to conventional systems, there’s no central authority to validate or approve claims of the deceased family member’s funds. This means that the coins become irretrievable without the keys necessary to access them.

A multisig setup, secured with a Ledger signer, can prevent this. In a typical inheritance-based setup, you hold one or two keys on your Ledger signer, while specialized services, such as Casa, Unchained, and Nunchuk, manage the remaining key. The professional services are responsible for legal verification, beneficiary information, and assistance for non-technical heirs with their recovery process. 

To understand how to prevent the permanent loss of inherited digital assets and the role of Ledger signers, refer to this guide.

5. Intentional Burning

Finally, some users might burn their BTC as a way of permanently reducing the supply. This means they deliberately send their coins to “burn addresses,” which are addresses with unknown private keys. Because no one has the keys to these addresses, any Bitcoin sent to them is permanently removed from the circulating supply.

What Happens When All 21 Million Are Mined?

As mentioned above, the final mining event will be in 2140, at which point the issuance of new coins will cease. This has raised several concerns, including:

Block Rewards

One of the key implications of reaching the maximum supply will be a shift of miners’ incentives to transaction fees. Currently, miners’ rewards consist of a block subsidy and transaction fees. However, when all Bitcoins are in circulation, the block subsidy component of the reward will drop to zero, essentially ending that form of compensation. 

To cover operating expenses and maintain network security and profitability, miners will become entirely dependent on transaction fees, which could lead to an increase in these fees. That being said, Bitcoin maxis argue that as the coin’s value increases, even a small percentage of a block’s value in fees will be sufficient to incentivize the miners.

Can Bitcoin Network Stop?

The network won’t just stop after the last mining event. In fact, reaching the max supply will potentially solidify Bitcoin’s supply as a strictly finite, deflationary asset. This scarcity is anticipated to further its role as digital gold or long-term store of value. 

To explain, after the 2016 halving event, the block subsidy decreased from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC per block, causing Bitcoin’s inflation rate to drop from ~3.7% to ~1.8%. This made it less inflationary than the U.S. dollar’s stated inflation target of 2%. The 2024 halving further lowered Bitcoin’s inflation rate, making it less inflationary than even gold.

This raised concerns about the potential for its deflationary nature to hinder its ability to support an economy should its scarcity dramatically increase its price. However, Bitcoin’s divisibility mitigates this, effectively ensuring that even when the value of a whole coin increases, the satoshis will still be a feasible medium of exchange.

Bitcoin Network Security Concerns

The rate of mining activity, measured by hash rate, is often associated with the network’s security. The more mining happens, the more secure Bitcoin is. And with the block subsidies dropping to zero after the last mining event, a concern arises that transaction fees alone may not provide enough incentive for miners to continue their operations.

That said, as the popularity and utility of Bitcoin grow, the demand for transactions increases, creating a robust fee market. This will lead to higher fees for users, primarily due to the network’s capacity limit, which restricts the number of transactions that can be processed per block. Consequently, users must submit competitive bids to ensure their transactions are prioritized and confirmed faster, which, in turn, helps miners earn more.

Secondly, the constant and rapid improvement of Bitcoin mining equipment, called ASIC miners, allows miners to operate with greater efficiency and lower overhead. This technological progress will potentially help miners maintain profitability, even after maximum supply.

Lastly, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty ties a miner’s expected revenue to their proportion of the total hash rate. This means that if the final mining event forces less profitable miners to cease operations, the remaining miners will experience higher returns. This is because their relative share of the overall hash rate increases. 

In other words, a drop in the total hash rate inversely affects mining difficulty, causing it to also decrease. For the remaining miners, a halving event can increase profitability because it removes competition, thereby raising the likelihood that they will successfully find a block and earn the associated reward.

Secure Your Slice of the 21 Million

Bitcoin’s core principles and design positions it as a potential disruptor to traditional finance, primarily due to its scarcity model. Its total supply, permanently fixed at a maximum of 21 million coins, is further enforced by its halving schedule. This inherently limited, deflationary supply is a stark contrast to the inflationary nature of fiat currencies, where central banks can freely increase the money supply.

With roughly 3 to 4 million BTC already lost, often due to misplaced keys, storage device failure, or forgotten SRPs, the need for secure digital ownership is clear. 

Whether it’s just satoshis or a whole Bitcoin, Ledger signers not only offer battle-tested security by storing your private keys offline and secure from digital threats, but also facilitate inheritance planning and long-term holding. Paired with the Ledger Wallet™, you can seamlessly manage your Bitcoin, track your portfolio, and access earning opportunities – all in one place. 

When it comes to recovery, every Ledger signer comes with a Recovery Key – your primary safeguard for restoring wallet access if your device is ever lost or damaged. For those who want an additional layer of peace of mind, Ledger Recover is an optional paid service that creates a secure, encrypted backup of your private keys with a trusted third party.

Ready to take complete digital ownership of your Bitcoin? Explore Ledger signers and set up your Bitcoin wallet today.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How Many Bitcoins Are Left to Mine?

At the time of writing, roughly 1.07 million Bitcoins are left to be mined out of the total 21 million cap, meaning nearly 5% of the total potential supply has yet to enter into circulation.

How Many Bitcoins Are Lost Forever?

The number of permanently inaccessible Bitcoins is estimated to be around 3 to 4 million. This loss is attributed to several causes, including forgotten private keys, loss of storage devices, deliberate crypto burning, or the death of the owner. However, determining the exact figure is challenging because some long-term investors intentionally keep their wallets inactive for extended periods, making them difficult to distinguish from lost coins.

Can the 21 Million Cap Be Changed?

Technically, the 21 million supply cap can be changed since it is part of the open-source code. However, in practice, it is considered practically impossible since the modification would require near-unanimous consensus from miners, developers, and node operators. 

What happens when all 21 million bitcoins are mined?

Once all the 21 million Bitcoins are mined, the block subsidy (a component of mining rewards) will fall to zero, leaving miners solely dependent on transaction fees for incentives. Daily micro-transactions, such as buying coffee, are likely to happen on Layer 2 solutions like the Lightning Network, which are faster and cheaper. On the other hand, the main blockchain will primarily settle large bundles of these transactions.