<p>Bitcoin's reward schedule is implemented in eras of 210,000 blocks. The block subsidy gets halved with the first block of each new era. The 33rd &quot;halving&quot; at block 6,930,000 will reduce the block subsidy limit from 1 satoshi per block to 0 satoshi per block¹ and therefore the last block creating new bitcoins will be block 6,929,999.</p>
<p>At block intervals of 10 minutes, 210,000 blocks translate to about 3.99 years, although blocks have been found faster in average in the past. Under the simplifying assumption that the halvings will occur about every four years, the final block that creates new bitcoins would occur approximately in <strong>2140</strong>.</p>
<p>You can find a table with the respective calculations here: <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12tR_9WrY0Hj4AQLoJYj9EDBzfA38XIVLQSOOOVePNm0/pubhtml?gid=0&amp;single=true" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Bitcoin Reward Schedule</a></p>
<p>Really, the mining reward will get minuscule much earlier already. In 2036 99% of the bitcoins will be in circulation, in 2048 it will be 99.9%.</p>
<hr />
<p><sup>¹Actually, the limit is 0.58207661 satoshi per block at that point, but since only whole satoshis can be paid out, none may be collected by miners.</sup></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2016-04-02T22:40:09.397Z
2022-09-25T15:57:12.787Z
2022-09-25T15:57:12.787Z
Murch
<p>As per considering mining of any cryptocurrency is calculated by increasing hash rate and difficulty and decreasing block rewards. So time prediction of final block mining is 2145.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-01T04:08:34.243Z
2016-04-01T04:44:16.503Z
2016-04-01T04:44:16.503Z
Abhijit Kale
<p>The estimate is <strong>2140</strong> based on the block reward halving frequency of four years. <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/8823/how-many-bitcoin-are-mined-per-day">According to math and knowledge that there are 32 halving events</a>, in 2136, the block reward will yield 0.00000168 BTC per day, which is 0.00000042 BTC per block. That's 42 <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/114/what-is-a-satoshi">satoshis</a>. </p>

<p>It's arguable that there could be one additional halving, to a block reward of 0.00000021 BTC, but that would require a major protocol modification since the number of Bitcoin would then exceed 21 million. Additionally, to go past that, there'd have to be a protocol modification to extend divisibility past eight decimal places. It is far, far to early to worry about either of these, because we're more than a century away from this problem.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-23T16:10:15.417Z
What's the variance of the estimate of `2140`? Is it plus minus 2 years, 3 years?
Pacerier
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-26T17:18:32.337Z
The [time between blocks](http://blockchain.info/stats) is currently 8.57 minutes. That's about 9% faster than the 10 minutes-per-block goal that puts the final block mined in 2140. The time-betwee-blocks varies pretty widely. I can't find a graph of it, unfortunately. I've see it as low as 6 minutes, and as high as 14 in the last few months.
Colin Dean
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-27T14:08:59.957Z
Why does the page you link me shows "time between blocks = 10.00 mins"? Where did you get 8.57?
Pacerier
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-28T14:41:18.317Z
That value changes constantly.
Colin Dean
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-29T09:22:32.473Z
Any idea how is that number calculated?
Pacerier
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-05-31T23:42:23.650Z
It's as simple as (60 min * 24 hrs)/`$num_blocks_last_24hrs`. If there were more than 144 blocks in the last 24 hrs, then we're going faster than we should, and the difficulty is more likely to increase. If it's less, then we're going slower, and difficulty will decrease.
Colin Dean
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-06-01T06:50:01.457Z
Would you consider this chart as accurate? : http://blockchain.info/charts/avg-confirmation-time?timespan=1year&showDataPoints=false&daysAverageString=1&show_header=true&scale=0&address=
Pacerier
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-06-02T13:21:48.287Z
Yes, that would be *close enough* to time-between-blocks, but it doesn't account for outlier situations. E.g., 1,000 transactions broadcast immediately after a block broadcast would skew this chart but not affect the time-between-blocks figure.
Colin Dean
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-02T22:44:38.343Z
@ColinDean: How did you arrive at the 42 satoshis per block? In 2136, I got 2 satoshi per block. According to my calculation, the reward will go from 74 to 37 satoshi in 2116, it never hits 42 satoshis.
Murch
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-06T09:09:49.100Z
“It is far, far to early to worry about either of these, because we're more than a century away from this problem.” [Sounds familiar.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2000_problem) Actually, this problem might be even worse, because it might require all Bitcoin nodes to upgrade *together* – whereas the year 2000 problem could be fixed separately in each system.
Brian Drake
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-05-02T02:40:34.320Z
2013-05-02T02:40:34.320Z
2017-04-13T12:47:34.187Z
Colin Dean
<p>Estimates have been thrown around a lot recently as to the year in which the last Bitcoin will be mined- where are these estimates coming from? Could someone send me to the relevant code?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-05-02T02:41:16.023Z
The code is in the one of the answers to the question I am marking this as a duplicate with. (Nick's to be specific.) The accepted answer goes into more of the algoritm and schedule.
David Ogren
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-05-02T02:41:37.123Z
possible duplicate of [How many bitcoins will there eventually be?](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/161/how-many-bitcoins-will-there-eventually-be)
David Ogren
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-05-02T02:42:54.417Z
Actually this was the question I was really looking for. It might be a better dup of this one : http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/9959/where-in-the-code-in-the-satoshi-client-is-21-million-cap-implemented
David Ogren
<reward-schedule>
When will the last Bitcoin be mined?
Jason Dreyzehner
# When will the last Bitcoin be mined?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-05-02)

Estimates have been thrown around a lot recently as to the year in which the last Bitcoin will be mined- where are these estimates coming from? Could someone send me to the relevant code?

**Tags:** reward-schedule

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: The code is in the one of the answers to the question I am marking this as a duplicate with. (Nick's to be specific.) The accepted answer goes into more of the algoritm and schedule.  
> **username_1**: possible duplicate of [How many bitcoins will there eventually be?](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/161/how-many-bitcoins-will-there-eventually-be)  
> **username_1**: Actually this was the question I was really looking for. It might be a better dup of this one : http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/9959/where-in-the-code-in-the-satoshi-client-is-21-million-cap-implemented  

---

## 3 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2013-05-02. Score: 28 | Accepted answer

The estimate is **2140** based on the block reward halving frequency of four years. [According to math and knowledge that there are 32 halving events](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/8823/how-many-bitcoin-are-mined-per-day), in 2136, the block reward will yield 0.00000168 BTC per day, which is 0.00000042 BTC per block. That's 42 [satoshis](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/114/what-is-a-satoshi).

It's arguable that there could be one additional halving, to a block reward of 0.00000021 BTC, but that would require a major protocol modification since the number of Bitcoin would then exceed 21 million. Additionally, to go past that, there'd have to be a protocol modification to extend divisibility past eight decimal places. It is far, far to early to worry about either of these, because we're more than a century away from this problem.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: What's the variance of the estimate of `2140`? Is it plus minus 2 years, 3 years?  
> **username_4**: The [time between blocks](http://blockchain.info/stats) is currently 8.57 minutes. That's about 9% faster than the 10 minutes-per-block goal that puts the final block mined in 2140. The time-betwee-blocks varies pretty widely. I can't find a graph of it, unfortunately. I've see it as low as 6 minutes, and as high as 14 in the last few months.  
> **username_5**: Why does the page you link me shows "time between blocks = 10.00 mins"? Where did you get 8.57?  
> **username_4**: That value changes constantly.  
> **username_5**: Any idea how is that number calculated?  
> **username_4**: It's as simple as (60 min * 24 hrs)/`$num_blocks_last_24hrs`. If there were more than 144 blocks in the last 24 hrs, then we're going faster than we should, and the difficulty is more likely to increase. If it's less, then we're going slower, and difficulty will decrease.  
> **username_5**: Would you consider this chart as accurate? : http://blockchain.info/charts/avg-confirmation-time?timespan=1year&showDataPoints=false&daysAverageString=1&show_header=true&scale=0&address=  
> **username_4**: Yes, that would be *close enough* to time-between-blocks, but it doesn't account for outlier situations. E.g., 1,000 transactions broadcast immediately after a block broadcast would skew this chart but not affect the time-between-blocks figure.  
> **username_2**: @username_4: How did you arrive at the 42 satoshis per block? In 2136, I got 2 satoshi per block. According to my calculation, the reward will go from 74 to 37 satoshi in 2116, it never hits 42 satoshis.  
> **username_6**: “It is far, far to early to worry about either of these, because we're more than a century away from this problem.” [Sounds familiar.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2000_problem) Actually, this problem might be even worse, because it might require all Bitcoin nodes to upgrade *together* – whereas the year 2000 problem could be fixed separately in each system.  

---

### Answer by username_2 on 2016-04-02. Score: 2

Bitcoin's reward schedule is implemented in eras of 210,000 blocks. The block subsidy gets halved with the first block of each new era. The 33rd "halving" at block 6,930,000 will reduce the block subsidy limit from 1 satoshi per block to 0 satoshi per block¹ and therefore the last block creating new bitcoins will be block 6,929,999.

At block intervals of 10 minutes, 210,000 blocks translate to about 3.99 years, although blocks have been found faster in average in the past. Under the simplifying assumption that the halvings will occur about every four years, the final block that creates new bitcoins would occur approximately in **2140**.

You can find a table with the respective calculations here: [Bitcoin Reward Schedule](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12tR_9WrY0Hj4AQLoJYj9EDBzfA38XIVLQSOOOVePNm0/pubhtml?gid=0&single=true)

Really, the mining reward will get minuscule much earlier already. In 2036 99% of the bitcoins will be in circulation, in 2048 it will be 99.9%.

---

¹Actually, the limit is 0.58207661 satoshi per block at that point, but since only whole satoshis can be paid out, none may be collected by miners.


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2016-04-01. Score: -2

As per considering mining of any cryptocurrency is calculated by increasing hash rate and difficulty and decreasing block rewards. So time prediction of final block mining is 2145.


---

