The 17-millionth bitcoin is mined

Bitcoin network has produced 17 million coins. The mining pool BTC.com has calculated another block which has lead to increased bitcoin numbers to a round number. The number of coins in the bitcoin protocol...

Bitcoin network has produced 17 million coins. The mining pool BTC.com has calculated another block which has lead to increased bitcoin numbers to a round number.

The number of coins in the bitcoin protocol  is limited to 21 million, so 81% of the bitcoins are already in circulation. True, several million coins are irretrievably lost on dead wallets, whose owners have lost access the keys.

Previous 16 million coins were produced by November 22, 2016. Due to the exponentially increasing complexity of the calculations, the last bitcoin will be received only in 2140. The reward for each new network block is halved every 210,000 units. This principle is called halving. Since the launch of the bitcoin network, in 2009 the miner received 50 BTC per block. In 2012, there was the first halving, and the award was reduced to 25 bitcoins, and in 2016 - to 12.5 coins.

The profitability of mining depends on the size of the reward, the bitcoin rate, and the size of the commission for transactions. In the end, the reward for the new blocks will become too small to cover the costs of equipment for mining, and maintaining the network will depend on commissions.

The smallest 100-millionth part of bitcoin is called Satoshi in honor of the creator of the crypto currency Satoshi Nakamoto. It is interesting that it will never be possible to obtain the latest Satoshi due to the fact that in 2011 one of the miners received 49.99999999 BTC instead of 50. Why this happened is still not clear.

Due to the bitcoin constants fixed in the protocol, the cryptocurrency acquires a digital deficit, which ensures its value. The decentralized protocol makes all network members equal in status, and transactions occur without the participation of a third party. The emission of bitcoin is also distributed among the nodes, and it is impossible to manipulate the course due to the additional issue of coins.

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