every four years the block reward for bitcoin miners is cut in half in an event called a bitcoin having and this will continue until all 21 million bitcoins are issued but how does the having work and what exactly does it mean for bitcoin and does this mean bitcoin will cease to exist after all coins are mined or are there ways to keep bitcoin up and running for many more years to come let's explore these questions and much more in today's video about bitcoin having so what exactly is bitcoin having bitcoin having is a process that regulates the amount of bitcoin rewards issued to miners for helping secure the network specifically it does this by cutting the reward in half roughly every four years but first let's back up a bit so as mentioned the total supply of bitcoin is capped at 21 million coins after 21 million coins are mined no more bitcoin will be created since bitcoin is not run by any one single entity it requires miners around the world to participate in validating transactions and securing the network in return miners are awarded with bitcoin for every block which are what transactions are grouped into they add to the blockchain at the time bitcoin was launched the reward per block was 50 btc the code is set so that miners rewards are cut in half for every 210 000 blocks added to the blockchain as each block takes approximately 10 minutes to mine this means it takes roughly 4 years to add that many blocks to the blockchain with the first bitcoin having taking place in 2012 having the reward to 25 btc the second in 2016 having the rewards to 12.5 btc and the latest having events taking place in may 2020 having their awards to 6.25 btc the next one is expected to take place in 2024.
what does the having mean for bitcoin based on the basic principles of supply and demand the bitcoin having tends to result in increased bitcoin prices if demand increases or remains constant this is because the having reduces the amount of new bitcoin entering the market bitcoin's limited supply of 21 million makes it a scarce and thus valuable asset if the demand for it continues to increase estimates predict that the last halving will happen in 2140 after which miners will get zero block rewards for mining but will still be able to collect transaction fees for keeping the blockchain running and ideally the transaction fees will be enough incentive for miners to keep securing the network [Music].
