In 2009, mining a block paid out 50 bitcoins. In 2026, it pays 3.125. By 2140, it will pay zero. This isn't drift, it's been the plan from day one.
You've already met in the previous chapter. It rests on serious effort from miners.
Why bother? Not out of pure altruism. The protocol rewards them.
But the subsidy doesn't stay put. Look carefully at the curve below.
The subsidy only shrinks over time. The last fraction of a bitcoin will be issued around 2140.
The issuance of new bitcoins follows a mathematical staircase. It's driven by a mechanism called the halving. Let's take a closer look.
Set the dial. Pull the lever. Discover the block reward of that era.
Pull the lever to travel through time.
Bitcoin gets scarcer for everyone, and tougher for those who produce it.
Put yourself in a miner's shoes for a moment.
- your bitcoin income just got halved
- your costs (hardware, electricity) barely budge
Your margin is under threat. You might walk away from the market, along with other miners who can no longer keep up. And right there, the network's security could start to wobble.
How would you answer the following question?
After a halving, what keeps the network in balance?
One question keeps coming back about the long-term economics of mining, once new bitcoin issuance has nearly dried up.
Bitcoin flips the standard monetary logic on its head:
- In classical monetary systems, the cost of the system is largely paid through money creation and intermediaries
- In Bitcoin, the cost is paid through the fees users agree to when they use the network
A virtuous cycle that feeds itself.
Here's the idea in motion (illustrative figures, 2025 ballpark):
What exactly are they securing?
How does a Bitcoin transaction work without a bank? And how does ownership change hands without an intermediary?
On to the next chapter: .