Guides / Decide / The supply curve
Interactive chart

The supply curve to 21 million

Calculated block by block from the issuance schedule, with the live block height marked.

Education only

Bitcoin's supply is set by a simple schedule in the software: each block pays a subsidy that started at 50 BTC and halves every 210,000 blocks, rounded down to whole satoshis. Add those up and issuance ends just under 21 million BTC. The chart below is calculated from that schedule, with today's block height from mempool.space.

Source: Bitcoin Core: src/validation.cpp: GetBlockSubsidy, 50 BTC halved every 210,000 blocks, Bitcoin Core: src/consensus/amount.h: COIN (100,000,000 satoshis) and MAX_MONEY (21 million BTC).

Interactive chart

Bitcoin issued by block height

Dashed lines mark the first five halvings, every 210,000 blocks.

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Calculated on this page from the issuance schedule. Current block from mempool.space. Dates after today are estimates at 10 minutes per block, not forecasts of anything else.

The halvings so far

HalvingBlockDate (UTC)Subsidy after
First210,00028 November 201225 BTC
Second420,0009 July 201612.5 BTC
Third630,00011 May 20206.25 BTC
Fourth840,00020 April 20243.125 BTC
Fifth1,050,000Estimate loading1.5625 BTC

The maths, in brief

There are 33 eras of 210,000 blocks in which the subsidy is at least one satoshi. In era 0 it is 5,000,000,000 satoshis (50 BTC). In each later era it is the previous figure halved and rounded down. The last block with a subsidy is block 6,929,999. Summing every era gives 2,099,999,997,690,000 satoshis, which is 20,999,999.9769 BTC.

Source: Bitcoin Core: src/validation.cpp: GetBlockSubsidy, 50 BTC halved every 210,000 blocks, Bitcoin Core: src/consensus/amount.h: COIN (100,000,000 satoshis) and MAX_MONEY (21 million BTC), Bitcoin Core: src/kernel/chainparams.cpp: halving interval of 210,000 blocks, 10 minute block target, two week retarget, genesis block.

See the formulas on GitHub

The supply schedule is a fact about the software. It says nothing about price, and this page does not either. For how a company might size an allocation, see the sizing guide. For what a halving means for a company, and why a four-year price cycle is a weak basis for treasury decisions, see the bitcoin halving and the four-year cycle.

Sources

Primary sources only. Each link was checked on 29 October 2026. Rules change, so confirm the current version with your adviser.

  1. Bitcoin Coresrc/validation.cpp: GetBlockSubsidy, 50 BTC halved every 210,000 blocks
  2. Bitcoin Coresrc/consensus/amount.h: COIN (100,000,000 satoshis) and MAX_MONEY (21 million BTC)
  3. Bitcoin Coresrc/kernel/chainparams.cpp: halving interval of 210,000 blocks, 10 minute block target, two week retarget, genesis block
  4. mempool.spaceBlock 210,000, the first halving (28 November 2012)
  5. mempool.spaceBlock 420,000, the second halving (9 July 2016)
  6. mempool.spaceBlock 630,000, the third halving (11 May 2020)
  7. mempool.spaceBlock 840,000, the fourth halving (20 April 2024)
  8. mempool.spaceREST API documentation: block height, hash rate, difficulty adjustment and fee estimates
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Education, not advice.

This is general information and education only. It is not financial, investment, tax, accounting, legal or regulatory advice, and it is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold bitcoin or any other asset. It does not take account of your circumstances or those of your company. You must obtain your own official professional advice to confirm this information is correct before acting on it.

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