Mining is essential to keep the network going. The 25 BTC with a block is called a block reward because it is what it says it is - a reward for successfully hashing the block.
Read up on the protocol documentation to find out more.
When 21M BTC are rewarded from blocks, there will be no more blocks that have a reward, but miners will still be rewarded with all the tx fees, just as they are now.
If everyone shuts down their ASIC units, the difficulty will go down, and GPU mining would then be back. But it's 2140, who knows what's gonna happen in 100+ years.
Topic: After 2140 - Last Bitcoin mined. - page 2. (Read 2827 times)
Here's the way I see it. If bitcoin is adopted, it will be worth much, much more than now. So in that sense, there should still be solid incentive for miners to process transactions. Well, I hope so, anyway. 
Ok, Now I know this might not be our problem, because we would be feeding the worms, when this happens, but I thought I'd just ask.
If everything goes, as planned with the Bitcoin protocal and difficulty etc...And the last BTC is mined in 2140, will mining still continue?
Currently miners do it, to get the Bitcoins as reward, for solving the blocks. And for the miners fee as a bonus. So in effect, even if you set no fee, your
transaction will still be processed, because the Bitcoins is still an incentive, for you to solve the block.
In theory, after 2140 there will be no more Bitcoins released as a reward, and the fee will be the only incentive to mine.
Will the fee be increased, when the Bitcoins reward fall away? And if so, will it still then be viable for a merchant or a individual to use the currency, if it has higher fees, than other alternative payment methods?
If everything goes, as planned with the Bitcoin protocal and difficulty etc...And the last BTC is mined in 2140, will mining still continue?
Currently miners do it, to get the Bitcoins as reward, for solving the blocks. And for the miners fee as a bonus. So in effect, even if you set no fee, your
transaction will still be processed, because the Bitcoins is still an incentive, for you to solve the block.
In theory, after 2140 there will be no more Bitcoins released as a reward, and the fee will be the only incentive to mine.
Will the fee be increased, when the Bitcoins reward fall away? And if so, will it still then be viable for a merchant or a individual to use the currency, if it has higher fees, than other alternative payment methods?
It's hard question and nobody can answer it 100% sure. Bitcoin is still kind of experiment.
IMO only thing what will happen is there will be less "profit seeking" miners in future, because now most of new members come with exatly same vision .... make a fortune.
Ok, Now I know this might not be our problem, because we would be feeding the worms, when this happens, but I thought I'd just ask.
If everything goes, as planned with the Bitcoin protocal and difficulty etc...And the last BTC is mined in 2140, will mining still continue?
Currently miners do it, to get the Bitcoins as reward, for solving the blocks. And for the miners fee as a bonus. So in effect, even if you set no fee, your
transaction will still be processed, because the Bitcoins is still an incentive, for you to solve the block.
In theory, after 2140 there will be no more Bitcoins released as a reward, and the fee will be the only incentive to mine.
Will the fee be increased, when the Bitcoins reward fall away? And if so, will it still then be viable for a merchant or a individual to use the currency, if it has higher fees, than other alternative payment methods?
If everything goes, as planned with the Bitcoin protocal and difficulty etc...And the last BTC is mined in 2140, will mining still continue?
Currently miners do it, to get the Bitcoins as reward, for solving the blocks. And for the miners fee as a bonus. So in effect, even if you set no fee, your
transaction will still be processed, because the Bitcoins is still an incentive, for you to solve the block.
In theory, after 2140 there will be no more Bitcoins released as a reward, and the fee will be the only incentive to mine.
Will the fee be increased, when the Bitcoins reward fall away? And if so, will it still then be viable for a merchant or a individual to use the currency, if it has higher fees, than other alternative payment methods?
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