Bitcoin Halving History
A Bitcoin halving cuts the block subsidy — the new bitcoin created with each mined block — in half. Halvings occur every 210,000 blocks, roughly every four years, and are the mechanism that enforces Bitcoin's 21 million coin supply cap. There have been four halvings so far: in 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024.
All Bitcoin halvings
| Event | Date | Block height | Reward after | BTC close that day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Launch | January 3, 2009 | 0 (genesis) | 50 BTC | — |
| 1st halving | November 28, 2012 | 210,000 | 25 BTC | — |
| 2nd halving | July 9, 2016 | 420,000 | 12.5 BTC | $650.96 |
| 3rd halving | May 11, 2020 | 630,000 | 6.25 BTC | $8,602 |
| 4th halving | April 20, 2024 (UTC) | 840,000 | 3.125 BTC | $64,994 |
Closing prices are from CoinMarketCap daily data, which begins April 2013 — so no close is shown for the 2009 launch or the 2012 halving. Data: CoinMarketCap
How the halving works
Bitcoin's issuance schedule is written into its consensus rules. Miners earn a subsidy of newly created bitcoin with each block, and every 210,000 blocks that subsidy halves: 50 BTC per block at launch in January 2009, 25 BTC from November 2012, 12.5 BTC from July 2016, 6.25 BTC from May 2020, and 3.125 BTC since April 2024. Because blocks arrive roughly every ten minutes, halvings land about four years apart — but the trigger is the block height, not a calendar date, which is why future halving dates can only be estimated.
The fifth halving is expected at block 1,050,000 — around the year 2028, based on average block times — when the subsidy will fall to 1.5625 BTC. That date is an estimate, not a record.
Halvings and the price record
Each halving so far has been followed — within one to two years — by a new all-time high, though four events are far too few to prove a causal pattern. The actual numbers are on the Bitcoin price history page (year-by-year opens, highs, lows, and closes) and the Bitcoin all-time high page (every record peak and how long it stood).