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Bitcoin Reaches 20 Million Coins Mined—Mining Continues for Over a Century

Bitcoin Reaches 20 Million Coins Mined—Mining Continues for Over a Century

Bitcoin’s 20 millionth coin marks 95.24% of its capped supply issued, while estimates of permanently lost coins and future fee dependence highlight long-term constraints on available supply and miner economics.

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Fact Check
The claim is factually supported by multiple news outlets (BlockBeats, Bitget) and aligns perfectly with Bitcoin's programmatic issuance schedule. Mathematically, after four halvings, the reward is 3.125 BTC per block. Starting from block 840,000 (where 19,687,500 BTC were mined), it takes exactly 100,000 blocks to mine the next 312,500 BTC, reaching the 20,000,000 mark at block height 940,000. The date March 9, 2026, is consistent with the average 10-minute block time.
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Summary

Bitcoin’s mined supply has reached 20,000,000 BTC, or 95.24% of the total 21 million cap, with the milestone reported around block heights 939,999 and 940,000, reflecting a minor discrepancy in block reference. Foundry USA was cited as mining the milestone coin at block 939,999 and receiving the current 3.125 BTC reward set by the April 2024 halving. Only about 1 million BTC remains to be issued, a process expected to take roughly 114 more years until around 2140. The update also notes that blockchain analytics firms River Financial and Chainalysis estimate between 2.3 million and 3.7 million BTC may already be permanently lost, meaning the practical circulating supply is lower than the headline total. As issuance keeps shrinking, miners are expected to rely increasingly on transaction fees, with the next halving scheduled for April 11, 2028, when the block reward is set to fall from 3.125 BTC to 1.5625 BTC.

Terms & Concepts
  • Block height: The sequential number assigned to a block in the Bitcoin blockchain, showing its position in the chain since the network began.
  • Bitcoin halving: A scheduled Bitcoin protocol event that cuts miners’ block rewards in half, reducing the rate of new BTC issuance over time.
  • Transaction fees: Payments attached to blockchain transactions that compensate miners for processing transfers and may become their main revenue source as block subsidies decline.