Day 6
Chapter 1
A complete crash course for beginners.
Why is there only 21
Million Bitcoins?
There will only ever be 21,000,000 BTC
found. This is based on the fact that
when Bitcoin started, the reward was 50
BTC, and every 210,000 blocks, the
reward is divided in half. Given that there
is a new block found every 10 minutes ,
we know that the rate is 6 blocks per
hour. Given 24 hours in a day we then
know there are 144 new blocks found per
day. With the reward currently set at 25
BTC per new block, the total new BTC
entering the network per day is 3,600.
Bitcoin started January 3, 2009.
The first
Block halving was on November 28, 2012.
About every four years the block reward
will half again. Due to this continuous
halving we will approach but never reach
21 million. Well that’s what math would
have you believe, but due to the
limitations of precision it will occur in
about 100 years. The Block reward from
2009 through 2012 was 50 BTC. This
constitutes the first 210,000 Blocks. As a
result half of all the Bitcoins that will ever
be in existence will have been found in
the first four years. Then from 2012
through 2016 the reward will be 25 BTC
per new block found. As we are entering
in third block so the reward will be 12.5
bitcoins every day however this period
one fourth of the remaining Bitcoins will
be found. This will continue for about the
next 100 years.
Next Topic
Volatility of Bitcoin Prices
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