Last weekend, Bitcoin reached a milestone in its history, with 80% of the total circulating supply having been mined, which means that only 20% of the total supply can be mined. The concept of digital scarcity was first introduced in Nakamoto's white paper, and soon, the digital asset will become increasingly difficult to obtain.

Only 4.2 million bitcoins remain to be mined

On January 13, 2018, the 16,800,000th bitcoin was mined, which means that only 20% of the total supply can be mined. Since Satoshi Nakamoto introduced the Bitcoin white paper to the public in 2009 through the codebase, the supply of Bitcoin has always been limited. The supply of Bitcoin will never increase, and Satoshi set the total supply at 21 million. So far, Satoshi's white paper and the efforts of miners have ensured that this rule works successfully through hashing and cannot be changed. However, in theory, some skeptics believe that the supply of Bitcoin can be increased through manipulation such as 51% computing power attacks or Sybil attacks. As the digital currency has been around for nearly a decade, no one has been able to break its 21 million total limit.

Solved the Byzantine Generals Problem

There is reason to believe that Nakamoto has solved one of the hardest computational equations, the Byzantine Generals Problem, a security vulnerability that has plagued computer scientists for decades. Typically, this problem exists in a distributed network, and when the release process carries certain problems and security vulnerabilities, it makes the network more vulnerable to attack. Because of this, it is difficult for the treaty to further prove it because there is an unresolved proof problem in the network.

In the original Bitcoin white paper, Satoshi Nakamoto introduced the proof of work mechanism, which is an economic means by which the process of attacking the network becomes very difficult, expensive and time-consuming. In the world of digital computing, Satoshi Nakamoto introduced for the first time an asset that can neither be copied nor double-spent. At the same time, he introduced the concept of digital scarcity, which limits the supply of Bitcoin, which is unprecedented in the field of science and technology.

Digital Scarcity and the Next Halving

Because the cryptocurrency has a limited supply of 21 million, Bitcoin will become harder to obtain as it becomes more scarce. In most cases, when an asset is limited and hard to come by, its supply will trigger demand in the market. Bitcoin supply shows the huge gap between the amount of Bitcoin available and the amount of people who want to buy it. Most Bitcoiners believe that digital scarcity will make Bitcoin more valuable over time, especially now that 168 million Bitcoins have been mined.

As the difficulty of mining increases, miners must continue to increase their mining power. Based on the current hash rate, the next halving of the mining reward for miners will come in two years. This means that miners previously received 12.5 Bitcoins for each block they mined, and now they will receive 6.25. The network consensus that the Bitcoin mining reward will be halved every four years makes Bitcoin more difficult to obtain, even for warehouses with large data processing units deployed around the world. To continue to generate profits, every player in the process, including ASIC technology itself, needs to keep improving. Of course, the price of Bitcoin should be more than the money it costs to mine it.

Unlike Ripple, which has 100 billion, Bitcoin only has 21 million

Another point to consider when looking at the vast blockchain landscape is that Satoshi’s invention is not like the other 1,300 cryptocurrencies that already exist, which only have 21 million. Other digital currencies already have billions in circulation, and billions more may be issued at the same time through an unproven proof-of-stake mechanism. So, in essence, what the inventor of Bitcoin created is something very different from the digital goods we exchange today. Unlike your MP3 or digital movie, Bitcoin cannot be copied, and as of this weekend, 16,800 Bitcoins have been mined, and a large number of them are lost. For many cryptocurrency investors, this makes Satoshi’s invention a valuable digital asset unlike anything else in the world.

The four most famous international exchanges:

Binance INTL	OKX INTL	Gate.io INTL	Huobi INTL
China Line　APP DL	China Line　APP DL	China Line　APP DL	China Line　APP DL

Note: The above exchange logo is the official website registration link, and the text is the APP download link.