Bitcoin is often called digital gold because there will be only 21 million BTC ever coming into existence in the future. At the beginning of this month, the Bitcoin network was making a new all-time high in terms of its hash rate and now there is a new record that shows how scarce BTC really is. According to the latest network data, over 90 % of all BTC have been mined so far.

Why is this important and how many coins are available on the market? Today we are going to dive a little bit deeper into the rabbit hole and discover Bitcoin’s scarcity.

There is not much left on the table

With 18,9 million BTC already mined there is only very little to go and the last 2 million BTC will take a lot of time. It is estimated that all 20.999.999 Bitcoins will be mined in 2145. For somebody who believes in Bitcoin’s vision, this clearly means that there is not much BTC left on the table.

But it is still a good idea to remember that scarcity does not automatically result in a higher price. Sure, over 90 % have been mined, but as the market is showing us right it is not only about how much is totally available in general but also how many investors are willing to sell. At the time of writing, price levels get pushed down further.

Bitcoin is scarcer than you might think

This particular event didn’t go unnoticed and many Bitcoiners got excited. The reason is simple. Technically there is 18,9 million BTC available, but then again people were losing a lot of funds in the last 12 years.

A little bit more than 1,1 million BTC are attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto. But the mysterious inventor of Bitcoin disappeared and his coins that have been mined in the early days haven’t been moved. The results of blockchain analysis and research in this field vary. But it is estimated that between 2,5 and 3,7 million Bitcoins are already lost. This includes the famous Satoshi coins, too.

It is difficult to figure out which coins are lost and which might be recovered or moved in the future. If you believe that only half of these coins are really lost, it means that Bitcoin is already scarce, since the amount that is available to the market is thinner than the total amount that has been mined.