What Is a Bitcoin Halving?

The most recent halving of Bitcoin took place on May 11, 2020. To understand what a bitcoin halving is, it’s necessary to first understand how the bitcoin network works. The blockchain technology that underpins bitcoin is essentially a collection of computers, or nodes, that run bitcoin’s software and store a partial or entire history of transactions that have occurred on its network. Each full node, or node with the whole history of bitcoin transactions, is in charge of accepting or rejecting transactions in the bitcoin network. The node accomplishes this by performing a number of checks to confirm that the transaction is legitimate. These include ensuring that the transaction has the right validation criteria, such as nonces, and that it is not longer than necessary.
Only when all participants in the bitcoin network have approved the transaction inside the block in which it resides does it take place. The transaction is then added to the current blockchain and disseminated to other nodes when it has been approved. The blockchain acts as a pseudonymous transaction record (i.e., its contents are available to everyone, but identifying transacting parties is challenging).
This is because each transacting party in the network is assigned an encrypted address by the blockchain. However, even people who do not participate in the network as a node or miner may use block explorers to see these transactions in real-time. The blockchain becomes more stable and secure as more computers, or nodes, are added to it. There are presently 9,704 nodes running bitcoin’s code, according to estimates. While anybody may join the bitcoin network as a node if they have adequate storage to download the complete blockchain and transaction history, not everyone is a miner.