So far, 18.89mln bitcoin tokens, or 90% of the whole supply of the cryptocurrency, has already been mined.
The remaining 10% is to be extracted over the next 120 years, according to Blockchain.com.
Crypto analytics firm Chainalysis estimates that nearly 3.7mln out of 18.89mln tokens are considered ‘lost’, due to reasons such as forgetting the password to a wallet or even death of a coin holder.
A further 1mln Bitcoin is held by creator Satoshi Nakamoto, which has been untouched since its inception.
The entire number of bitcoin, which is estimated to be 21mln tokens, is expected to be fully mined by 2140, based on current network activity estimates.
What will also affect this is the process known as a Bitcoin ‘halving’, where the number of Bitcoin rewarded to miners is halved, something that occurs every four years.
In 2009, Bitcoin miners were rewarded with 50 Bitcoin for every 10 minutes of mining that took place. Currently, it is at 6.25 Bitcoin for every 10 minutes of mining, with that number to be halved again soon.
The price of the coin has increased alongside the number of tokens in circulation at any given time, with it currently trading at US$48,920 with 90% of coins in circulation.