Complete Bitcoin Halving History & Future Schedule
Every 210,000 blocks — roughly every four years — something predictable yet profoundly important happens in Bitcoin: the block reward gets cut in half. You can track the countdown to the next halving live on the Bitcoin Time homepage. This event, known as the "halving" (or "halvening"), is one of Bitcoin's most elegant design features. It's the mechanism that ensures Bitcoin's supply is finite, capped at 21 million coins, and released on a schedule that no government, corporation, or individual can alter.
What is a Bitcoin Halving?
When miners successfully add a new block to the blockchain, they receive a reward in newly created bitcoins. This reward is the primary mechanism by which new bitcoins enter circulation. Satoshi Nakamoto programmed Bitcoin so that this reward would be cut in half every 210,000 blocks.
The logic is simple and written directly into the protocol:
- Blocks 0–209,999: 50 BTC per block
- Blocks 210,000–419,999: 25 BTC per block
- Blocks 420,000–629,999: 12.5 BTC per block
- Blocks 630,000–839,999: 6.25 BTC per block
- Blocks 840,000–1,049,999: 3.125 BTC per block
This creates a disinflationary supply curve. The rate of new bitcoin creation decreases over time, approaching but never quite reaching the 21 million cap.
The Complete Halving History
Halving #1 — November 28, 2012
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Block Height | 210,000 |
| Date | November 28, 2012 |
| Reward Before | 50 BTC |
| Reward After | 25 BTC |
| Total BTC Mined | ~10,500,000 |
The first halving occurred when Bitcoin was still relatively obscure. The price at the time was around $12. Many people were still trying to understand what Bitcoin was, and mining could still be done on consumer hardware. This halving reduced the daily new supply from approximately 7,200 BTC to 3,600 BTC.
Halving #2 — July 9, 2016
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Block Height | 420,000 |
| Date | July 9, 2016 |
| Reward Before | 25 BTC |
| Reward After | 12.5 BTC |
| Total BTC Mined | ~15,750,000 |
By the second halving, Bitcoin had gained mainstream awareness. The price was around $650. The mining industry had professionalized significantly, with dedicated ASIC hardware and large-scale mining operations. Daily new supply dropped to approximately 1,800 BTC.
Halving #3 — April 10, 2020
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Block Height | 630,000 |
| Date | April 10, 2020 (BSV) / May 11, 2020 (BTC) |
| Reward Before | 12.5 coins |
| Reward After | 6.25 coins |
| Total Mined | ~18,375,000 |
The third halving is notable because by this point, Bitcoin had split into multiple chains. BSV's third halving occurred on April 10, 2020 — about a month before BTC's — because BSV had a slightly higher average block time initially. This halving reduced daily new supply to approximately 900 coins per chain.
Halving #4 — April 2024
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Block Height | 840,000 |
| Date | April 20, 2024 |
| Reward Before | 6.25 coins |
| Reward After | 3.125 coins |
| Total Mined | ~19,687,500 |
The fourth halving brought the block reward down to 3.125 coins. By this point, over 93% of all bitcoins that will ever exist had already been mined. Daily new supply dropped to approximately 450 coins. This halving underscored a growing reality: transaction fees will eventually need to sustain mining operations as block rewards diminish.
Future Halving Schedule
Halving #5 — Estimated April 2028
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Block Height | 1,050,000 |
| Estimated Date | ~April 2028 |
| Reward After | 1.5625 coins |
| Total Mined | ~20,343,750 |
Halving #6 — Estimated ~2032
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Block Height | 1,260,000 |
| Estimated Date | ~2032 |
| Reward After | 0.78125 coins |
The Final Halvings
The halving process continues until approximately the year 2140, when the block reward will become so small (less than 1 satoshi) that it effectively reaches zero. At that point, all 21 million bitcoins will have been mined, and miners will rely entirely on transaction fees for revenue.
The total number of halvings will be 33 (including the initial reward period). Here's a simplified view of the later stages:
- Halving #7 (~2036): 0.390625 coins per block
- Halving #10 (~2048): 0.04882813 coins per block
- Halving #15 (~2068): 0.00152588 coins per block
- Halving #20 (~2088): 0.00004768 coins per block
What Halvings Mean for Bitcoin's Economics
Controlled Supply
Unlike fiat currencies, which can be printed at will by central banks, Bitcoin's supply schedule is fixed in code. Halvings enforce this schedule, making Bitcoin one of the hardest forms of money ever created. The stock-to-flow ratio increases with each halving, making existing coins relatively scarcer.
Mining Economics
Each halving puts pressure on miners. When the reward halves, miners who were marginally profitable may be forced to shut down or upgrade to more efficient hardware. This is a feature, not a bug — it drives innovation in mining technology and ensures only the most efficient operations survive.
Transaction Fee Importance
As block rewards decrease, transaction fees become an increasingly important part of miner revenue. This is where Bitcoin's scaling vision matters enormously. On BSV, which has no artificial block size limit, miners can process millions of transactions per block, earning substantial fee revenue even when individual fees are tiny. This stands in contrast to chains with limited block space, where the transition to fee-based mining revenue is less clear.
BSV Halving Timeline
BSV shares the same halving schedule as all Bitcoin-derived chains since it inherits the same codebase and block height history up to the 2018 split. The halvings occur at the same block heights (210,000, 420,000, etc.), though the exact dates may differ slightly due to variations in average block times between chains.
What makes BSV's approach to halvings distinct is its scaling philosophy. By removing the block size cap, BSV ensures that miners can earn transaction fees at massive scale. A single BSV block can contain hundreds of thousands of transactions, each paying a small fee. This creates a sustainable economic model that doesn't depend on artificially high fees caused by limited block space.
Tracking the Next Halving
You can track the countdown to the next BSV halving on Bitcoin Time. The homepage displays the current block height and shows exactly how many blocks remain until halving #5 at block 1,050,000.
The halving is a reminder of Bitcoin's elegant design — a system that issues currency on a fixed, transparent, and unchangeable schedule. No committee meetings, no political negotiations, no surprises. Just math, executed one block at a time.
Monitor the BSV halving countdown live at bitcointime.date. Explore 200+ Bitcoin milestones or learn about the Genesis Block where it all started.