StarkWare CEO and Zcash co-founder Eli Ben-Sasson has proposed eliminating Bitcoin’s hard cap of 21 million coins, arguing that a portion of the supply will inevitably become inaccessible as users lose their private keys. His proposal sparked an active debate within the crypto community, where most participants opposed any changes to Bitcoin’s monetary policy.
The Core Idea
Ben-Sasson suggested replacing Bitcoin’s hard supply cap with a limit on the maximum annual issuance rate. As an example, he proposed allowing the creation of no more than 4% in new BTC per year, noting that this figure roughly matches the expected pace of global population growth.
“This would preserve a predictable monetary policy while maintaining enough BTC in circulation despite the inevitable loss of some coins due to lost private keys,” Ben-Sasson said.
He also pointed to the network’s long-term security as a potential concern, arguing that the gradual decline in the amount of available BTC could eventually become a problem of its own.
Community Reaction
Ben-Sasson’s proposal drew strong criticism from Bitcoin supporters. Many participants in the discussion argued that the 21 million coin limit is a fundamental part of Bitcoin’s social contract, and that any change to its monetary policy would undermine one of the network’s core principles.
In the comments, some users suggested that instead of changing Bitcoin’s protocol parameters, Ben-Sasson should test such mechanisms on alternative networks or forks. Others argued that even a minimal, ongoing issuance would weaken Bitcoin’s position as an asset with a fixed supply.
Responding to the criticism, Ben-Sasson said that changing the protocol’s rules does not automatically mean abandoning its core principles. As one possible approach, he proposed a model with very low inflation, comparable to gold’s inflation rate.
“This approach would preserve Bitcoin’s scarcity while offsetting the gradual decline in the amount of BTC available,” he emphasized.