The next reduction is projected for 2028, when the subsidy drops to 1.5625 BTC and daily issuance falls to around 225 BTC.
Subsequent halvings continue this decline, so that by the early 2030s the daily output will be measured in tens of BTC rather than hundreds.Because issuance was front-loaded, the network reached 50 percent of its maximum supply in its first few years and 75 percent not long afterward.
The 95 percent threshold was crossed in late 2025. Reaching 99 percent is expected around 2035.
The final 1 percent, however, stretches across decades as the subsidy shrinks toward zero.There will be no single block that releases the “last” whole bitcoin.
By the time the schedule approaches 2140, rewards will have dwindled to fractions of a satoshi—the smallest unit of bitcoin, equal to one hundred-millionth of a BTC. After the final one-satoshi era, the subsidy reaches zero.
The theoretical maximum is actually slightly under 21 million (approximately 20,999,999.9769 BTC) because the protocol uses integer arithmetic that cannot create fractions smaller than one satoshi.
Miners currently earn the bulk of their revenue from the block subsidy; transaction fees still represent only a small percentage of total income in most periods.
Each halving therefore forces the industry to rely more heavily on fees, higher bitcoin prices, more efficient hardware, or lower energy costs.
Hashrate—the total computational power securing the network—remains high, but the long-term security budget depends on whether fees can eventually replace the disappearing subsidy.
The remaining 929,465 BTC are not the same as coins available for purchase.
A meaningful portion of already-mined bitcoin is believed to be permanently inaccessible due to lost private keys or other irreversible losses, further tightening effective supply. The next major test arrives with the 2028 halving, when the pace of new issuance will slow once more and the network’s economic incentives will be tested again.
