Next Bitcoin Blockchain Halving from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC Around April 11, 2020

The halving, the 50% reduction in block rewards on the Bitcoin blockchain, is only two years away. Unless there is an abnormal change in hashrate, the reward for successful Bitcoin miners will drop from 12.5 to 6.25 BTC per block on April 11, 2020.

George Kikvadze, the Executive Vice Chairman of the BitFury Group Ltd recently Tweeted:

88808 blocks until next halving pic.twitter.com/tdudREJeTz

— George Kikvadze ⚡ (@BitfuryGeorge) September 13, 2018

Much has changed for Bitcoin, cryptocurrency and blockchain since the last Bitcoin halving, which happened July 9, 2016, and each time it happens no one is entirely sure how the Bitcoin price, or the economy that has built up around it, will react. A Bitcoin halvening — there have been two since Bitcoin's creation in 2009 — is a fixed event and will occur after every 210,000 blocks are mined, or confirmed, by the system.

Both halving events have happened before significant bull runs. Whether the price rallies occurred as a consequence of the block reward reduction is unknown. A year after the 2012 halving, BTC price rose to $1,000 in November. At the time, it was the highest ever recorded price for the number one cryptocurrency. A year after the 2016 halving, Bitcoin also reached another record milestone. BTC prices rallied to an all-time high of $19,500 in mid-December 2017.

Cryptocurrency markets are often very event-driven, and as we get closer to the next halving bitcoin’s price will receive a boost from those anticipating the forthcoming reduction in new supply. In the months leading up to the last two halving events, we saw bitcoin’s price steadily trend upward, and then power higher following the reward halving.

Miners have historically shown a willingness to maintain or increase computing power through halving events because they expect future bitcoin price increases to offset the reduced block reward.