Bitcoin’s 5th Epoch Is Here

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Updates on the halving, miners, rich vs poor, and what is coming up for River

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➗ Who Has Been Mining all that Bitcoin?

With the 4th Bitcoin halving completed at block 840,000, we are now in Bitcoin’s 5th epoch. A total of 19,687,500 out of 21 million bitcoin has been mined, with just 6.25% of the supply left.

That raises some questions… Who actually mined all of that Bitcoin? 🤔

We did the research in both bitcoin terms and in US Dollar terms. The results may surprise you!

Since the start of the 5th epoch, mining has been very profitable as gamblers paid high fees to participate in a new protocol that was launched on Bitcoin. Over the past few days, fees have started to come back down to pre-halving levels. See our Learn article if you are unfamiliar with how bitcoin transaction fees work or what to do when they are high.

If you already miss the halving and can’t wait for the next one, it is expected to happen sometime in April 2028. If you will still be reading our newsletter then, we love you.

💸 Rich vs Poor

Before even talking to someone about Bitcoin, you will often find that people don’t understand how money works.

Do you know for example why the rich get richer and the poor get poorer?

We recently created a video to explain this phenomenon called the Cantillon Effect, which explains a big part of it.

🔐 What Is Coming up for River

This quarter we are continuing to invest deeply in system reliability and security. The safety of your bitcoin and information means everything to our business.

You may not see major new features in the next two months, but we are still making upgrades across the board, such as: