A Zcash halving happens when the rewards earned by Zcash miners are reduced by 50%. This mechanism is built into the Zcash protocol and happens automatically roughly every 4 years.
The next Zcash halving is expected to happen in late 2028 and will reduce the block reward from the current 1.5625 ZEC to 0.78125 ZEC.
| Basic facts about Zcash economics | |
|---|---|
| Maximum supply | 21 million ZEC |
| Circulating supply | 16.28 million ZEC (~77.5% of max supply) |
| Target block time | 75 seconds |
| Block reward | 1.5625 ZEC |
| Block reward distribution |
|
| Distance between halvings | 1,680,000 blocks (approximately 4 years) |
| Zcash halving dates | 1st halving: November 18, 2020 2nd halving: November 23, 2024 3rd halving: TBD (expected in late 2028) |
Data as of October 28, 2025.
Zcash halving dates
Zcash launched in 2016 and so far, there have been two ZEC halvings. The next ZEC halving is expected to occur in late 2028.
- The first Zcash halving happened on November 18, 2020 and reduced the block reward from 6.25 ZEC to 3.125 ZEC. Block height: 1,046,400
- The second Zcash halving happened on November 23, 2024 and reduced the block reward from 3.125 ZEC to 1.5625 ZEC. Block height: 2,726,400
- The third Zcash halving is expected to happen in late 2028 and will reduce the block reward from 1.5625 ZEC to 0.78125 ZEC. Block height: 4,406,400 (yet to be mined)
Long-term Zcash price chart with marked halvings.
A closer look at the Zcash supply
Zcash is a Proof-of-Work cryptocurrency that is similar to Bitcoin in many aspects. Just like with Bitcoin mining, Zcash miners deploy their mining hardware to solve resource-intensive mathematical problems, and the first miner to reach the right solution gets to add the next block to the Zcash blockchain and earn the associated block reward. Currently, each Zcash block has a 1.5625 ZEC block reward.
Zcash has a maximum supply cap of 21 million coins, and has a gradually decreasing inflation rate which will eventually reach 0%. At the time of writing, Zcash has an annual inflation rate of about 4%.
Because of the halving mechanism, the issuance rate of Zcash also decreases over time. Every 1,680,000 blocks, the Zcash block reward is decreased by half. This process is baked into the Zcash protocol and happens automatically.
Just like Bitcoin halvings, Zcash halvings happen about every 4 years. This is roughly the amount of time it takes to add 1,680,000 blocks to the Zcash blockchain.
Chart showing the projected ZEC issuance and inflation rates. Due to block time fluctuations, the actual rates will be slightly different, but still very close to these projections. Halvings are clearly visible on this chart as sudden decreases in the issuance and inflation rates. Source: Zechub.wiki
Zcash targets a block time of 75 seconds, which is 8x faster than Bitcoin’s target block time of 600 seconds. If miners are adding new blocks to the Zcash blockchain too fast, the mining difficulty automatically increases, while the reverse happens if new blocks are being added too slowly.
How the Blossom upgrade affected ZEC halvings
Bitcoin’s halving and block reward timeline has been quite straightforward. The initial block reward was 50 BTC, and it has consistently been reduced by half every 210,000 blocks, following the original design laid out by Satoshi Nakamoto in the Bitcoin protocol.
In contrast, Zcash’s block reward history includes a few notable differences.
When Zcash launched in October 2016, its block reward was 12.5 ZEC, with halvings scheduled to occur every 840,000 blocks. However, on December 11, 2019, the Blossom upgrade was implemented. This update reduced Zcash’s block time from 150 seconds to 75 seconds and simultaneously halved the block reward from 12.5 ZEC to 6.25 ZEC to maintain the same overall rate of ZEC issuance.
As a result of the Blossom upgrade, Zcash halvings now occur every 1,680,000 blocks instead of the originally planned 840,000.
Always double-check when using Zcash halving countdown websites
In our research, we noticed multiple inaccurate “Zcash halving countdowns” across various websites. For example, one website (which showed up as the 1st or 2nd result when searching for “Zcash halving” on Google) claimed that the Zcash halving will be happening in November of 2025, which is false. However, this information was picked up by several media sources in the crypto industry, leading many users to believe that a Zcash halving was imminent.
In reality, the next Zcash halving will most likely happen in late 2028.
Zcash halving FAQs
Let’s wrap up by answering some of the most common questions users have on the topic of the ZEC halving.
When is the next Zcash halving?
The next Zcash halving will happen when block 4,406,400 is mined. Based on current estimates, this is expected to happen in late 2028, most likely in November.
What is the Zcash block reward?
The current Zcash block reward is 1.5625 ZEC. The next ZEC halving will reduce it to 0.78125 ZEC.
How often do Zcash halvings happen?
Zcash halvings happen roughly every four years. The reason why they don’t happen in exact time intervals is because the amount of time it takes to mine each block fluctuates based on the network’s hashrate, mining difficulty, and chance.
Source: https://coincodex.com/article/9909/zcash-halving-date/
