When will the last bitcoin be mined? Under today’s rules, in block 6,929,999, and the code sets no date for it. At 10 minutes a block that is about January 2140 on this desk’s projection; at 9.8 minutes, October 2137; at 10.2, May 2142. Only the block number is fixed.
This is an evergreen question. The only dated part below is the chain reading of 6 November 2026, and a later reading resets the projection from that day.
When will the last bitcoin be mined, according to the code?
This desk read GetBlockSubsidy in Bitcoin Core’s validation.cpp, on the project’s master branch, on 6 November 2026. There is no calendar in it. The function takes a block height, works out how many halvings have passed, starts from 50 × COIN and shifts that figure right once per halving. Its comment says the subsidy is cut in half “every 210,000 blocks which will occur approximately every 4 years”.
A right shift throws away anything below one satoshi, the whole unit the code counts in. Our arithmetic from that function: the 33rd era starts at block 6,720,000 and pays 1 satoshi a block. One more shift gives zero, so block 6,929,999 is the last with a subsidy. The separate rule forcing zero at 64 halvings guards against an undefined shift, and sits far past the point where the subsidy has already run out.
Added up, the 33 eras come to 2,099,999,997,690,000 satoshis: 20,999,999.9769 BTC. That is the most the function can issue, not a count of coins in existence. This desk did not check whether every reward was claimed in full, hence “at most”. The logic could only change through a consensus change, which nothing read here predicts.
What year will the last bitcoin be mined?
Block 974,755 was the chain tip when this desk read blockchain.info and mempool.space on 6 November 2026, leaving 5,955,244 blocks to go. Blocks arrive at a varying pace, so multiply the remainder by a pace and you get a date. The table is Coin Brief’s projection, holding each pace constant from that reading.
| Minutes a block | Where the pace comes from | Block 6,929,999 lands around |
|---|---|---|
| 9.62 | Measured average since block 0, January 2009 | October 2135 |
| 9.8 | Illustrative | October 2137 |
| 9.94 | Measured average since block 840,000, April 2024 | May 2139 |
| 10 | The yardstick in mempool.space’s difficulty figures | January 2140 |
| 10.2 | Illustrative | May 2142 |
Every 0.1 of a minute moves the date by about 414 days. None of these paces is a forecast, and the 9.8 to 10.2 spread is an illustration, not a limit: the lifetime average sits outside it. Both measured rows use mempool.space block timestamps up to block 973,728 on 29 October 2026. The current difficulty period was running at about 10.31 minutes over its 1,027 blocks when read, a snapshot too short to project from.
A single date ages badly. The Bitcoin Wiki’s supply page says the timing is “subject to speculation based on assumptions”. It gives near 8 October 2140 had mining power stayed constant from the start, and 7 May 2140 as of block 367,500. So 2140 is one row in the table, not a fact in the code.
How many bitcoins are left to mine, and when do the last ones arrive?
By the same arithmetic the schedule had issued about 20.1 million BTC through block 974,755, leaving about 891,000. The tail is very long, and very thin. Figures count the named block; dates use the 10-minute row, so the same caveats apply.
| From block | Subsidy a block (BTC) | BTC still to come | Around, at 10 minutes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,050,000 | 1.5625 | 656,249.9769 | 2028 |
| 1,680,000 | 0.1953125 | 82,031.2269 | 2040 |
| 5,040,000 | 0.00000298 | 1.2432 | 2104 |
| 5,250,000 | 0.00000149 | 0.6174 | 2108 |
| 6,720,000 | 0.00000001 | 0.0021 | 2136 |
| 6,929,999 | 0.00000001 | 0.00000001 | 2140 |
A Reddit thread that ranks for this question opens by claiming only about 1 BTC is mined in the last 100 years. The code does not bear that out. Some 82,031 BTC is still to come from block 1,680,000, roughly a century before the end at 10 minutes a block. Less than 1 BTC remains only from block 5,121,611, around 2105, which is about the last 34 years. The claim has the shape right and the century wrong.
What do miners earn after block 6,929,999?
The code does not stop mining with the subsidy. In validation.cpp the reward limit is nFees + GetBlockSubsidy(...), and a block whose coinbase pays more than that fails with “coinbase pays too much”. From block 6,930,000 the subsidy term is zero, so the limit is the fees in that block. Fees move existing coins rather than create new ones. Whether they will be enough to pay for mining is open, and this desk has no figure for it.
How would HMRC treat a fee-only mining reward?
Nobody can say what UK tax rules will look like a century out, so this is today’s position only. HMRC’s CRYPTO21150, in a manual updated on 28 November 2025, says whether mining is a taxable trade depends on factors such as degree of activity, organisation, risk and commerciality. If it is not a trade, the pound sterling value at the time of receipt of any tokens awarded is taxable as miscellaneous income, less appropriate expenses. Keep the assets and Capital Gains Tax may apply when you later dispose of them.
That page, as read on 6 November 2026, says mining will typically involve generating new tokens, and it does not mention transaction fees. It therefore does not say whether a fee-only reward counts as tokens awarded. We read that one page, not HMRC’s other manuals, and draw no conclusion from it. For mining in the UK now, see our legality and tax piece.
Questions readers ask
What year will the last Bitcoin be mined?
No year is fixed. Block 6,929,999 is the last with a subsidy, and its date depends on how fast blocks arrive. This desk’s projection from 6 November 2026 gives about January 2140 at 10 minutes a block, October 2137 at 9.8 and May 2142 at 10.2. The 2140 usually quoted is one point on that range, and a different average moves it.
How many bitcoins are left to be mined?
About 891,000, by arithmetic from the subsidy function at block 974,755 on 6 November 2026: roughly 20.1 million issued on the code’s schedule, against a ceiling of 20,999,999.9769 BTC. That is a schedule figure, not a count of spendable coins. It falls by 3.125 BTC with each block until the next halving, at block 1,050,000.
Is there a limited amount of Bitcoin?
Yes, under the current rules. The subsidy function can issue at most 20,999,999.9769 BTC, slightly under the 21 million usually quoted, because each halving drops fractions of a satoshi. That is a ceiling worked out from the code, not a count of coins, and only a consensus change could alter it. Nothing this desk read predicts one.
What happens when all 21 million bitcoins are mined?
The subsidy stops from block 6,930,000, and the total never quite reaches 21 million. Blocks can still be mined: Bitcoin Core’s validation code limits a miner’s reward to fees plus subsidy, so with a subsidy of zero the limit is the transaction fees alone. Nothing in the code says what those fees will amount to, and this desk does not guess.
Worth saying plainly: a block number is a fact about the code, and a date is only arithmetic on top of it. Crypto assets are high risk, and nothing here is advice. Your tax position is a question for HMRC or a qualified adviser.