Although bitcoins are bought, sold, and lost more today than ever before, the rate of new bitcoins being created is starting to slow. The reasons behind that are a little complex, but suffice it to say, the closer we get to the 21 million maximum number of bitcoins mined, the harder it gets and we’ve just hit the 80 percent milestone. Its creator, the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto, mined the first bitcoin block in its blockchain back in 2009, rewarding him with 50 bitcoins. Earlier this month, miners extracted the 16,800,000th bitcoin, which is significant, because it means there are only 20 percent of all the bitcoin there will ever be to go. Here’s hoping we’ve spent at least a few of our coins before then.

Source: Fox News January 15, 2018 15:33 UTC