Halving

A halving of the block reward built into Bitcoin's code, occurring roughly every 210,000 blocks (about every four years).

A halving is an event programmed into the Bitcoin protocol in which the reward paid to miners for mining a new block is cut exactly in half. It occurs every 210,000 blocks mined, which in practice means roughly once every four years — the most recent halving took place in April 2024, reducing the reward from 6.25 to 3.125 BTC per block.

This mechanism is a built-in part of Bitcoin's fixed, pre-programmed supply schedule (a maximum of 21 million coins) and is designed to slow the rate at which new units are issued over time, similar to the extraction of a finite natural resource.

Related terms

Bitcoin

The first and still most recognizable cryptocurrency, launched in 2009 by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto.

Proof of Work (PoW)

A consensus mechanism in which computers (miners) compete to solve cryptographic puzzles in order to validate a new block of transactions.

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