Disinflation

A reduction in the rate of inflation. Bitcoin's issuance rate slows with each halving, exemplifying disinflationary behavior.

Disinflation means inflation is happening less over time. Prices or money supply are still going up, but the rate of increase is slowing.

Bitcoin is the cleanest example of programmed disinflation in monetary history. New BTC are minted with every block, so the circulating supply grows continuously - but every 210,000 blocks (about every 4 years), per-block issuance is cut in half. That makes the inflation rate fall in discrete steps:

2009-2012: 50 BTC/block subsidy
2012-2016: 25 BTC/block (post 1st halving)
2016-2020: 12.5 BTC/block
2020-2024: 6.25 BTC/block
2024-2028: 3.125 BTC/block (about 0.83% annual inflation at the start of the era, 0.82% as of October 2026)
2028-2032: 1.5625 BTC/block (~0.4% inflation)

This continues every 210,000 blocks until the subsidy rounds to zero around 2140. From that point forward, Bitcoin has zero monetary inflation - all miner revenue comes from transaction fees.

Disinflation is the opposite of how fiat systems usually run. Central banks typically target a positive inflation rate (the Federal Reserve aims for 2% over the longer run). Bitcoin has no target. Its issuance falls at each halving and reaches exactly zero at block 6,930,000, around 2140.

See Halving for the mechanism, and the Supply Schedule rabbit hole for the long version.

Key takeaways

Describes a falling inflation rate over time
Bitcoins minted per block halve roughly every four years
Positions BTC as more scarce than traditional fiat

Corrected

2026-10-09

Was: The entry said Bitcoin's inflation rate reaches zero "asymptotically".

Now: Issuance reaches exactly zero at block 6,930,000, around 2140, because the subsidy is counted in whole satoshis. Details

Sources (4)

Related terms (8)

Published 14 May 2026. Revised 9 October 2026. One correction logged for this page.

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