More than 19.95 million Bitcoin have already been issued, leaving less than 5% of the cryptocurrency’s fixed 21 million supply still to be mined. That milestone is renewing a long-running debate at the center of Bitcoin’s design: if new coin issuance keeps shrinking, who will pay to secure the network in the decades ahead? The question matters now because Bitcoin’s block subsidy was cut in half again in April 2024, and miner economics are becoming more dependent on transaction fees and market cycles.
A Scarcity Milestone Comes Into View
Bitcoin’s supply schedule is one of the most predictable in finance. The protocol caps issuance at 21 million coins and reduces the block subsidy every 210,000 blocks, or roughly every four years. The fourth halving, completed in April 2024, lowered the reward paid to miners from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block, cutting the pace of new issuance to about 450 BTC per day at the time.
That halving also marked a mathematical turning point. Glassnode noted that 19,687,500 BTC had been mined by the start of the current epoch, equal to 93.75% of Bitcoin’s terminal supply, with the remaining 1,312,500 BTC to be issued over more than a century. Since then, continued block production has pushed the network beyond the 95% threshold, a symbolic moment that underscores how little new supply remains relative to Bitcoin’s early years.
For investors, the milestone reinforces Bitcoin’s scarcity narrative. For miners and protocol analysts, however, it sharpens a more practical issue: the network’s “security budget,” or the total economic incentive paid to miners to validate transactions and defend the chain against attacks. In Bitcoin’s early life, that budget came overwhelmingly from newly minted coins. Over time, the system is designed to rely more heavily on transaction fees.
95% of All Bitcoin Is Mined — and It’s Raising a New Question About Security
The security question is not whether Bitcoin stops working after most coins are mined. It does not. Blocks continue to be produced, and miners continue to earn revenue from both the subsidy and transaction fees. The real issue is whether fee income can eventually replace the subsidy at a level high enough to keep enough computing power online.
Bitcoin’s security model depends on miners expending real-world resources, mainly electricity and hardware, to compete for block rewards. The larger the total reward pool, the stronger the incentive to contribute hashrate. As of February 2026, CoinWarz showed Bitcoin’s network hashrate at roughly 1,024 exahashes per second, after reaching an all-time high above 1,441 EH/s in September 2025. That remains a sign of substantial network security today, even after the latest halving.
Still, the composition of miner revenue is changing. Glassnode wrote after the 2024 halving that “the shift in revenue generation towards transaction fees” is becoming increasingly important for assessing miner profitability and network activity. In other words, the market is moving from a subsidy-dominant model toward one where demand for block space matters more.
Why fees matter more now
Miner revenue comes from two sources:
- Block subsidy: newly issued Bitcoin created with each block
- Transaction fees: payments from users competing for limited block space
As halvings continue, the subsidy falls mechanically. Fees, by contrast, are variable. They rise when network demand surges and fall when on-chain activity weakens. That makes the long-term security debate less about Bitcoin’s code and more about future user behavior, settlement demand, and the value users place on inclusion in the blockchain.
The Fee Market Is Growing, but It Is Not Stable
Bitcoin has already shown that fees can become meaningful during periods of congestion. In 2023, Glassnode reported that inscriptions helped lift miner fee income significantly, with some blocks generating fees that exceeded the then-6.25 BTC subsidy. The firm estimated that inscriptions contributed between 15% and 30% of total miner fee revenue during that year.
But that strength has not been consistent. In a 2025 market review, Glassnode said miner revenue from transaction fees had fallen sharply, averaging about $558,000 per day over the prior month, even as Bitcoin traded near record levels. The report described fee pressure as “surprisingly quiet,” suggesting that high asset prices do not automatically translate into strong on-chain fee demand.
That volatility is central to the security debate. A robust fee market could support miners as subsidies decline. A weak or intermittent fee market could compress margins, force less efficient miners offline, and potentially reduce hashrate if Bitcoin’s price does not offset the drop. In practice, miner economics depend on a mix of factors: Bitcoin price, energy costs, hardware efficiency, transaction demand, and the competitive structure of the mining industry.
Different views on the risk
There are at least three broad schools of thought:
- Optimists argue that Bitcoin’s price appreciation and periodic fee spikes will keep mining profitable.
- Skeptics warn that fee revenue may be too volatile to reliably replace the subsidy over the very long term.
- Pragmatists say the issue is real but distant, and that the network has decades to adapt through market evolution and technical improvements.
Each view has support in public data. Bitcoin’s hashrate remains historically high, which suggests miners still see strong incentives. At the same time, fee revenue has shown that it can surge dramatically and then fade just as quickly.
What This Means for Miners, Users, and Investors
For miners, the post-95% era increases pressure to operate efficiently. Companies with access to cheaper power, newer machines, and stronger balance sheets are better positioned to survive periods of low fees or lower margins. Smaller or higher-cost operators face greater sensitivity to each halving because their revenue per block falls immediately while many operating costs remain fixed.
For users, a fee-driven security model has mixed implications. On one hand, higher fees can be a sign that block space is valuable and demand is healthy. On the other, persistently high fees could make ordinary on-chain transactions less attractive, pushing more activity to custodial services or second-layer systems. Bitcoin Optech’s documentation on relay policy also highlights how fee incentives already shape how transactions propagate through the network, reflecting the growing importance of fee economics in day-to-day operation.
For investors, the milestone is both bullish and cautionary. It supports the case that Bitcoin is a scarce asset with a transparent issuance schedule. But it also reminds the market that scarcity alone does not secure a blockchain. Security depends on sustained economic incentives, and those incentives must remain strong enough to deter attacks and maintain decentralization.
The Long-Term Outlook for Bitcoin Security
The immediate risk to Bitcoin’s security appears limited. The network’s hashrate remains enormous by historical standards, and miner revenue still includes a meaningful subsidy in addition to fees. The final Bitcoin will not be mined until around 2140, leaving more than a century for the fee market and broader ecosystem to evolve.
Even so, the 95% milestone matters because it turns an abstract future issue into a visible present-day trend. Every halving reduces the share of miner income that comes from newly issued coins. That means the market is already testing whether transaction demand, settlement value, and Bitcoin’s price can together sustain the network’s security budget over time.
According to Glassnode, monitoring fees is increasingly important for understanding miner profitability after the halving. That may be the clearest takeaway from this moment. Bitcoin’s scarcity story is intact, but the next phase of the network’s maturity will be judged not only by how little supply remains, but by whether users continue to pay enough for block space to keep the chain secure.
Conclusion
The fact that more than 95% of all Bitcoin has now been mined is a landmark for the world’s largest cryptocurrency. It confirms the power of Bitcoin’s fixed-supply design and strengthens the asset’s scarcity appeal. At the same time, it brings renewed attention to a harder question: as block subsidies keep shrinking, can transaction fees and market value provide a durable foundation for network security?
For now, Bitcoin remains heavily defended by a vast global mining network and a still-meaningful subsidy. But the economics are shifting. The long-term success of Bitcoin may depend less on how many coins are left to mine and more on whether the network can sustain a strong, resilient fee market as issuance fades.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean that 95% of Bitcoin is mined?
It means more than 95% of Bitcoin’s maximum 21 million supply has already been issued through mining, leaving less than 5% still to be created over future decades.
Is Bitcoin running out?
Bitcoin is not “running out” in an operational sense. New coins will continue to be issued until around 2140, but the pace of issuance keeps slowing because of halvings.
Why does this raise a security question?
Bitcoin miners secure the network by spending money on hardware and electricity. As the block subsidy declines, the network increasingly depends on transaction fees to keep those incentives strong.
Is Bitcoin less secure today?
There is no clear evidence that Bitcoin is less secure today. Network hashrate remains extremely high, indicating strong current mining participation.
Can transaction fees replace mining rewards?
They can replace part of miner revenue, and at times fees have surged sharply. But fee income has also been volatile, which is why the long-term debate remains unresolved.
When will all 21 million Bitcoin be mined?
Bitcoin’s issuance schedule is expected to continue until around the year 2140, when the final fractions of a coin are projected to be mined.
