Bitcoin (BTC)
Unlock Schedule
Bitcoin (BTC) Token Unlock & Vesting Schedule
The unlock chart above provides a clear visual overview of the Bitcoin (BTC) token release schedule, showing when and how tokens enter circulation across investor, team, treasury, and community allocations. Understanding these tokenomics dynamics is critical for evaluating potential supply pressure, inflation impact, and market liquidity over time — key factors that can influence BTC price performance.
Each color segment in the chart corresponds to a specific allocation group described in the Allocations section below. Underlying assumptions and data models used to reconstruct this schedule are explained in detail under Assumptions, while broader utility insights and token use cases are covered in Tokenomics & Utility.
Tokenomics & Utility
Bitcoin tokenomics at a glance
- Fixed supply: Hard cap of 21,000,000 BTC.
- Issuance schedule: New BTC enters circulation via block subsidies, which halve roughly every 210,000 blocks (~4 years).
- Current block subsidy: 3.125 BTC per block since the fourth halving at block 840,000 in April 2024; miners also earn transaction fees. (investopedia.com)
The halving schedule is central to Bitcoin tokenomics. It slows new issuance over time and is often cited when people discuss long‑term BTC price dynamics. The combination of a capped supply, periodic halvings, and open global demand makes Bitcoin different from fiat currencies, where supply can expand at will. (bitcoin.org)
What gives BTC utility?
- Store of value and savings: Many treat BTC like “digital gold” thanks to predictable issuance and global portability.
- Payments and remittances: On‑chain transfers support large value; Lightning enables day‑to‑day payments and microtransactions. (lightning.network)
- Collateral and settlement rail: BTC can serve as collateral in lending markets or settle cross‑platform trades via atomic swaps and sidechains (e.g., Liquid). (help.blockstream.com)
Assumptions
- Bitcoin has no premine, investor, team, or treasury allocations; all new issuance enters via PoW block subsidy.
Bitcoin protocol and FAQ describe issuance solely through mining rewards; no genesis/TGE allocations exist.
- Future halving end dates after 2024-04-20 are estimates.
Halvings occur every 210,000 blocks; actual calendar dates vary with realized average block time around 10 minutes. Tokens per era are fixed by block height; linear monthly modeling is a smoothing approximation.
- Total eventual minted supply modeled as 20,999,999.9769 BTC.
Derived from consensus subsidy function (initial 50 BTC, halved every 210,000 blocks with integer-satoshi rounding) and widely referenced maximum satoshi count 2,099,999,997,690,000. Some edge cases (e.g., known underpay of 1 sat, provably unspendable outputs) affect spendable supply but not the theoretical issuance curve.
- Transaction fees are excluded as a supply release mechanism.
Fees are transfers from existing UTXOs to miners and do not create new BTC.
- 1. https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/29928
- 2. https://bitcoin.org/en/faq
- 3. https://developer.bitcoin.org/devguide/mining.html
- 4. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Controlled_supply
- 5. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/2009
- 6. https://www.blockchain.com/btc/block/000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f
- 7. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Bitcoin
- 8. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Halving_day_2012
Allocations
Description
#1
Bitcoin is a virtual currency designed to act as money and a form of payment outside the control of any one person, group, or entity, thus removing the need for third-party involvement in financial transactions. It is the first and most widely recognized cryptocurrency.
Sector: | Payments |
Blockchain: | Bitcoin |