Bitcoin Halving: Dates, History and Next Halving
The Bitcoin halving cuts the block subsidy in half every 210,000 blocks. See past halving dates, why supply is capped at 21 million and when the next is due.
The Bitcoin halving is the event, every 210,000 blocks, in which the new-coin subsidy paid to miners is cut in half. The most recent halving took place in April 2024 at block 840,000, reducing the subsidy to 3.125 BTC; the next is expected at block 1,050,000, around March–April 2028.
Why the halving exists
Bitcoin has no central issuer. New coins enter circulation only through the coinbase transaction of each block, and the amount is fixed by the protocol. The subsidy started at 50 BTC per block and halves every 210,000 blocks, so total issuance forms a geometric series that converges just below 21 million BTC. This fixed schedule is one of Bitcoin's defining features: anyone running a node can verify exactly how many coins exist and how many will be created in any future block, without trusting a central bank or company.
Because the trigger is a block height rather than a calendar date, the timing of each halving depends on how fast blocks are found. With blocks averaging around 10 minutes, 210,000 blocks take roughly four years — usually a little less, because rising hashrate tends to keep blocks slightly faster than the target between difficulty adjustments.
Halving history
- Block 0 (January 2009): the subsidy starts at 50 BTC.
- Block 210,000 (November 2012): 50 → 25 BTC.
- Block 420,000 (July 2016): 25 → 12.5 BTC.
- Block 630,000 (May 2020): 12.5 → 6.25 BTC.
- Block 840,000 (April 2024): 6.25 → 3.125 BTC.
- Block 1,050,000 (expected around March–April 2028): 3.125 → 1.5625 BTC.
At the time of writing (October 2026), the chain is around block 971,400 and roughly 20.1 million BTC have been issued — more than 95% of everything that will ever exist. The rest will trickle out over more than a century, with the subsidy expected to reach zero around the year 2140. Before then, the chain will pass the symbolic block 1,000,000, expected around late April 2027. FreeBTC's halving countdown estimates the next halving date from the current block rate.
What changes for miners
A halving cuts subsidy revenue overnight, while miners' costs — electricity, hardware, hosting — stay the same. Miners typically respond in a few ways:
- Less efficient machines can become unprofitable and are switched off, which may slow blocks until the next difficulty adjustment lowers difficulty.
- Operators look for cheaper energy and upgrade to more efficient hardware.
- Over successive halvings, transaction fees become a larger share of the total block reward.
That last point is the long-term design question. With each halving, Bitcoin's security budget depends more on fees paid by users. When the mempool is quiet — as it is at the time of writing, with median fees of about 1–3 sat/vB — fees make up only a small fraction of each block's reward. During busy periods they have, for individual blocks, rivalled or even exceeded the subsidy.
Frequently asked questions
When is the next Bitcoin halving?
At block 1,050,000. Based on current block rates, that is expected around March–April 2028, but the exact date depends on how fast blocks are mined between now and then. The estimate tightens as the halving approaches, because fewer remaining blocks are exposed to changes in hashrate.
Will there ever be more than 21 million bitcoin?
Not without a change to the consensus rules that nodes would have to accept. Because the subsidy is rounded down to whole satoshis, the real maximum is in fact slightly below 21 million.
How many halvings will there be?
After the 33rd halving the subsidy rounds down to zero satoshis, and from then on miners will be paid by fees alone.
Halvings are rare, but every block in between is a round on FreeBTC, and every difficulty epoch is a season. The run-up to block 1,000,000 and then to the 2028 halving will play out in the game block by block — join the next round.