How Many Bitcoins Are Left to Mine? Supply Explained

Bitcoin (BTC) had about 899,756 coins left to mine at its mid-October 2026 close, counted block by block from the network's reward rule. Miners had issued 20.10 million BTC by then, 95.72% of the 21 million cap. The code fixes every block's reward until around 2140, so how many bitcoins are left to mine is a sum anyone can check.

Recomputing it from Bitcoin Core's subsidy rule puts the true ceiling at 20,999,999.9769 BTC, 0.0231 BTC under the 21 million everyone quotes. Coin Metrics, one supply tracker, counted 130.13 BTC less than the schedule for the same blocks. What's left comes early, with 63.53% of it due before the halving around April 2032.

How Many Bitcoins Have Been Mined So Far?

The chain had produced 20.10 million bitcoins by the mid-October 2026 close. That's every block reward from the genesis block of January 2009 through block 972,077, the last block found before the close.

Block 939,999 took the schedule to exactly 20 million BTC on 9 March 2026, so the 20 millionth bitcoin came out of that block. Another 32,078 blocks followed by the mid-October close and added about 100,244 BTC.

New coins arrived faster than the 10-minute target implies in the 30 days to mid-October 2026. Miners found 4,445 blocks in that stretch, about 148 a day, and minted about 463 new BTC a day between them. That's 2.89% more than the 450 BTC a day of the target pace, since blocks averaged 583 seconds against 600.

Over the year to mid-October 2026 blocks averaged 602 seconds, close to target, and the supply grew 0.8205% on its level at the mid-October 2025 close. Coin Metrics' series shows the same 0.8205%.

A capped supply still trades against shifting demand, a point Phemex Academy's explainer on Bitcoin supply and demand takes up.

How Many Bitcoins Are Left to Mine?

Take the ceiling, subtract the 20.10 million issued by the mid-October close, and 899,756 BTC remain. That's how much bitcoin is left to mine in total, but you won't see it arrive evenly, because every halving cuts the flow in two.

Each share in the table is a share of the 899,756 BTC left. The era after the 2028 halving pays 328,125 BTC, and all the eras after the 2032 halving put together pay 0.0231 BTC less over roughly 108 years.

How Is the Bitcoin Supply Counted From the Chain?

The count runs on one rule in Bitcoin Core, the network's reference software. Its subsidy function sets the first reward at 50 BTC per block, with the comment "Subsidy is cut in half every 210,000 blocks which will occur approximately every 4 years." The mainnet parameters in Bitcoin Core set that interval and a 10-minute block target.

Method: a block's reward is 50 BTC halved once for each full 210,000 blocks before it, rounded down to a whole satoshi. Blocks 0 to 839,999 paid 19,687,500 BTC over four eras, and blocks 840,000 to 972,077 paid 3.125 BTC each, another 412,744 BTC. That total includes the genesis block's 50 BTC, which no one can ever spend.

Run the rule forward and 33 eras pay something. From the 11th era, which starts at block 2,100,000, the halved reward stops dividing evenly and gets rounded down to a whole satoshi each time. Those trimmed fractions add up to the 0.0231 BTC that keeps the ceiling under 21 million.

Why Do Bitcoin Supply Trackers Show Lower Numbers?

Coin Metrics, one tracker that counts the ledger, lands a little under the schedule because it leaves out the genesis reward and some later rewards. It defines its supply as the sum of all units "ever created and visible on the ledger". Its daily count for mid-October 2026 sat 130.13 BTC, or 0.00065%, under the schedule for the same blocks.

Bitcoin Core's documentation for its coin-set summary command sorts coins that can never be spent into four kinds. Two of those four are tied to known blocks from 2010 and 2017.

• Overwritten rewards, 100 BTC. In November 2010, blocks 91,842 and 91,880 repeated the coinbase transactions of blocks 91,812 and 91,722, and each copy overwrote the earlier 50 BTC reward. BIP 30 later barred a transaction from duplicating one with unspent outputs, and it grandfathered in "the two historic blocks at heights 91842 and 91880".

• An unclaimed reward, 12.5 BTC. Block 501,726 paid its miner 0 satoshis in December 2017, so its 12.5 BTC subsidy was never created.

• The other two kinds. Bitcoin Core also lists the genesis block's 50 BTC and coins sent to unspendable scripts, for example OP_RETURN outputs.

Coin Metrics' series still counts the 100 overwritten BTC but leaves out block 501,726's 12.5 BTC. Its 130.13 BTC gap is the genesis block's 50 BTC plus about 80.13 BTC left out across many days, with the 12.5 BTC the largest piece.

If you check the figure a year apart, the gap barely moves. Coin Metrics' mid-October 2025 count sat 130.09 BTC under the schedule for the same blocks, so the gap grew by about 0.04 BTC in a year.

Lost coins are a separate question. A coin whose keys are gone stays on the ledger, so every supply count you look up keeps it. The chain can't tell such a coin from one that's simply idle, and the Phemex blog's post on the paradox of lost bitcoins takes that question further.

When Is the Next Bitcoin Halving?

The next halving lands at block 1,050,000, where the reward drops from 3.125 BTC to 1.5625 BTC. That block was 77,923 blocks away at the mid-October 2026 close, which puts it around April 2028 at the 10-minute target.

Blocks have run slightly fast since the April 2024 halving at block 840,000, averaging 597 seconds, and that pace also lands the halving in April 2028. The one after it comes at block 1,260,000 around April 2032, cutting the reward to 0.78125 BTC.

A halving cuts miners' new-coin income in two at a single block, and Phemex Academy's page on what a Bitcoin halving is covers the mechanics.

When Will the Last Bitcoin Be Mined?

The last new bitcoin, strictly the last new satoshi, is due around 2140. The 33rd era runs from block 6,720,000 to block 6,929,999 and pays 1 satoshi per block. At block 6,930,000 the halved reward rounds down to zero, and it stays at zero for good.

That year assumes 10-minute blocks, so treat any exact date you see as an estimate. At exactly 600 seconds a block the last paying block arrives in January 2140, and at the pace since April 2024 it comes in mid-2139.

Mining doesn't stop then. The FAQ on bitcoin.org about how bitcoins are created says issuance "halts completely with a total of 21 million bitcoins in existence", after which miners "will probably be supported exclusively by numerous small transaction fees".

Satoshi Nakamoto's Bitcoin whitepaper planned the same handover, saying the block incentive "can transition entirely to transaction fees and be completely inflation free".

Can More Than 21 Million Bitcoin Be Created?

Not under the rules every node enforces. Bitcoin Core checks each block's coinbase transaction and rejects the block if it pays out more than the subsidy plus the fees it collected.

The 21 million figure in the code is a second, separate guard. Bitcoin Core's MAX_MONEY constant caps any single amount at 21,000,000 BTC. Its comment calls the cap "a sanity check" and says the total supply "happens to be less than 21,000,000 BTC for various reasons".

Raising either limit would take new software that nodes choose to run, and any node left on the old rules would reject the larger payouts as invalid. The bitcoin.org FAQ puts it plainly, saying every node "will reject anything that does not comply with the rules it expects the system to follow".

How Can You Trade Bitcoin on Phemex?

Phemex's BTCUSDT perpetual closed mid-October 2026 at 82,077.9 USDT and runs up to 150x leverage, with funding every 8 hours.

1. Open a Phemex account and complete the identity verification it asks for.

2. Fund your account with USDT, the currency the BTCUSDT perpetual settles in.

3. Open the BTCUSDT perpetual and set your leverage anywhere up to 150x.

4. Place a long or short order, and attach a stop-loss before it fills.

Futures use leverage, and a leveraged position is closed automatically if losses reach its margin.

Spot buyers get a step-by-step route in how to buy Bitcoin (BTC) on Phemex, which covers the BTCUSDT spot pair.

Frequently Asked Questions

What percentage of bitcoin has been mined?

The chain had mined 95.72% of the 21 million cap by the mid-October 2026 close, about 20.10 million BTC. The other 4.28%, about 899,756 coins, arrives by around 2140.

How many bitcoins are there?

The reward schedule had created 20.10 million BTC by the mid-October 2026 close. One supply tracker, Coin Metrics, counted 130.13 BTC fewer for the same blocks. Both counts still include coins whose owners lost their keys.

What happens when all bitcoin is mined?

Miners stop earning new coins at block 6,930,000, around 2140, and live on transaction fees alone. Blocks keep coming, paid for by the fees inside them. The Phemex blog covers what happens after the last bitcoin is mined in more depth.

Is bitcoin supply really limited?

Yes. Every node rejects a block that pays its miner more than the subsidy plus fees, and the subsidy halves every 210,000 blocks until it rounds down to zero. The schedule tops out at 20,999,999.9769 BTC, slightly under 21 million.

Bottom Line

The date everyone quotes, 2140, is the least useful one on the schedule. By the halving around April 2032 the chain will have issued about 20.67 million BTC, 98.44% of the cap. The last 1.56% then takes roughly 108 years to arrive.

So the supply shocks you can still plan for are the next two halvings. At the 10-minute target they cut new issuance from 450 BTC a day to 225 around April 2028, then to 112.5 around April 2032.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not financial advice. Cryptocurrency trading involves substantial risk. Always do your own research before making investment decisions.