I just noticed that Bitcoin has already surpassed a key milestone. There are now over 20 million BTC mined, which confirms one of Bitcoin’s main narratives—that this coin is truly scarce.

What’s interesting is Bitcoin’s design from the beginning. Satoshi Nakamoto set a cap of 21 million coins in the protocol to ensure genuine scarcity. Unlike fiat money, which central banks can print without limit, Bitcoin has a clear and unchangeable issuance schedule. Moreover, through the halving mechanism that reduces miners’ rewards approximately every four years, Bitcoin’s inflation rate remains below 1%, making it a hard money with strong value.

Currently, only about 1 million coins remain to be mined, which will take over 100 years to complete. With the current issuance rate of roughly 450 BTC per day, the last coin is expected to be mined around 2105. After that, miners will rely on transaction fees instead of block rewards for their income.

This is something to watch closely. The transition to a fee-driven revenue model will determine the security and economics of the Bitcoin network in the long term. Miners will need to adapt to this new income structure, which is why fractional reserves and mining efficiency improvements are becoming increasingly important.

For those who are fully committed to Bitcoin, this scarcity is the foundation. Anyone attempting to change the 21 million cap is essentially undermining Bitcoin’s core value as a hard money, distinct from traditional fiat systems.