Bitcoin's next halving event may now be just 50 days away

Bitcoin BTC -2.17% ’s next halving event is approaching just 50 days or approximately 7,300 blocks away, according to estimates from CoinGecko and OKLink.

The estimated countdown is based on Bitcoin's average block generation time of 10 minutes, setting a potential date of April 21, as things stand. Bitcoin’s halving event will see the reward for miners on the network drop from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block.

Bitcoin halvings are programmed to occur automatically every 210,000 blocks — roughly every four years. Once a halving event occurs, miners receive 50% fewer bitcoins as a reward for every block of transactions they mine and add to the blockchain. However, they continue to earn additional transaction fees for each block mined as normal.

There have been three halving events in Bitcoin's history, reducing its block reward inflation from 50 BTC to 25 BTC in 2012, then to 12.5 BTC in 2016 and 6.25 BTC at the last halving on May 11, 2020. In the long term, there will only ever be 21 million bitcoins in existence. The halving events will continue until the last bitcoin is expected to be mined around the year 2140. After this, miners will only earn from transaction fees.

Bitcoin inflation over time. Image: bitcoinblockhalf.com.

The impact of Bitcoin halvings on the market

Historically, Bitcoin halvings have been associated with significant fluctuations in the cryptocurrency's price. While not a direct cause-and-effect relationship, these events have often preceded substantial bull runs in the bitcoin market.

This time round, bitcoin’s price is closer to all-time highs at this point before a halving event than ever before — hitting a high of $64,000 earlier this week to come within 10% of November 2021’s record of around $69,000 following the launch of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the United States in January.

“$60,000 BTC is just the latest milestone for this new crypto bull market. But what’s different is the new buyers represent a broader group of traditional financial institutions than the cycles before,” Nathan McCauley, co-founder and CEO of institutional crypto platform Anchorage Digital, told The Block. 

“After seeing the SEC approve and world’s top asset managers address the complexities to issue new financial products like spot bitcoin ETFs, institutions that were on the sidelines are taking action and leading this cycle,” McCauley added. “With maturing market infrastructure and new investment vehicles, and a total market cap reaching a two-year high of $2 trillion, this is just the beginning of this bull market. It's one for which we've spent years preparing. And we know that the best is yet to come.”

Bitcoin is currently trading at $61,924, according to The Block’s price page. Bitcoin rose nearly 45% in February — the largest monthly percentage gain since December 2020.

BTC/USD price chart. Image: The Block/TradingView.