Bitcoin Halving 2024: Date, Amount, and Thoughts

Key Points

💡 Bitcoin halving cuts the reward for mining Bitcoin in half and happens every 210 000 blocks created on Bitcoin’s blockchain, roughly every 4 years.

💡 The next Bitcoin halving is taking place around April/May, 2024.

💡 The reward for mining Bitcoin in 2023 sits at 6.25 BTC, while the starting point for the reward in 2009 was 50 BTC. The reward after 2024 halving will be 3.125 BTC.

What Is Bitcoin Halving?

Bitcoin halving is reducing the reward for mining new Bitcoin blocks in half.

Halving takes place precisely every 210 000 blocks mined, which is roughly 4 years.

Now, the first halving took place in November, 2012, when the reward for mining was cut from 50 BTC to 25 BTC for every new block mined.

As a reminder, Bitcoin’s network is decentralized, meaning that there’s no central governing party, rather it’s supported by the network’s miners.

And what better way to incentivize others to support a network rather than rewarding them financially?

Miners, those who maintain and support the network by providing the computing power, securing the network, and creating new blocks, are rewarded for their work.

And that’s how, every new block mined = a reward.

💡 Blocks on Bitcoin’s network are mined roughly every 10 minutes.

We know by now that with halving, the reward for mining gets cut in half, but this also means that new Bitcoins enter the circulation much slower.

Instead of 50 BTC per new block entering the circulation back in 2009, we’ll now have 3.125 BTC entering the circulation with every new block mined after 2024’s halving.

When Is The Next Bitcoin Halving?

The next Bitcoin halving will happen around the end of April or the beginning of May, 2024.

What Will The Reward Be After 2024 Bitcoin Halving?

6.25 → 3.125

The reward for mining new Bitcoin’s blocks will drop to 3.125 from 6.25, after the next halving, which happens around April/May, 2024.

Can You Change The Date Of Bitcoin Halving?

Bitcoin’s network has been coded in such a way for halving to happen every 210 000 blocks created.

Since it’s coded into the network, we can’t change the date of halving.

When Will The Last Bitcoin Be Mined And The Reward Equal Zero?

Bitcoin has also been coded in such a way to include a limited amount of the currency to be mined.

The stipulated amount is 21 000 000 BTC.

Accordingly with the halving principle, which cuts the rate of mining BTCs in half, the last Bitcoin will be mined around 2147. The incentive for mining Bitcoin’s blocks should be close to 0 by then.

Now, you may be wondering if Bitcoin’s network will die of natural causes with the moment the reward for mining reaches zero. While it’s hard to precisely predict what’s going to happen in the next hundred years, we need to mention that miners have more incentives than just the rewards for mining new blocks.

They also earn from the transaction fees, which are divided equally across all miners, and are higher in times of busy capacity.

We don’t want to go into too much detail, because we will touch on that issue in our article dedicated to mining itself, but we had to mention that the reward for mining BTC reaching zero will definitely not be the end of the whole network.

Does Bitcoin Halving Increase Its Price?

Bitcoin’s price may increase for a few reasons. Among which is the already mentioned limited amount of it combined with the increased demand for this cryptocurrency.

But Bitcoin halving doesn’t directly increase the price of BTC. However, it often happens indirectly.

Let us explain.

Since miners bear the costs of mining BTC and maintaining the network, their work is rewarded in BTC. And if the amount of BTC they receive for their work gets cut in half with every halving, they’re not necessarily willing to sell BTC on the same price, because it wouldn’t be profitable.

To compensate for their electricity costs, hardware costs, the costs of the graphic cards for mining, and everything in between, they usually sell higher after halving.

Mining BTC actually became a huge undertaking. Besides just the technical issues, you also need staff to make sure that everything is running properly, operating the machines, which again, are additional costs to bear.

But, of course, don’t expect rapid changes in price, most often, that process is more long-term.

Here’s a great chart showcasing the history of BTC’s price, with halving dates included.

image source

Final Thoughts on Bitcoin Halving 2024

Let’s end this article with our thoughts on Bitcoin halving 2024, answering the most burning question of the whole event.

❔ Will Bitcoin repeat the cycle and increase in value?

🤔 Unfortunately, we can’t be sure, as the price of Bitcoin is influenced by many different factors.

However, the probability of BTC’s price to go higher after halving is quite high, as shown by the previous halving events.

The combination of a limited amount of BTC and the reward for mining it getting cut in half is what affects the price changes. As we mentioned earlier, miners have to get even for the costs they bear for maintaining the network, that’s why, they will most likely eventually sell BTC for a higher price.

🔗 Useful link

⌚ https://bitcoinblockhalf.com/ — for halving countdown, total BTC mined stats, and more.