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Bitcoin halving countdown
The Bitcoin halving countdown is the number of blocks left until block 1,050,000, where the reward for mining a block drops from 3.125 to 1.5625 BTC. Today 74,707 blocks are left, which at the recent pace puts the halving on May 20, 2028.
Latest block 975,293 (mempool.space). At exactly 10 minutes a block the halving would land on April 12, 2028.
| Block | Date | Reward after |
|---|---|---|
| 210,000 | 2012-11-28 | 25 BTC |
| 420,000 | 2016-07-09 | 12.5 BTC |
| 630,000 | 2020-05-11 | 6.25 BTC |
| 840,000 | 2024-04-20 | 3.125 BTC |
When Is the Next Bitcoin Halving
The next Bitcoin halving is at block 1,050,000, estimated for May 20, 2028 at the recent block pace. The block height is fixed in the code. The date is an estimate, because blocks do not arrive on a schedule.
If every remaining block took exactly 10 minutes, the halving would land on April 12, 2028. Blocks in the current difficulty period are averaging 10.74 minutes, and that pace drives the main estimate. The countdown on this page reads the latest block from mempool.space on every check.
How the Halving Countdown Is Calculated
The halving countdown is calculated by subtracting the latest block height, 975,293, from 1,050,000, which leaves 74,707 blocks. We then multiply the blocks left by the average minutes per block in the current difficulty period and add that time to now.
The date moves a little from day to day. Bitcoin adjusts its mining difficulty every 2,016 blocks, about two weeks, to pull the average back toward 10 minutes, so a fast or slow stretch gets corrected but not erased. The two estimates in the fact box show how much the pace matters, so treat the date as approximate.
Bitcoin Halving Dates and Block Rewards
Bitcoin halving dates so far are November 28, 2012, July 9, 2016, May 11, 2020 and April 20, 2024, and each one cut the block reward in half. The table uses block times from mempool.space in UTC.2 The halving dates chart plots them against price.
The gaps between halvings were 1,319, 1,402 and 1,440 days, and the stretch from the genesis block to the first halving took 1,425 days. At exactly 10 minutes per block, 210,000 blocks would take about 1,458 days, so every gap so far ran short: blocks averaged slightly under 10 minutes.
| Block | Date and time (UTC) | Reward before | Reward after |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 (genesis) | January 3, 2009, 18:15 | 50 BTC | |
| 210,000 | November 28, 2012, 15:24 | 50 BTC | 25 BTC |
| 420,000 | July 9, 2016, 16:46 | 25 BTC | 12.5 BTC |
| 630,000 | May 11, 2020, 19:23 | 12.5 BTC | 6.25 BTC |
| 840,000 | April 20, 2024, 00:09 | 6.25 BTC | 3.125 BTC |
| 1,050,000 | Estimated May 20, 2028 | 3.125 BTC | 1.5625 BTC |
Why Halvings Happen Every 210,000 Blocks
Halvings happen every 210,000 blocks because Bitcoin's code says so: Bitcoin Core sets the halving interval to 210,000 and starts the block subsidy at 50 BTC.3 The subsidy function divides the block height by 210,000 to count how many halvings have passed, and its own comment says this occurs approximately every 4 years.4
The same Bitcoin Core settings file sets the 10-minute block target, so 210,000 blocks works out to about four years. The Bitcoin white paper describes the long-run plan: once a set number of coins is in circulation, miners can be paid entirely by transaction fees. The halving explainer covers the full schedule.
What Changes at the 2028 Halving
At the 2028 halving the reward changes from 3.125 to 1.5625 BTC per block, and nothing else in the rules changes. At the 10-minute target a day holds 144 blocks, so new issuance drops from about 450 BTC a day to about 225 BTC a day, before fees.
Miners keep the transaction fees on top of the reward, so their total income per block depends on fees too. Past halvings sit at the start of each line on the 4 year cycle chart. That chart is history, not a forecast, and this page is not advice.
Block Hash Zeros and Mining Difficulty
Block hash zeros show mining difficulty: a miner wins a block only with a hash below the network's target, and a lower target has more leading zeros. The genesis block's target needed 8 leading hex zeros and its hash happened to have 10.
The latest block on November 8, 2026, block 975,105, has a hash that starts with 20 zeros, while its target needed about 19.6 Miners often land a hash a little below the target, so the count of zeros is a rough gauge. The network's computing power behind those hashes is 825 EH/s today; the hashrate page explains the unit.
Questions People Ask About Bitcoin halving countdown
These are the questions people ask next about Bitcoin halving countdown.
How many blocks until the halving?
There are 74,707 blocks until the halving at block 1,050,000, counted from the latest block, 975,293, on mempool.space. At about 144 blocks a day, that count falls by roughly 144 every day.
What will the block reward be after the 2028 halving?
The block reward after the 2028 halving will be 1.5625 BTC, half of the 3.125 BTC paid since April 20, 2024. Miners also keep the fees from the transactions they include, which come on top of that reward.
Does the halving date change?
The halving date does change as an estimate, because it depends on how fast blocks arrive, but the halving block, 1,050,000, never changes. Our estimate uses the average block time in the current difficulty period and updates on every check.
How often does the Bitcoin halving happen?
The Bitcoin halving happens every 210,000 blocks, which is about four years at the 10-minute block target. The real gaps so far were 1,319, 1,402 and 1,440 days, since block times drift from the target between difficulty adjustments.
Sources
Every number on this page comes from these sources, checked November 10, 2026.