As the Bitcoin network progresses over halfway (50.01%) through its current halving cycle, anticipation builds for the next halving set for April 12, 2028, a little more than two years away, according to data from tempool.space.
Dubbed “epoch 5,” this cycle commenced in April 2024 and is slated to continue until 2028. The network undergoes a halving every 210,000 blocks—approximately every four years—halving the reward for miners by 50% with each occurrence.
This mechanism controls Bitcoin’s issuance rate while ensuring a predictable decrease in its inflation rate (currently below 1%). During this epoch, miners receive a block subsidy of 3.125 BTC per block. Given that blocks are mined roughly every 10 minutes on average, approximately 450 BTC are issued daily.
The network maintains the 10-minute schedule through difficulty adjustments occurring every 2,016 blocks. These adjustments alter mining difficulty based on how swiftly blocks are found, ensuring consistent issuance rates.
With around 104,986 blocks left in this cycle, Bitcoin’s supply continues its steady march toward its predetermined limit. Each new epoch decreases both issuance and the inflation rate, further affirming Bitcoin’s long-term scarcity. A fixed maximum supply of 21 million coins is a fundamental attribute that supports this scarcity. Recently, the network marked a significant milestone with the mining of the 20 millionth bitcoin; the remaining one million will take about another 114 years to be mined.
Since April 2024’s halving, Bitcoin’s price has risen approximately 15%, increasing from around $64,000 to just under $75,000. It previously reached an all-time high of roughly $126,000 in October 2025 before declining by about 50% to $60,000 in early February. Nevertheless, it continues to show less robust performance compared to earlier cycles over the same post-halving period, as per data from Glassnode.
This trend is largely anticipated as Bitcoin matures; with greater adoption and an expanding market cap, larger capital inflows are needed for significant price increases. Consequently, volatility diminishes each cycle, resulting in more gradual price movements compared to earlier cycles.