Every 210,000 blocks the reward for finding a block halves. That is the rhythm in which new bitcoin come into existence, and the one date on which every miner's earnings halve overnight.
The block reward is the single pot every miner is paid from. Halve it and hashprice, the earnings per terahash, halves overnight too. The power bill stays where it was. Every machine whose break-even price sat just above its own tariff drops out that day. In the weeks that follow, enough operators switch off that network difficulty falls and the rest get a little more again. That rebalancing has historically taken one to two months.
In the miner comparison, set the bitcoin price to half as a test. That is not the same as a halving, but the effect on earnings is very close: both halve what comes in per terahash. The break-even price you then see is the tariff you will need after the halving.
To the miner comparison| No. | Block | Date | Reward |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | 0 | 03 Jan 2009 | 50.000 BTC |
| 1 | 210,000 | 28 Nov 2012 | 25.000 BTC |
| 2 | 420,000 | 09 Jul 2016 | 12.500 BTC |
| 3 | 630,000 | 11 May 2020 | 6.250 BTC |
| 4 | 840,000 | 20 Apr 2024 | 3.125 BTC |
| 5 | 1,050,000 | 04/2028 (expected) | 1.562 BTC |
| 6 | 1,260,000 | 04/2032 (expected) | 0.7812 BTC |
| 7 | 1,470,000 | 04/2036 (expected) | 0.3906 BTC |
One shot a day. The more hashpower you have built up, the better your odds.
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