The milestone, which took almost 12 years to meet, means that 18.89 million bitcoins out of 21 million are now on the open market. However, based on network activity estimates, the remaining 10% supply is not expected to be mined until February 2140. 

Bitcoin prices have reflected the increasing supply as demand for newer bitcoin ramps up. When 10% of the supply was mined in early 2010, the asset went for less than $0.10, later hovering at $7.50 when 50% of the supply was mined in late 2012. In November of this year, bitcoin’s price rocketed to a new record high of over $68,000.

While the rest of bitcoin’s supply is not expected to be mined until 2140, miners can continue to earn bitcoin in the meantime. Miners currently receive 6.25 bitcoin for each block mined. This would drop to 3.125 bitcoin per block after the next halving in 2024.