BITCOIN HALVING

What is a Bitcoin halving?

Every 210,000 blocks, Bitcoin cuts the amount of new Bitcoin created in each block in half. That amount is the block reward, also called the subsidy. Miners also earn transaction fees, so a halving does not cut all of their income in half.

What do the notches count?

The bar above the chart covers the current 210,000-block cycle, and each notch stands for 5,000 blocks. Its filled part follows the block count at the end of the latest day. It is not a countdown worked out from the calendar.

Why does the estimated date move?

Blocks arrive at uneven intervals. Bitcoin aims for one block every ten minutes on average, but real blocks come faster or slower. The estimate starts from the latest block count and assumes that ten-minute pace from then on, so it shifts a little from day to day and is never a promised date.

What do the chart’s markers show?

Each dashed line marks the UTC date of a completed halving. The ring sits on that day’s closing price, not the price at the exact moment of the halving block. The reward view steps down on the same dates, while the rule itself is tied to the block number.

How has the reward changed so far?

It started at 50 BTC per block when Bitcoin began in 2009. The four halvings so far cut it to 25 BTC in 2012, 12.5 BTC in 2016, 6.25 BTC in 2020 and 3.125 BTC in April 2024. A halving comes roughly every four years.

Why do halvings matter?

They cut how many new coins reach the market. Miners sell some of the Bitcoin they earn to pay for electricity and machines, so fewer new coins means less selling from miners. If the number of people who want to buy stays the same, less of that selling tends to lift the price.

When have the biggest moves come?

After each of the four halvings on this chart, the highest close of the following two years came 12 to 17 months later. That is a record of what happened, not a promise about the next cycle. Each halving also removes fewer new coins than the one before: the 2012 halving cut new Bitcoin by 3,600 BTC a day, and the next one cuts it by 225 BTC a day, so its effect may weaken over time.

How are the tops and lows picked?

The top is the highest daily close in the two years after a halving. The low is the lowest daily close after that top and before the next halving. For the cycle still under way it is the lowest close so far, and a lower close would replace it. These are daily closes, not the day’s highest and lowest prices, so they differ a little from the figures on the record-high page. Nothing here says when a top or a low will come.

What does the percentage tell you?

It places today between two halvings: 0% is the last halving and 100% is the next one. It counts blocks, so it moves at the network’s pace rather than the calendar’s. Today it reads 65%, 30 months after the last halving.