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Bitcoin’s fourth halving occurred at block 840,000 on 20 April 2024. The protocol cut the block subsidy—the new bitcoin awarded to the miner of a valid block—from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. That is an automatic issuance change, not a guarantee that a miner’s total revenue or Bitcoin’s market price moved by the same proportion.
What happened at the 2024 Bitcoin halving?
At 00:09:27 UTC on 20 April 2024, miners produced block 840,000, according to We Are Bitcoin’s contemporaneous report. From that block height onward, nodes enforcing Bitcoin’s consensus rules accepted a maximum new-coin subsidy of 3.125 BTC per block. A block attempting to claim the former 6.25 BTC subsidy would be invalid.
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The change applies to the subsidy component of the block reward. Transaction fees paid by users are separate and vary from block to block, so the halving did not mechanically cut every miner’s complete reward or revenue in half.
How the halving schedule works
Bitcoin’s issuance schedule is tied to block height, not to a fixed calendar appointment. The subsidy is halved every 210,000 blocks. Because blocks are targeted at an average interval rather than mined on an exact timetable, “about every four years” is an estimate.
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Bitcoin’s original subsidy was 50 BTC per block. BIP 42 documents the design: the subsidy is divided into 210,000-block eras and reduced by a binary shift (effectively halved) for each era. BIP 42 is protocol-design documentation; the active historical schedule is reflected in Bitcoin.org’s halving table.
The four completed halvings
| Event | Block height | Observed date | Subsidy before | Subsidy after |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First | 210,000 | 28 November 2012 | 50 BTC | 25 BTC |
| Second | 420,000 | 9 July 2016 | 25 BTC | 12.5 BTC |
| Third | 630,000 | 11 May 2020 | 12.5 BTC | 6.25 BTC |
| Fourth | 840,000 | 20 April 2024 | 6.25 BTC | 3.125 BTC |
The dates in this table are observed block dates. A future halving date cannot be known precisely in advance because it depends on when miners reach the relevant height.
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What changed for miners?
The guaranteed new-coin component fell
For each valid block after height 840,000, the protocol reduced newly issued bitcoin from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. At an unchanged bitcoin price and unchanged fee income, that would reduce the subsidy’s nominal value by half. Actual operating results also depend on electricity costs, hardware efficiency, uptime, difficulty, bitcoin’s exchange rate and transaction fees.
Subsidy is not the whole block reward
A miner’s block reward consists of the subsidy plus transaction fees. Fees can be unusually high or low depending on demand for block space. S&P Global Ratings has described the long-term incentive question as subsidies decline and fees become more important; it does not establish one universal financial result for every mining company.
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Why one miner’s outcome cannot be generalized
A SEC-filed company annual report says a reward reduction can affect the bitcoin a company mines and its operating results. That is a company disclosure about potential effects, not evidence that every miner shut down, remained profitable or experienced the same change. The halving alone cannot determine network security or an individual operator’s break-even point.
Why does Bitcoin halve every 210,000 blocks?
The fixed interval makes issuance predictable and gradually reduces the rate at which new bitcoin enters circulation. Each 210,000-block era cuts the subsidy, beginning with the 50 BTC starting amount documented in BIP 42. This rule is enforced by validating nodes, so it does not require a scheduled meeting or a discretionary decision on the halving date.
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What happens after another 210,000 blocks?
The next subsidy step would reduce 3.125 BTC to 1.5625 BTC per block. A 2025 SEC-filed annual report states that 3.125 BTC is the current fixed block reward and describes 1.5625 BTC as the amount after another 210,000 blocks. A separate 2026 SEC filing describes 2028 as the expected next-halving year. That year is an expectation, not a protocol-guaranteed calendar date.
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The halving itself establishes a mechanical reduction in new issuance. It does not, by itself, establish a causal price increase or decrease. Bitcoin.org’s schedule explains the supply change, while S&P Global’s discussion concerns mining incentives; neither provides a causal estimate of the 2024 event’s market-price effect.
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Any price-performance analysis would need separately sourced, dated market data and a method that distinguishes correlation from causation. Past market movements should not be presented as a protocol consequence or as an investment recommendation.
What the halving does—and does not—tell you
It does tell you
- The event occurred at block 840,000 on 20 April 2024.
- The protocol subsidy changed from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block.
- The rule is height-based and repeats every 210,000 blocks.
- Nodes reject a post-halving block that claims an excessive subsidy.
It does not tell you
- A miner’s total reward, revenue or profitability, because fees and operating conditions vary.
- Whether Bitcoin’s price rose or fell because of the event.
- The exact calendar date of the next halving.
- Whether a particular mining company or hardware setup will remain viable.
Further reading
Mastering Bitcoin: Programming the Open Blockchain (3rd Edition) is a general technical introduction available in paperback and ebook formats through O’Reilly and major booksellers. It can help explain Bitcoin’s transaction, block and consensus mechanics, but it is not a dedicated account of the 2024 halving.
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