What will happen if all Bitcoins are mined?

That is a question that many critics, and even those within the community often ask. There is in fact a short easy answer to this, but that short answer leads to deeper questions. Some of the deeper questions include; will mining be profitable, will Bitcoin even exist, and does this put the currency in danger?

The answer to this short answer is this. Basically, Bitcoins could still run in circulation. But odds are that using incredibly small decimal points of Bitcoins will be more practical, and miners will only be paid on transaction fees. That answer of course leads to some to some questions, questions that have no answers at this point.

So, if Bitcoin miners are only paid by transactions how will the Bitcoin mining landscape change? As stated above, there is no definitive answer but there are some logical possibilities. This could suggest that there will be far less miners it could all suggest that transaction fees will go up and it could mean both. One of the great things about Bitcoin is the low transaction fees so at what point is market equilibrium? In other words how much will transaction fees have to be to render the Bitcoin worthless? It is easy to see where this going, every answer leads to another question.

It will be quite sometime before all Bitcoins are mined, which easily makes one think that Bitcoin will cease to exist before all Bitcoins reach circulation. With the young age of the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general, we do not have near enough data to know what Bitcoin could actually be. The honest truth is, Bitcoin is at a point where it could die off in the near future. I know that might seem ridiculous given how bullish some have been on Bitcoin it is very reasonable to assume it is just another bubble. Let's assume now that Bitcoin isn't a bubble and it turns out to have real long-term value. That would be fantastic! But all that does is prove the concept. Technology grows exponentially; there will be other successful alternative currencies.

Perhaps you are reading this and thinking, "I'm not going near cryptocurrency it is too uncertain." Don't be so alarmed, every currency is uncertain and could at any point be deemed useless. It was only several hundred years ago when salt was a common currency. People will trade and barter what is of value at the time. No currency will live long in terms of human history regardless of how stable you believe one currency to be. Even date back to when we used gold as currency or to back currency it is people that gave it value. Nothing is of value on its own, a society or government has to give it value. If you have a whole bunch of salt today saved up and tried to use it as currency today, you couldn't. You would just have a whole bunch of salt. You don't want to be the guy with all the salt in ten years from now, and cryptocurrencies might not be the future but they are for right now!