Bitcoin Makes History Following the Mining of the 20 Millionth Coin

Bitcoin recently made history as miners produced the 20 millionth coin, crossing a threshold that Satoshi Nakamoto built into the protocol nearly two decades ago. 

The Foundry USA mining pool was responsible for mining this Bitcoin, specifically at block height 939,999, earning a block subsidy reward of 3.125 BTC, which represents the reward level established by the April 2024 halving. 

Key Points

• Today, the Foundry USA mining pool mined the 20 millionth Bitcoin at block height 939,999, confirming that 95.24% of Bitcoin’s total fixed supply of 21 million coins now circulates globally.
• Data estimates that between 2.3 million and 3.7 million BTC are permanently lost, making the actual accessible supply considerably smaller than the headline figure of 20 million.
• The April 2024 halving reduced daily Bitcoin production from 900 BTC to 450 BTC, with the next halving scheduled for April 11, 2028, set to cut rewards from 3.125 BTC to 1.5625 BTC per block.
• The remaining 1 million Bitcoin will take about 114 years to fully issue, with the final fractions expected around 2140.
• Bitcoin currently changes hands around $69,282 at the time of this milestone, up a mere 3.44% this month but seeing 20.8% losses this year amid the current downturn.

Bitcoin Hits the 20 Millionth Coin Milestone

On-chain data from CloverPool confirms that the 20 millionth coin was mined earlier today, March 9, 2026. From the first block mined in January 2009 to this moment, the Bitcoin network spent exactly 17 years, 2 months, and one week reaching this point.

This number confirms that more than 95.24% of Bitcoin’s fixed supply of 21 million coins now circulates across the network. For perspective, this indicates that for every 20 Bitcoins already in existence, only one remains to be created. 

Bitcoin’s Shrinking Supply and Lost Coins

However, not all 20 million mined Bitcoins remain accessible to their owners, and that distinction matters greatly. Blockchain analytics firms River Financial and Chainalysis suggest that 2.3 million to 3.7 million BTC remain permanently inaccessible, lost to forgotten passwords, misplaced private keys, deceased holders, and coins sent to addresses nobody can access. 

Also, Fortune further estimates that about 1.8 million Bitcoins, about 8.5% of the total supply, are effectively lost forever, with the majority of those losses occurring during Bitcoin’s earliest years when the asset carried little financial value, and users lacked reliable infrastructure to store it safely.

In addition, 230.09 BTC remains permanently out of reach due to the original genesis block subsidy and other early outputs carrying technical scripts that make spending them impossible. 

These figures show that the actual amount of Bitcoin that people can use and trade today is considerably smaller than the headline figure of 20 million suggests.

What’s Next for Bitcoin and Bitcoin Miners?

Notably, Satoshi Nakamoto designed Bitcoin’s supply schedule at the software’s launch, starting miners at a reward of 50 BTC per block in 2009 and cutting that reward in half every 210,000 blocks or roughly every four years. 

The most recent halving on April 20, 2024, reduced the reward from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC, bringing daily production down from 900 BTC to around 450 BTC. The next halving already sits on the calendar for April 11, 2028, when the reward will fall further to 1.5625 BTC per block.

The remaining 1 million Bitcoin will take approximately 114 years to fully issue, with the very last fractions expected around the year 2140. The last full Bitcoin could emerge sometime in the 2090s, and the final satoshi, representing Bitcoin’s smallest unit, will follow years after that.

Meanwhile, this tightening supply creates a growing challenge for Bitcoin miners. Specifically, by the 2040s, daily Bitcoin issuance will fall below 30 BTC. By the 2060s, the figure will drop below 2 BTC per day. 

Since block subsidies will shrink toward zero over the coming century, transaction fees will eventually become the only income miners receive for securing the network, and it remains uncertain if that income would be sufficient to sustain robust network protection.

Market Conditions Surrounding the Milestone

Bitcoin reached this historic supply threshold during a period of market turbulence, as the crypto market has continued to react to macroeconomic and geopolitical factors, including the Israel-Iran war. 

Currently changing hands around $69,282, Bitcoin has declined 20.84% year-to-date after recording a milder 6.3% decrease last year. However, recent performance data shows that the downturn may be cooling off, as Bitcoin has gained 3.44% this week despite the conflict in the Middle East.