The much-watched quadrennial event in the Bitcoin code occurs approximately every four years.
The first one happened in November 2012.
The second time occurred in July 2016.
The third time occurred in May 2020.
The most recent one occurred on Friday, April 19, 2024.
With the mining of the fourth block, the mining of the next block is scheduled, with another 210,000 blocks expected to be mined sometime in 2028, although the exact month and day will depend on the rate of network activity.
The event, which occurs every four years, is a feature of Bitcoin designed to make it deflationary: Since only 21 million Bitcoins can ever be created, the halving ensures that it will become more difficult to create new virtual currencies over time.
Miners, or the power-consuming operations that process transactions on the network, are rewarded in bitcoin for minting new coins. Friday’s event simply slashed the reward for each block they process from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
This means miners have to work more efficiently to operate. This also means that fewer Bitcoins will be added to the market in the future. The next halving in 2028 will further cut the reward to 1.5625 BTC per mined block.
Each halving increases the long-term price of that asset because it makes it more scarce.
History suggests they may be right: between a year and 18 months after the first three halvings, Bitcoin’s price has only risen, and by significant amounts.
However, the price of Bitcoin has been hit hard recently. After hitting an all-time high of $73,737 last month, it has since fallen below the 2021 high of $69,044.
But experts in the field say volatility and even sharp price drops before the halving are normal.
