Supply

  • Max Supply: 21,000,000
  • Already mined: 19,500,000
  • Lost: 4,000,000
  • Cold Storage: 80%

Bitcoin Trilemma

Refers to the fact that no blockchain has been able to optimise three qualities simultaneously: decentralisation, security, and scalability.

What is Bitcoin

Bitcoin can be many things, depending on who you ask or where you are in your Bitcoin journey.

  • Peer2Peer Payment System
  • Decentralized consensus mechanism (Proof of Work)
  • The biggest computer (network) in the world
  • A decentralized, indestructible, incorruptible, permissionless, trustless ledger (database), that finds consensus through incentives and Proof of Work
  • The first digital, full consensus, distributed ledger that mankind has ever seen
  • The first (digital) asset with absolute scarcity
  • The Apex predator of money
  • Financial Commodity
  • The first ever digital bearer instrument, meaning that bytes of data can represent physical value
  • Digital money AND payment system AND store of value
  • Bitcoin fixes this
  • Bitcoin can prevent war/violence, since you will not get the bitcoins after bombing your enemy. Less incentive for financial violence
  • Access for "the Unbanked"

History

Event
Date
Block number
Block reward (BTC)
Total new bitcoins between events
Bitcoin Launch
3 January 2009
0 (genesis block)
50
10,500,000 BTC
1. Halving
28 November 2012
210,000
25
5,250,000 BTC
2. Halving
9 July 2016
420,000
12.5
2,625,000 BTC
3. Halving
11 May 2020
630,000
6.25
1,312,500 BTC
4. Halving
Expected April 2024
740,000
3.125
656,250 BTC
5. Halving
Expected 2028
850,000
1.5625
328,125 BTC

Total halving events: 32

All Coins Issued: December 22, 2137

First transaction: January 12, 2009 (Satoshi Nakamoto sent 10 BTC to Hal Finney)

Mining

Miners transform energy into bitcoins. Literally.

1 Block every 10 minutes / 6 per hour / 144 per day (~ 900 BTC per day @ 6.25 BTC reward)

5-7 Tx per second (TPS)

https://mempool.space/

Scarcity

Bitcoin is the first (digital) asset with absolute scarcity.

210,000 Blocks * ( 50 + 25 + 12.5 + 6.25 + 3.125 + …) = 21,000,000 Bitcoin

The block reward decreases geometrically over time.

Proof of Work (PoW) ties the physical world to the digital world.

Real energy is used to maintain the digital scarcity of bitcoin.

Denominations

Bitcoin denomination
Bitcoin units
Value
Satoshi
SAT
0.000 000 01 BTC
Microbit
µBTC (uBTC)
0.000 001 BTC
Millibit
mBTC
0.001 BTC
Centibit
cBTC
0.01 BTC
Decibit
dBTC
0.1 BTC
Bitcoin
BTC
1 BTC
DecaBit
daBTC
10 BTC
Hectobit
hBTC
100 BTC
Kilobit
kBTC
1000 BTC
Megabit
MBTC
1 000 000 BTC

What problems did Bitcoin solve?

Double spending problem

Byzantine Generals problem