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Technology term

Halving

The scheduled 50 percent cut in Bitcoin's block reward, roughly every four years.

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By the Orca Crypto teamUpdated 2026-09-14How we check this3 min readDefinition
Definition

The scheduled 50 percent cut in Bitcoin's block reward, roughly every four years.

Every 210000 blocks, the reward paid to Bitcoin miners halves. It went from 50 to 25 to 12.5 to 6.25 to 3.125, and will keep halving until issuance ends around 2140.

The halving is the clock crypto cycles are often measured against, though causation is much debated and every cycle has had other drivers too.

In practice

Halvings are fully predictable. Anyone can calculate the exact block years in advance.

What people get wrong

That the halving is a price event. It is a supply event with a known date that everyone can read years ahead, which is the opposite of surprising. What it reliably changes is miner economics; what it does to price is argued about after the fact.

Common questions

Does the halving always push the price up?
It has coincided with rises before, across a sample of four events, which is not enough to call it a rule. The supply effect is real and also entirely predictable, which means it can be priced in well ahead of time.
What happens to miners at a halving?
Revenue halves overnight while costs do not, so the least efficient shut down and difficulty adjusts down to suit. It is the main mechanism that keeps mining competitive.

Where this comes up on the site

The guides that actually use this word, rather than a list of everything we have written.

Where to go next

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