When will cryptocurrency mining end?

The “end” of cryptocurrency mining can cause some confusion. If we think of the specific currency “bitcoin”, and forks of bitcoin, then “mining” means more then just generating new bitcoins. Mining, for these currencies, is about adding valid new transactions to the blockchain.  Generation of new bitcoins is just a side benefit to the miners for doing this work. No new bitcoin coins will be generated after about the year 2140 since there is a limit on the absolute total number of bitcoins that can be created. For this reason, “mining” will never end (since new transactions will always have to be added to the blockchain).   Instead of miners being paid with new bitcoin, they will be paid with fees generated by each bitcoin transaction. Many other coins are similar in this regard, but they are not all identical.