The 17 millionth Bitcoin (EXANTE: Bitcoin) has been mined on Thursday more than a year since the number of coins topped 16 million, according to data from Blockchain.info.
This means more than 80 percent of the 21 million Bitcoins that will ever exist have now been created.
“The 17 millionth Bitcoin serves as a timely reminder that despite Bitcoin's volatility the fundamentals have never been stronger!" Brandon Williams of cryptocurrency trading firm Cosima Capital, told CNBC.
BashCo, a pseudonymous moderator on the r/bitcoin subreddit, has plotted the trajectory of Bitcoin’s total supply against its rate of monetary inflation.
When Bitcoin’s founder Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first Bitcoin block on Jan. 3, 2009, he created the first 50 bitcoins. This reward stayed the same for another 209,999 blocks, when the first “halvening,” or reduction in rewards, took place.
Every 210,000 blocks the network reduces the block reward by 50 percent. Following the most recent halvening, in July 2016, the reward is 12.5 Bitcoin.
The next Bitcoin halving will take place on May the 29 2020. Since that moment, each bitcoin block mined will reward with 6.25 Bitcoin to the miner that is able to find it.
Assuming the Bitcoin protocol remains the same (a new block is mined every 10 minutes on average and the halving schedule and supply cap are unchanged), the last new Bitcoin will not be mined until May 2140.
Bitcoin traded near $8,900 Thursday, down roughly 35 percent for the year so far.
By Siranush Ghazanchyan