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Ask HN: What will happen to new transactions once all BTC coins are minted?

5 points by SandroG ↗ HN
Has anyone given serious thought to how will new transactions be settled after all 21M BTC coins are mined? Will this create a spike in transaction fees to reincentivise miners? Will the protocol be changed to allow for more coins to keep miners busy ( thus introducing inflation)? Will transaction times be lengthened? Will some transactions be dropped? How will all this affect the terminal price of and confidence in BTC?

3 comments

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halixand
I can't find the source right now but I read somewhere that it would take approximately 100 years to mine the last few bitcoins in the blockchain. The difficulty will be very high and I'm guessing the transaction fees will be high to incentivize miners to keep going. I don't think it's event possible to change the protocol and allow for more coins to be added since this would create an entirely new blockchain?
SandroG
For all practical purposes, mining the last remaining coins will be cost prohibitive. High transaction fees might depress the Bitcoin prices. Not sure if anyone will pay hundreds of dollars for a single transaction. I don’t see a sustainable solution behind this.
flignats
yes, there has been serious thought to this.

The fee to verify transactions is based on an auction model. Miners will always pick the transactions with the highest fee. If you want your transaction confirmed, you'll increase the fee. Or lower it, because you can afford to wait for it to be confirmed later.