₿itcoin has a fixed supply, a schedule anyone can check, and no single person, company, or government who can change it. Here's why that matters, in about 10 minutes.
Data from mempool.space · as of Oct 2, 2026, 2:29 PM ET
What cost $1 in 1913 costs about $34 today. Put the other way: today's dollar buys what about 3 cents bought in 1913. Prices have risen for most of the past century, and the money supply has grown alongside them.
Source: FRED CPI-U (CPIAUCNS), 1913 annual average (9.883) versus August 2026 (334.98).
$100 in August 1971 buys about what $821 buys in August 2026.
This compares August CPI to August CPI: the August index for the year you pick, against the August 2026 index.
Source: FRED CPI-U (CPIAUCNS), not seasonally adjusted. August 1971 was 40.8 and August 2026 was 334.98.
Each value is 100 times the August 2026 CPI divided by that year's August CPI, rounded to the nearest dollar.
| Year | August CPI | Value of $100 today |
|---|---|---|
| 1913 | 9.9 | $3,384 |
| 1914 | 10.2 | $3,284 |
| 1915 | 10.1 | $3,317 |
| 1916 | 10.9 | $3,073 |
| 1917 | 13 | $2,577 |
| 1918 | 15.4 | $2,175 |
| 1919 | 17.7 | $1,893 |
| 1920 | 20.3 | $1,650 |
| 1921 | 17.7 | $1,893 |
| 1922 | 16.6 | $2,018 |
| 1923 | 17.1 | $1,959 |
| 1924 | 17 | $1,970 |
| 1925 | 17.7 | $1,893 |
| 1926 | 17.4 | $1,925 |
| 1927 | 17.2 | $1,948 |
| 1928 | 17.1 | $1,959 |
| 1929 | 17.3 | $1,936 |
| 1930 | 16.5 | $2,030 |
| 1931 | 15.1 | $2,218 |
| 1932 | 13.5 | $2,481 |
| 1933 | 13.2 | $2,538 |
| 1934 | 13.4 | $2,500 |
| 1935 | 13.7 | $2,445 |
| 1936 | 14 | $2,393 |
| 1937 | 14.5 | $2,310 |
| 1938 | 14.1 | $2,376 |
| 1939 | 13.8 | $2,427 |
| 1940 | 14 | $2,393 |
| 1941 | 14.9 | $2,248 |
| 1942 | 16.5 | $2,030 |
| 1943 | 17.3 | $1,936 |
| 1944 | 17.7 | $1,893 |
| 1945 | 18.1 | $1,851 |
| 1946 | 20.2 | $1,658 |
| 1947 | 22.5 | $1,489 |
| 1948 | 24.5 | $1,367 |
| 1949 | 23.8 | $1,407 |
| 1950 | 24.3 | $1,379 |
| 1951 | 25.9 | $1,293 |
| 1952 | 26.7 | $1,255 |
| 1953 | 26.9 | $1,245 |
| 1954 | 26.9 | $1,245 |
| 1955 | 26.8 | $1,250 |
| 1956 | 27.3 | $1,227 |
| 1957 | 28.3 | $1,184 |
| 1958 | 28.9 | $1,159 |
| 1959 | 29.2 | $1,147 |
| 1960 | 29.6 | $1,132 |
| 1961 | 29.9 | $1,120 |
| 1962 | 30.3 | $1,106 |
| 1963 | 30.7 | $1,091 |
| 1964 | 31 | $1,081 |
| 1965 | 31.6 | $1,060 |
| 1966 | 32.7 | $1,024 |
| 1967 | 33.5 | $1,000 |
| 1968 | 35 | $957 |
| 1969 | 37 | $905 |
| 1970 | 39 | $859 |
| 1971 | 40.8 | $821 |
| 1972 | 42 | $798 |
| 1973 | 45.1 | $743 |
| 1974 | 50 | $670 |
| 1975 | 54.3 | $617 |
| 1976 | 57.4 | $584 |
| 1977 | 61.2 | $547 |
| 1978 | 66 | $508 |
| 1979 | 73.8 | $454 |
| 1980 | 83.3 | $402 |
| 1981 | 92.3 | $363 |
| 1982 | 97.7 | $343 |
| 1983 | 100.2 | $334 |
| 1984 | 104.5 | $321 |
| 1985 | 108 | $310 |
| 1986 | 109.7 | $305 |
| 1987 | 114.4 | $293 |
| 1988 | 119 | $281 |
| 1989 | 124.6 | $269 |
| 1990 | 131.6 | $255 |
| 1991 | 136.6 | $245 |
| 1992 | 140.9 | $238 |
| 1993 | 144.8 | $231 |
| 1994 | 149 | $225 |
| 1995 | 152.9 | $219 |
| 1996 | 157.3 | $213 |
| 1997 | 160.8 | $208 |
| 1998 | 163.4 | $205 |
| 1999 | 167.1 | $200 |
| 2000 | 172.8 | $194 |
| 2001 | 177.5 | $189 |
| 2002 | 180.7 | $185 |
| 2003 | 184.6 | $181 |
| 2004 | 189.5 | $177 |
| 2005 | 196.4 | $171 |
| 2006 | 203.9 | $164 |
| 2007 | 207.917 | $161 |
| 2008 | 219.086 | $153 |
| 2009 | 215.834 | $155 |
| 2010 | 218.312 | $153 |
| 2011 | 226.545 | $148 |
| 2012 | 230.379 | $145 |
| 2013 | 233.877 | $143 |
| 2014 | 237.852 | $141 |
| 2015 | 238.316 | $141 |
| 2016 | 240.849 | $139 |
| 2017 | 245.519 | $136 |
| 2018 | 252.146 | $133 |
| 2019 | 256.558 | $131 |
| 2020 | 259.918 | $129 |
| 2021 | 273.567 | $122 |
| 2022 | 296.171 | $113 |
| 2023 | 307.026 | $109 |
| 2024 | 314.796 | $106 |
| 2025 | 323.976 | $103 |
| 2026 | 334.98 | $100 |
Since August 1971, when the US stopped exchanging dollars for gold with foreign governments, the US money supply (M2) has grown about 34-fold, from $686 billion to $23.3 trillion.
Some inflation is the official goal. The Federal Reserve aims for 2% inflation over the longer run, measured by the PCE price index. Even at that target, prices roughly double in about 35 years (1.0235 ≈ 2.0).
So what would money that can't be watered down look like?
"Sound money" is money that holds its value because it's hard to make more of. Throughout history, people have chosen money by a handful of traits. They boil down to three.
Scarcity is the big one. If anyone can create more money cheaply, the money you hold is worth less. Gold has served as money for centuries partly because new supply is slow: the world's gold stock grows by around 1.8% a year from mining.
You should be able to confirm that money is real, and how much of it exists, without trusting someone's word. Gold needs an assay. Bank balances need the bank.
Good money lasts (durable), breaks into small units (divisible), and travels well (portable). One unit should equal any other (fungible).
₿itcoin was designed to score well on all three. Here's how.
₿itcoin's rules are written into open-source software that thousands of independent computers run and enforce. Two of those rules matter most for sound money:
New issuance started at 50 ₿itcoin per block in 2009. Since April 2024 it's 3.125. Around 2028 it drops to 1.5625, and it reaches zero around 2140.
Each row is one 210,000-block era. The chart's horizontal position is modelled time: the genesis block (2009-01-03, 18:15 UTC) plus 10 minutes per block, out to height 6,930,000. The halving dates in the next table are the historical ones.
Scroll sideways to read every column.
| Era | Start block | Reward (BTC) | Coins in era (BTC) | Cumulative at end of era (BTC) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 50 | 10,500,000 | 10,500,000 |
| 2 | 210,000 | 25 | 5,250,000 | 15,750,000 |
| 3 | 420,000 | 12.5 | 2,625,000 | 18,375,000 |
| 4 | 630,000 | 6.25 | 1,312,500 | 19,687,500 |
| 5 | 840,000 | 3.125 | 656,250 | 20,343,750 |
| 6 | 1,050,000 | 1.5625 | 328,125 | 20,671,875 |
| 7 | 1,260,000 | 0.78125 | 164,062.5 | 20,835,937.5 |
| 8 | 1,470,000 | 0.390625 | 82,031.25 | 20,917,968.75 |
| 9 | 1,680,000 | 0.1953125 | 41,015.625 | 20,958,984.375 |
| 10 | 1,890,000 | 0.09765625 | 20,507.8125 | 20,979,492.1875 |
| 11 | 2,100,000 | 0.04882812 | 10,253.9052 | 20,989,746.0927 |
| 12 | 2,310,000 | 0.02441406 | 5,126.9526 | 20,994,873.0453 |
| 13 | 2,520,000 | 0.01220703 | 2,563.4763 | 20,997,436.5216 |
| 14 | 2,730,000 | 0.00610351 | 1,281.7371 | 20,998,718.2587 |
| 15 | 2,940,000 | 0.00305175 | 640.8675 | 20,999,359.1262 |
| 16 | 3,150,000 | 0.00152587 | 320.4327 | 20,999,679.5589 |
| 17 | 3,360,000 | 0.00076293 | 160.2153 | 20,999,839.7742 |
| 18 | 3,570,000 | 0.00038146 | 80.1066 | 20,999,919.8808 |
| 19 | 3,780,000 | 0.00019073 | 40.0533 | 20,999,959.9341 |
| 20 | 3,990,000 | 0.00009536 | 20.0256 | 20,999,979.9597 |
| 21 | 4,200,000 | 0.00004768 | 10.0128 | 20,999,989.9725 |
| 22 | 4,410,000 | 0.00002384 | 5.0064 | 20,999,994.9789 |
| 23 | 4,620,000 | 0.00001192 | 2.5032 | 20,999,997.4821 |
| 24 | 4,830,000 | 0.00000596 | 1.2516 | 20,999,998.7337 |
| 25 | 5,040,000 | 0.00000298 | 0.6258 | 20,999,999.3595 |
| 26 | 5,250,000 | 0.00000149 | 0.3129 | 20,999,999.6724 |
| 27 | 5,460,000 | 0.00000074 | 0.1554 | 20,999,999.8278 |
| 28 | 5,670,000 | 0.00000037 | 0.0777 | 20,999,999.9055 |
| 29 | 5,880,000 | 0.00000018 | 0.0378 | 20,999,999.9433 |
| 30 | 6,090,000 | 0.00000009 | 0.0189 | 20,999,999.9622 |
| 31 | 6,300,000 | 0.00000004 | 0.0084 | 20,999,999.9706 |
| 32 | 6,510,000 | 0.00000002 | 0.0042 | 20,999,999.9748 |
| 33 | 6,720,000 | 0.00000001 | 0.0021 | 20,999,999.9769 |
Scroll sideways to read every column.
| Halving | Date | Block | New reward |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 210,000 | 25 BTC | |
| 2nd | 420,000 | 12.5 BTC | |
| 3rd | 630,000 | 6.25 BTC | |
| 4th | 840,000 | 3.125 BTC | |
| 5th | ~Apr 2028 (est.) | 1,050,000 | 1.5625 BTC |
Each ₿itcoin splits into 100 million units called "sats," so the fixed supply doesn't make it hard to use small amounts.
Today, no single company, government, or developer can change these rules. Every node checks every block and rejects blocks that break the rules, such as ones that create extra coins. The rules could only change if the people running the network chose to adopt new software.
How does that compare with the money we already use?
No form of money is perfect. Here's how they compare on the traits that make money sound.
Scroll sideways to read every column.
| Trait | US dollar | Gold | ₿itcoin |
|---|---|---|---|
| New supply per year | M2 grew ~5.7% in the year to Aug 2026 | Stock grows ~1.8% a year (10-yr avg) | ~0.8% today; halves about every 4 years |
| Hard cap? | No | No (but slow to mine) | Yes, 21 million |
| Who decides supply | Central bank and banking system | Geology and mining economics | Open-source rules enforced by the network |
| How you verify supply | Trust official statistics | Estimates; the total stock "cannot be measured precisely" | Anyone can audit it with a full node |
| Portability | Excellent (digital) | Poor (heavy, costly to move) | Excellent (digital) |
₿itcoin's main weakness as money today is volatility: its price can rise or fall sharply in short periods, and no one knows if that will change.
Every number on this page can be checked. You don't have to take our word for it. Here's the network right now:
Running since
Two outages totaling about 15 hours (2010, 2013); none since March 2013.
Its price swings a lot today. The case for ₿itcoin as sound money rests on its supply rules, not on its price. Whether the volatility changes over time is unknown.
Not by a government or a commodity. People value it for its traits: a fixed supply, rules no single party controls, and the ability to verify it and move it without permission. The US dollar hasn't been convertible to gold since 1971.
Yes. Mining uses a lot of electricity, and that cost is what makes rewriting ₿itcoin's history so expensive. How much energy, from which sources, and whether it's worth it are actively debated. The University of Cambridge publishes a daily-updated estimate with lower and upper bounds.
Anyone can copy the code, because it's open-source. What a copy doesn't get is the existing network: its nodes, miners, users, and more than 17 years of operating history.
Governments can regulate exchanges and restrict use within their borders. The network itself runs on computers in many countries, so stopping it would mean stopping all of them.
Around 2140, new issuance stops and miners are paid by transaction fees alone.
No. This site explains an idea; it doesn't tell you what to do with your money. If you're considering buying anything, do your own research and consider a qualified advisor.
People have tended to move toward money that's harder to fake and easier to use.
Barter → commodity money: shells, salt, metals.
Coins: gold and silver spread through trade.
Gold standard (1800s–1900s): paper money backed by gold.
1971: the US stops exchanging dollars for gold with foreign governments.
Want to go further? Pick how much time you have.
Every figure on this page comes from a public source. Checked October 2, 2026.
Clark Moody measured 20,092,326 BTC (Oct 2, 2026) vs scheduled supply computed from block height (20,092,556.25 BTC at block 969,617); the page shows the height-based figure rounded to 0.01M. The numbers printed above use a later reading the same day: block 969,621 at 2:29 PM ET, scheduled supply 20,092,568.75 BTC, which rounds to the same 20.09 million (95.7%).
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