Time flies.

Tick tock next block

The phenomenon happened exactly on block number 735,000 on the Bitcoin blockchain, which was mined at around 6:30 a.m. ET on May 5, 2022.

The Bitcoin protocol decreases the reward it gives to miners by 50% every 210,000 blocks – hence the name “halving.” It takes on average four years to mine those blocks.

Early bitcoin miners earned 50 BTC for each block they mined when the network was first spun up in 2009. The low-difficulty high-reward epoch began to fade in 2012 as the first halving ensued, cutting the reward to 25 BTC.

Four years later, in 2016, each Bitcoin block started giving out only 12.5 BTC for its miner. Two years ago, the block reward was further cut in half to 6.25 bitcoin – the number that still prevails today. In 2024, the protocol is set to repeat the halving once more, dropping the block reward to 3.125 BTC.

Here's a Twitter account that daily posts a chart and days til halving:

Countdown:

https://bitcoinblockhalf.com
https://www.bitcoinclock.com
http://www.thehalvening.com

Issuance:

https://www.blockchain.com/charts/total-bitcoins?scale=1&timespan=all
https://satoshisperperson.com