$BTC Once Created 184 Billion BTC
On August 15, 2010, block 74,638 contained a transaction that created:
184,467,440,737.09551616 BTC
Bitcoin’s intended maximum supply was:
21M $BTC
The bug created 8,784× more Bitcoin than the final supply cap.
Cause:
64-bit integer overflow
The transaction created exactly 2⁶⁴ satoshis, causing the validation calculation to wrap around and incorrectly accept the outputs.
Response:
Patch released in about 5 hours
Patched nodes rejected the transaction
Corrected chain overtook the bad chain in about 19 hours
There was no BIP.
The BIP process did not exist yet.
BIP-1 was introduced in August 2011, about one year later.
The chain was reorganized.
The invalid transaction was removed.
The code failed.
The network repaired it.
184B $BTC disappeared.
The 21M limit survived.
$BTC
On August 15, 2010, block 74,638 contained a transaction that created:
184,467,440,737.09551616 BTC
Bitcoin’s intended maximum supply was:
21M $BTC
The bug created 8,784× more Bitcoin than the final supply cap.
Cause:
64-bit integer overflow
The transaction created exactly 2⁶⁴ satoshis, causing the validation calculation to wrap around and incorrectly accept the outputs.
Response:
Patch released in about 5 hours
Patched nodes rejected the transaction
Corrected chain overtook the bad chain in about 19 hours
There was no BIP.
The BIP process did not exist yet.
BIP-1 was introduced in August 2011, about one year later.
The chain was reorganized.
The invalid transaction was removed.
The code failed.
The network repaired it.
184B $BTC disappeared.
The 21M limit survived.
$BTC