Bitcoin aficionados are hoping that a scheduled reduction in the number of new coins going into circulation will cause the price of the cryptocurrency to skyrocket.

The halving is designed to make bitcoin more scarce, and ostensibly to push bitcoin’s price upward. And for the last three halvings, that’s exactly what has happened.

When the countdown reaches zero and the halving occurs, the code automatically lowers the amount of Bitcoin that is given to miners as a reward.

Anticipation for the Bitcoin halving event is high, and leading cryptocurrency-focused platforms such as CoinGecko have even launched their own halving event countdown clocks as the big day looms.

According to the Bitcoin Halving Countdown, the event is anticipated for Friday, April 19th, or Saturday, April 20, depending on how many blocks are pushed through in the coming days.

The Bitcoin halving is expected to happen in around 1 day and 7 hours, according to this Bitcoin halving countdown. Following the halving, the Bitcoin mining reward will go from 6.25 to 3.125 BTC.

2024 Bitcoin halving countdown. Source: NiceHash Bitcoin halving is an event that occurs once 210,000 blocks, which is estimated to happen each four years.