Right now we're approaching about 17 million out of 21 million possible bitcoins. When we reach the max supply, what incentive would miners have to continue mining and verifying transactions? Sure they can still collect fees, but why not mine newer and more profitable coins where they have the chance to collect both fees and new coins?
Yes bitcoin will probably run out and die, but we don't know maybe mining technology will progress from time to time to solve this problem.
It looks like they will still mine, even if new coins are not found, and the miners will still get their source of income, only from transaction costs alone.
If, bitcoin (parent coin) has been exhausted in the mine, it seems impossible that a new coin (coin child) will grow.
Hopefully my answer is correct.What's stopping the entire blockchain from grinding to a halt, prohibiting users from conducting transactions, and thereby making bitcoin worthless?
The entire blockchain will stop if the internet around the world die.