When is the next Bitcoin halving scheduled? Things to know to prepare for the event!
Bitcoin’s next halving is scheduled for early 2024, when block number 840,000 will be mined. Why is this such an eagerly awaited event? What will happen next? Let’s try to shed some light and go over all the things we need to know about it.
Next Halving Bitcoin 2024: what is this operation for?
Halving is the internal mechanism within the Bitcoin system that regulates the gradual decrease in rewards given to miners who validate blocks. It serves to reduce the crypto in circulation, to maintain scarcity. Miners in fact receive a share of BTC every time they validate a block. Halving has been an element of BTC tokenomics since its creation and is managed by an algorithm.
When the halving takes place and how the exact date is calculated
Bitcoin’s next halving is expected to arrive between March and May 2024, at block No. 210,000 starting from the previous halving, so at No. 840,000. It is an event that users might not notice as it does not alter the state of the blockchain in any way, only the miners notice it; but nevertheless all crypto enthusiasts await this moment with trepidation. The moment the last of the 210,000 blocks is validated, the issuance of BTC is halved.
To calculate when the next halving of Bitcoin will take place, you need to multiply the number of blocks that need to be validated from one halving to the next (210,000) by the time it takes to do so, which is on average 10 minutes. Then you need to divide the resulting number by 60, which is the number of minutes that an hour consists of. Doing this quick calculation we find that about 35,000 hours pass from one halving to the next, plus or minus 1458 days or a little over four years. In order to know the exact date of the next halving in 2024, we need to look at what block number we are at day by day.
These ‘halvings’ will not be infinite, they will cease when the maximum supply of Bitcoin, which amounts to 21 million BTC, is issued, presumably around the year 2140. This means that the cryptocurrency still faces about 30 halvings in 117 years.
How many rewards will there be after the 2024 halving?
Another key piece of information about halving has to do with the issuance of Bitcoin over time. Miners, at the time Bitcoin was created (January 2009), received 50 BTC for each validated block. The first halving took place in 2012 and halved the rewards to 25 BTC. The process was then repeated in 2016 and 2020 when the rewards per block became 6.25 Bitcoins. At the next halving in 2024 these will become 3.15 BTC.
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Halving and the price of Bitcoin
As the issuance of this crypto is halved, Bitcoin becomes scarcer and scarcer and this indirectly has an impact on the price. In the months following the halving in 2012, the price increased by almost 12,000%, and after the halving in 2020 by about 300%. Of course, halving is not the only cause of these incredible bullish rallies in the past, but in general the price of Bitcoin has always responded positively to this recurring event.
Halving also affects Bitcoin’s inflation rate. In 2011, for example, BTC was subject to an annual inflation of 50%. In 2012 this became 12%, while today it stands at around 1.77%. One wonders at this point, where it will go after the next halving.
Although the latter is an automatic event, it does not go unnoticed but strongly influences the Bitcoin ecosystem and also the entire crypto world. A year after the expected process, we still find ourselves caught in the clutches of this seemingly endless bear market. Will the euphoria that grows as the next Bitcoin halving of 2024 approaches help the crypto market raise its head?
