As interest in cryptocurrencies continues to soar, recent data shows that the supply of Bitcoin, the world’s foremost digital currency, is rapidly diminishing. Bitcoin has a finite limit of 21 million coins, and as of February 2026, approximately 19,127,250 BTC have already been mined. This leaves only about 1,872,750 BTC, or 8.9 percent of the total supply, still available for mining.
The urgency in the crypto community is palpable, especially after Bitcoin recently achieved a new all-time high price of around $120,781. The historical context is striking: when Bitcoin was launched in 2009, virtually none of the total supply had been mined. Now, more than 91 percent of it is in circulation.
Mining conditions are becoming increasingly stringent due to a systematic reduction in rewards for miners, which occurs approximately every four years. This mechanism ensures that new Bitcoins do not appear quickly, hence making the remaining coins harder to come by. The last Bitcoin is not expected to be mined until around the year 2140, suggesting that most of the significant mining activity is already behind us.
Adding complexity to the situation, an estimated 12.1 percent of all Bitcoin, or roughly 2,550,000 BTC, is categorized as lost or stranded in wallets that have never been accessed. Some of these coins are believed to belong to Bitcoin’s elusive creator, which essentially freezes a significant portion of the currency supply in time.
As for ownership, individual investors hold the majority of Bitcoin. A staggering 62.7 percent of the supply, equivalent to approximately 13,156,748 BTC, is owned by regular people. This means that everyday investors are the predominant holders of Bitcoin.
In contrast, larger entities such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and financial institutions possess 7.6 percent, while corporations hold another 5.6 percent. Additionally, governments around the world control about 3.1 percent of the total supply, amounting to around 647,000 BTC.
With only a fraction of Bitcoin still left to mine and ownership distributed among millions of wallets, the landscape of this cryptocurrency is evolving rapidly. The dwindling supply is raising questions about scarcity and value, and as the countdown continues, the remaining coins are becoming increasingly challenging to acquire.
