Halving refers to a scheduled event following which the reward allocated to Bitcoin miners for mining new blocks on the cryptocurrency’s blockchain is halved.
To make it even simpler, it means that miners receive 50% less Bitcoin for verifying transactions using their own computing power. Given that Bitcoin halvings are scheduled to occur once every 210,000 blocks, and that this occurs roughly once every four years, Given that the third halving occurred in May 2020, the next halving event is scheduled for April 2024.
But why did Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, choose to schedule a series of Halvings every 210,000 blocks?
The reason is quite simple: bitcoin halvings are important events for traders because they reduce the number of new bitcoins generated by the same network.
This means that every (approximately) four years the supply of new coins is limited, and with equal demand cryptocurrency prices should increase.
In short, in this sense, halving is useful in order to be able to support cryptocurrency prices, and prevent an excessive supply from depressing bitcoin valuations.
Previous Bitcoin Halving Dates
Halving Year | Block Height | Date & Time |
---|---|---|
2020 | 630,000 | May 11, 2020 7:23:43 PM GMT |
2016 | 420,000 | July 9, 2016 4:46:13 PM GMT |
2012 | 210,000 | November 28, 2012 03:24:38 PM GMT |
2009 | 1 (Genesis Block) | January 9, 2009 2:54:25 AM GMT |