The much-anticipated “halving” event within the Bitcoin mining sector took place on Friday.
Binance, the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, announced the completion of the fourth bitcoin halving on their official X account, formerly Twitter. A countdown has been reset with the next event set for 2028.
The 4th #Bitcoin halving is complete!
Block rewards are now 3.125 #BTC The countdown has been reset – see you in 2028 🫡 pic.twitter.com/s0Wcl19A8p — Binance (@binance) April 20, 2024
Since the digital token’s launch in 2009, bitcoin rewards for “miners” halve every time a certain quantity of the digital currency is generated. Bitcoin creation operates through “blocks,” with each holding transaction information.
These blocks are “mined”, or created by private entities through complex calculations. A halving event occurs for every 210,000 mined or created blocks.
Typically, a block is mined every 10 minutes, making the halving event occur roughly every four years. Since the previous halving in May 2020, the miner’s reward was 6.25 bitcoins per block, but this has now dropped to 3.125 bitcoins.
The goal of the halving is to control the emission rate of bitcoins, with a total quantity capped at 21 million units, as determined by Satoshi Nakamoto – its enigmatic creator. This cap is projected to be reached by 2040.
Slowing the rate at which new bitcoins are created helps maintain the scarcity of the cryptocurrency. “Assuming the demand stays constant or increases, halving potentially boosts the value,” explains Matthew Weller, analyst at Forex.com.
