Bitcoin’s fixed 21 million supply has always been one of the biggest reasons investors call it digital gold. But now, Zcash co-founder and StarkWare CEO Eli Ben-Sasson suggests Bitcoin should remove its supply cap and allow the supply to grow by up to 4% every year.
Here’s why he is proposing such a major change.
In a post on X, Eli Ben-Sasson questioned whether Bitcoin’s fixed supply still makes sense in the long run.
“Capping the supply of Bitcoin at 21M doesn’t make sense. Because over time, keys will be lost. In fact, as time goes to infinity, all keys will be lost.”
As of now, an estimated 2.3 million to 4 million Bitcoin are believed to be permanently lost (including Satoshi Nakamoto’s estimated 1.1 million Bitcoin stash).
With around 20 million BTC already mined, this means nearly 11% to 19% of Bitcoin’s total supply has disappeared from circulation forever.
According to him, if this continues for decades, a large part of Bitcoin’s supply could disappear forever.
Therefore, instead of keeping a fixed supply cap, he suggested allowing Bitcoin to issue new coins every year at a maximum rate of around 4%, helping replace lost coins and keeping enough Bitcoin available in circulation.
He say, “fix a max issuance rate and you get that (a good choice is 4% a year, this is a reasonable upper bound on human population expansion).”
When one X user questioned why Bitcoin should only grow by 4% every year, Ben-Sasson replied that 4% represents a reasonable upper limit for long-term human population growth.
He also added that 1% to 2% annual issuance could also work, saying the goal is simply to make sure there is “enough to go around.”
Ben-Sasson noted that he was not only talking about replacing lost coins but also about Bitcoin’s future security budget, which many believe could become a challenge as block rewards continue to decline.
The proposal quickly faced criticism from Bitcoin supporters. One X user called the idea “terrible,” arguing that Bitcoin’s scarcity is the foundation of its value. The user warned that changing one core rule could eventually lead to more changes, weakening Bitcoin’s original purpose.
Another user pointed out that even if developers attempted to remove Bitcoin’s supply cap, the result would likely be another Bitcoin fork, similar to what happened with Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV.
Many people in the Bitcoin community believe removing the 21 million BTC limit would destroy Bitcoin’s biggest strength, its fixed supply. And this will destroy investor trust and weaken Bitcoin’s value as digital gold.
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