Could Bitcoin Ever Break the 21 Million Cap? Adam Back Says Itโs a Trap
A fresh fight over Bitcoin's 21 million supply cap has pulled Adam Back and Peter Todd onto opposite sides, after Todd's case for a permanent block reward resurfaced this week.
Todd wants a small, never-ending issuance to keep paying miners once the last new Bitcoin arrives around 2140. Back reads the argument as a trap dressed up as engineering.
Why Peter Todd Says Bitcoin Needs a Permanent Block Reward
Bitcoin pays miners in two ways. Block subsidies mint new coins, and transaction fees ride along with each block. However, the subsidy is roughly halved every four years, and it hits zero around 2140. Fees alone must carry security after that.
Todd argues fee revenue swings too wildly to hold the chain together. Miners would be incentivized to reorganize the chain and re-mine fat-fee blocks rather than build forward. A fixed reward, he says, kills that pull.
His case leans on lost coins. Todd models supply against a loss rate and finds it settles at a ceiling, because coins vanish as fast as fresh ones appear. Therefore, he frames tail emission as a stabilizer, not inflation.
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