Bitcoin halving
Also called: halving · halvening
Definition
A Bitcoin halving is a pre-programmed event, roughly every four years, that cuts the number of new bitcoins paid to miners for each block by 50 percent.
How bitcoin halving works
Bitcoin's rules release new coins through the block reward. The halving happens every 210,000 blocks, which at about 10 minutes per block works out to roughly four years. The reward started at 50 BTC in 2009, dropped to 25, 12.5, 6.25 and, after the April 2024 halving, 3.125 BTC per block.
This schedule is why Bitcoin's supply approaches 21 million but never exceeds it. Each halving slows the growth of new supply, and the last fractions of a bitcoin are expected to be mined around the year 2140. After that, miners will rely on transaction fees alone.
For miners, a halving instantly cuts revenue from new coins in half, so less efficient operations may shut down unless the price or fees make up the difference. For traders, halvings attract a lot of attention and narratives, but past price moves around halvings came with many other factors and do not guarantee any future result.
Example
Before the April 2024 halving, the reward was 6.25 BTC per block. With about 144 blocks a day, miners earned roughly 900 new BTC daily. After the halving to 3.125 BTC, that fell to about 450 BTC per day. At an illustrative price of 60,000 USDT, daily new-coin revenue for all miners combined dropped from about 54 million to 27 million USDT, not counting fees.
Common mistakes
- Treating the halving as a guaranteed price catalyst instead of a supply schedule change.
- Thinking the halving cuts existing holdings in half; it only affects newly issued coins.
- Expecting the halving on an exact calendar date, when it is set by block height and can shift by days or weeks.
Learn and practise
FAQ
When is the next Bitcoin halving?
It is expected around 2028, after block 1,050,000 is mined. The exact date depends on how fast blocks are produced.
What happens when all bitcoins are mined?
Miners will no longer receive new BTC and will be paid only through transaction fees.
Does the halving affect my BTC balance?
No. Your coins stay exactly the same. Only the reward for new blocks changes.