Bitcoin Halving Dates: Full History and What's Next
Bitcoin's issuance schedule is fixed in its source code: every 210,000 blocks โ roughly every four years, given the network's approximately 10-minute average block time โ the reward paid to miners for confirming a new block is cut in half. This continues until the block subsidy effectively reaches zero, expected sometime around the year 2140.
Complete halving history
| # | Date | Reward Change | Approx. Price at Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | November 28, 2012 | 50 โ 25 BTC | ~$12 |
| 2nd | July 9, 2016 | 25 โ 12.5 BTC | ~$650 |
| 3rd | May 11, 2020 | 12.5 โ 6.25 BTC | ~$8,600 |
| 4th | April 20, 2024 | 6.25 โ 3.125 BTC | ~$64,000 |
| 5th (estimated) | ~April 2028 | 3.125 โ 1.5625 BTC | Unknown |
The exact date of future halvings can only be estimated, since block times vary slightly based on network hash rate and difficulty adjustments โ the schedule is defined in blocks, not calendar dates.
What happens as rewards approach zero
As the block subsidy continues shrinking with each halving, an increasing share of miner revenue is expected to come from transaction fees rather than newly minted coins. This shift is part of Bitcoin's long-term security model โ the idea being that a sufficiently active, high-value network will generate enough fee revenue to keep miners securing the chain even after new issuance effectively stops.
Total supply and the 21 million cap
Because each halving reduces new issuance geometrically, the vast majority of Bitcoin's eventual 21 million supply has already been mined โ current circulating supply sits above 19.8 million BTC, or roughly 94% of the total that will ever exist.
Halving dates and block reward figures per the Bitcoin protocol's public blockchain history.