I’d sound like an absolute fool so I’ll preface this by saying I’ve no mining gear in any respect, however thought I knew the fundamentals of Bitcoin.
Does Bitcoin utterly half each 4 years, or does it slowly half each couple weeks till it has halved relative to the place it was 4 years in the past?
The former. Every 210,000 blocks (about 4 years at 1 block every 10 minutes). At that block height, the block reward is halved
Once every four years, actually every 210,000 blocks. It started at 50, then 25, 12.5, and now 6.25.
The next change to 3.125 should happen in 2024, most likely in May.
Here is a nice article explaining it in much detail: https://unchained.com/blog/bitcoin-source-code-21-million/
It’s the block subsidy (that’s the bitcoin awarded to miner every 10mins on average) that gets halved. It’s a cliff drop happens right away after the halving block. So it’ll drop from 6.25 every 10 mins to 3.125 every 10 mins (on average) as soon as block 840,000 is mined.
Something on this topic I am enjoying recently:
https://timechaincalendar.com
It is a series of step-changes. I’ve also wondered about why the issuance wasn’t programmed to gradually decrease. Was it simply a convenience thing, or was it intended to create deliberate periodic supply shocks (4 year cycle theory)? I can only imagine how worrying it must be for miners when the block reward halves. Not something you have to be too concerned about if you just [buy bitcoin](https://coincorner.com), but interesting nonetheless.