Learn · Halving countdown

The next halving

About every four years, the new bitcoin paid to miners is cut in half. Nobody decides when. It happens on its own at a set block number, and the next one is block 1,050,000.

Estimated time to go
–Days
–Hours
–Minutes
–Seconds

Checking the latest block…

Block 840,000 · April 2024Block 1,050,000
Current block
–
 
New bitcoin per block
3.125
BTC now
1.5625
BTC after
That's about 450 new bitcoin a day today, dropping to about 225.

Why it matters

There will only ever be 21 million bitcoin. The halving is how they're released, a little more slowly each time. Picture a tap that's turned down every four years until it drips to a stop, around the year 2140.

Miners still earn the fees people pay, so the network keeps going. The date here is a best guess, because blocks arrive about every 10 minutes on average, sometimes faster and sometimes slower.

Lesson 1.13: Mining and the halving

The 21 million, in numbers

The rules release bitcoin in 33 steps. Each step lasts 210,000 blocks, and each one pays miners half of the step before.

Released by the 2024 halving
19,687,500
about 93.75% of all bitcoin
Final total, around 2140
20,999,999.9769
just under 21 million, because satoshis can't be split

Every halving, start to finish

Past dates are real. Future years are estimates at 10 minutes a block. The reward halves until it rounds down to zero.

33 halvingsthe last one around 2140
HalvingBlockWhenReward afterTotal mined by then
Start03 Jan 200950 BTC0 BTC
1 Done210,00028 Nov 201225 BTC10,500,000 BTC
2 Done420,0009 Jul 201612.5 BTC15,750,000 BTC
3 Done630,00011 May 20206.25 BTC18,375,000 BTC
4 Done840,00020 Apr 20243.125 BTC19,687,500 BTC
5 Next1,050,000About 20281.5625 BTC20,343,750 BTC
61,260,000About 20320.78125 BTC20,671,875 BTC
71,470,000About 20360.390625 BTC20,835,937.5 BTC
81,680,000About 20400.1953125 BTC20,917,968.75 BTC
91,890,000About 20440.09765625 BTC20,958,984.375 BTC

Estimate only, based on 10 minutes per block. Live block height from mempool.space. General information only, not financial advice.

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General information for learning, not financial advice.