Bitcoin supply and inflation over time
How the 21 million cap and the halving schedule set Bitcoin's yearly issuance, computed straight from the protocol rules.
The rule
New coins appear only as the block reward. It started at 50 BTC and halves every 210,000 blocks, roughly every four years. Add up all rewards and you get just under 21 million BTC.
Inflation rate
Supply inflation is new coins per year divided by coins already issued. Because the reward halves while the base keeps growing, the rate falls by about half at each halving and tends toward zero. The table below is computed from the schedule, assuming ~52,560 blocks a year (one per 10 minutes).
Price is a different thing
A predictable supply says nothing certain about price. Price depends on demand, which nobody can schedule. This is not investment advice.
Supply and inflation from the protocol schedule
Computed by 21btc from the protocol rules: 50 BTC reward halving every 210,000 blocks, ~52,560 blocks per year. Years are approximate: real blocks come a little faster or slower.
| Year | Supply, BTC | Yearly inflation |
|---|---|---|
| ~2010 | 2,628,050 | 5256000.00% |
| ~2012 | 7,884,050 | 50.00% |
| ~2013 | 10,506,025 | 33.26% |
| ~2016 | 14,448,025 | 10.00% |
| ~2017 | 15,756,013 | 9.05% |
| ~2020 | 17,727,013 | 3.85% |
| ~2021 | 18,379,506 | 3.68% |
| ~2024 | 19,365,006 | 1.73% |
| ~2025 | 19,690,503 | 1.68% |
| ~2028 | 20,183,253 | 0.82% |
| ~2029 | 20,345,627 | 0.80% |
| ~2032 | 20,592,002 | 0.40% |
| ~2036 | 20,796,188 | 0.20% |
| ~2040 | 20,898,188 | 0.10% |
Reward since the 2024 halving: 3.125 BTC · halving countdown →
FAQ
- When will the last Bitcoin be mined?
- Around the year 2140, when the reward drops below one satoshi.
- Can the 21 million cap change?
- Only if nearly the whole network agreed to run different rules, which is widely seen as extremely unlikely.
On the site
Original bitcointalk.org threads
- Inflation and Deflation of Price and Money Supply · 1,397 replies / 1,500,523 views (as of 13 Oct 2026)
- [CHART] Bitcoin Inflation vs. Time · 1,012 replies / 1,250,884 views (as of 13 Oct 2026)
Our own explanation; forum threads are linked, not copied. Not investment advice.
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