Bitcoin’s total circulating supply has surpassed a major milestone of 18.5 mln coins, according to CoinMarketCap data.
88 percent of all coins that will ever exist in circulation have already been mined.
The first Bitcoin block — which is known as the “genesis block” — was mined by Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of the world’s largest cryptocurrency, on Jan. 3, 2009.
Its coinbase parameter contains the now-famous The Times headline about ex-British chancellor Alistair Darling considering a second bailout for banks. Another peculiar thing about block 0 is that the 50 BTC reward subsidy it received is unspendable.
Bitcoin’s circulating supply crossed the 1 mln coins mark on Jun. 24, 2009. At that time, BTC was still worth basically nothing since it wasn’t trading on a single exchange.
