Peter Todd’s Case For Ongoing Bitcoin (BTC) Issuance Reignites Supply Cap Controversy

Peter Todd’s advocacy for permanent Bitcoin block rewards has once again stirred intense discussion about the cryptocurrency’s fixed supply and future security model. The latest controversy began after the Bitcoin++ conference shared a recording of a presentation Todd delivered on July 23, 2026, in Toronto.

Titled “Tail Emissions and Demurrage,” the talk revisited concepts he has examined for several years.

Todd warned that once Bitcoin’s block subsidy ends around the year 2140, miners would depend entirely on transaction fees.

He argued that fee income can be highly uneven, creating situations in which large miners might find it profitable to reorganize recent blocks containing high fees rather than simply extend the chain.

To address this potential instability, Todd suggested a modest fixed reward paid in every block indefinitely—a mechanism known as tail emissions.

He maintained that such ongoing issuance would give miners a reliable baseline of revenue.

Drawing on the reality that bitcoin is continually lost through forgotten keys, damaged hardware, and incomplete estate planning, he proposed that a carefully chosen emission rate could eventually match the rate of loss.

In his framing, the circulating supply would stabilize rather than expand without limit.