One of the most curious properties of Bitcoin is that the maximum number of coins that can be created is defined: 21 million Bitcoin. This is because the creator or original creators of Bitcoin (under the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto) decided to create a deflationary currency, like gold.
If something is scarce naturally it is more likely to have value. If Bitcoin could be created indefinitely and uncontrolled, it would have no value (or it would be very temporary). If its creation is limited, it increases the probability that it is good, being scarce, it will have value.
Now, what will happen when the limit of 21 million Bitcoin is reached? It is a big question whose answer will depend, in part, on the acceptance that the cryptocurrency has at that moment.
First of all you have to know how much is missing to reach the limit of 21 million Bitcoin. And the answer is "it depends". And this is because the bitcoin creation algorithm is somewhat complicated and the rate of generation of new Bitcoin in the mining process is becoming slower as time passes.
Currently some 16 million Bitcoin have been mined, which is 75% of the final value. It is estimated that by 2032, 99% of Bitcoin will have been mined, but since the production rate will be lower it will not be until approximately 2140 when the last Bitcoin is mined.
However in practice somewhere between 2032 and 2140 the profitability of mining will be very low if we look at it from the point of view of the Bitcoin that appear out of nowhere to reward the miner. Therefore we will be in a situation in which we could say that the limit has been reached, although there will still be an incidental prize.
The big question is what will happen to the miners if they do not receive compensation for their work. And we must not forget that without miners the transactions are not confirmed and the entire system behind Bitcoin (the blockchain) collapses.
When the reward for mining goes down even more what will happen is that the miners will live on the commissions to confirm the transactions. And is that in every transaction that occurs from Bitcoin, a small part of the money is lost to finance the miners. At present this is negligible with respect to what is obtained by mining, but in the future it will be the main source of income.
So that the miners do not disappear, two things must happen: either that the commissions are higher or that only the most efficient miners survive. This we have seen in the past, the miners who used CPUs gave way to those of GPU and those who do the mining by ASIC. In the future only the most efficient will survive. And if it is not enough, if the cost of energy is excessive, if the price of Bitcoin is low, they may disappear and with them the virtual currency.
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