The Bitcoin network has reached the point where it remains to be mined 2.1 million BTC — only 10% of the available emission volume, Casa CTO Jameson Lopp wrote on Twitter. Nevertheless, he notes that the cryptocurrency reached the indicator of 18.9 million mined coins only after 32 blocks.
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This is due to the fact that some early miners did not demand a reward. For the same reason, the total supply of cryptocurrency will not be equal to 21 million BTC, as provided by the algorithm, the expert notes. Earlier, analysts at Chainalysis estimated that 3.79 million BTC could be lost forever.
In theory, these coins still exist, but they do not participate in circulation. Moreover, approximately 1 million BTC is stored on addresses that are associated with the creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. These coins were mined in the early stages of the network's development and have not moved since then. The Bitcoin network is projected to reach its supply limit by about 2140, as the rate of coin issuance gradually tends to zero due to regular halvings.
Earlier in December, iHodl reported that mining pool called Foundry, owned by Digital Currency Group, plans to launch the FoundryX platform to buy and sell Bitcoin mining equipment. FoundryX will act as an intermediary between the seller and the buyer. The marketplace has already attracted more than 200 customers, including mining and energy companies.
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