The bitcoin protocol was created to have a total of 21 million coins; once the amount of coins in circulation reaches that number, the protocol will stop minting new coins. A feature of the Bitcoin software is that it uses a coin creation method known as “bitcoin halving.” This ensures the amount of bitcoin distributed to miners as rewards reduces over time (though transaction fees could still increase). A bitcoin halving (sometimes called “halvening”) happens every 210,000 blocks, occurring roughly every four years, with the next event set in April 2024. At that point, the bitcoin creation will go from 6.25 new bitcoin every 10 minutes to 3.125. By gradually decreasing the supply of new bitcoin entering circulation, the theory is that the limited supply of the asset should help support its value.