How observed halving dates differ from their targets

BlockworksAug 5, 2019 ⋅ 2 min read

Litecoin block rewards halved this morning at block 1,680,000, 66 days ahead of its targeted schedule based on a 2.5 minute block time and an 800,000 blocks halving interval. Historically Litecoin's block time has thus been a bit shorter than targeted. During the last six months the average block time (calculated from January 27, 2019 to July 27, 2019) was indeed 2.46 minutes, instead of the targeted 2.5 minutes. Although in the short-term, the impact on the halving & supply schedule is small, in the long term, the difference grows.

Bitcoin's block time has also been shorter than targeted, with an average block time around 9 minutes and 40 seconds for the past six months, instead of the targeted 10 minutes. If the difference stays the same, Bitcoin's max supply will be reached in 2136, four years earlier than its targeted date.

Below, we take a look at the different targeted, observed and expected halving dates for both Bitcoin & Litecoin as well as Bitcoin Cash & Zcash.

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