Bitcoin Supply

While there is considerable uncertainty surrounding Bitcoin, one element is fully deterministic: the issuance protocol. New bitcoins are created according to a pre-programmed halving schedule that mechanically reduces mining rewards every four years. Each colored stripe represents one four-year production epoch from 2009 to 2040, while the black line traces the cumulative total supply. The early years dominate issuance: the first epoch (2009–2013) created more than 10 million BTC. By the 2037–2040 epoch, fewer than 500,000 BTC will be issued.

Data: Bitcoin halving schedule, four-year epochs from 2009–2040. Mining reward halves every 210,000 blocks (50, 25, 12.5, 6.25, 3.125 BTC per block).

From an idea by Florent R.