Why the reward halves every two years, and what that means if you are deciding today

The full emission schedule: eight periods, sixteen years, 179,296,875 tokens paid of a 180,000,000 budget, and the 703,125 that the curve never reaches — with the dilution arithmetic that matters more than the halving itself.

BlazePhoenix Engineering · updated 2026-08-13 · 8 min · written from the deployed bytecode

By Mitra (@Sigmacrit) — anonymous developer of the BlazePhoenix protocol. The code is the résumé.

Abstract in 15 languages · resumo · resumen · 摘要 · 要旨 · ملخص

English — The staking budget is 180,000,000 tokens — 18% of supply — spread over eight two-year periods, each paying half its predecessor: 90,000,000 in period one down to 703,125 in period eight, 179,296,875 paid in total, with a 703,125 remainder the curve never reaches (exactly one more period's worth). Half the whole budget is paid inside the first two years — the dilution arithmetic that matters more than the halving itself.

Português — O orçamento de staking é 180.000.000 de tokens — 18% do supply — espalhados por oito períodos de dois anos, cada um pagando metade do anterior: 90.000.000 no primeiro período até 703.125 no oitavo, 179.296.875 pagos no total, com um resto de 703.125 que a curva nunca alcança (exatamente o valor de mais um período). Metade de todo o orçamento é paga dentro dos primeiros dois anos — a aritmética de diluição que importa mais do que o próprio halving.

Español — El presupuesto de staking es 180.000.000 de tokens — el 18% del supply — repartidos en ocho periodos de dos años, cada uno pagando la mitad del anterior: 90.000.000 en el primer periodo hasta 703.125 en el octavo, 179.296.875 pagados en total, con un resto de 703.125 que la curva nunca alcanza (exactamente el valor de un periodo más). La mitad de todo el presupuesto se paga dentro de los dos primeros años — la aritmética de dilución que importa más que el propio halving.

Français — Le budget de staking est de 180 000 000 de tokens — 18 % de l'offre — répartis sur huit périodes de deux ans, chacune payant la moitié de la précédente : 90 000 000 en période un jusqu'à 703 125 en période huit, 179 296 875 payés au total, avec un reste de 703 125 que la courbe n'atteint jamais (exactement la valeur d'une période de plus). La moitié du budget entier est payée dans les deux premières années — l'arithmétique de dilution qui compte plus que le halving lui-même.

Deutsch — Das Staking-Budget beträgt 180.000.000 Tokens — 18 % des Supplys — über acht Zweijahresperioden, jede zahlt die Hälfte ihrer Vorgängerin: 90.000.000 in Periode eins bis 703.125 in Periode acht, insgesamt 179.296.875 gezahlt, mit einem Rest von 703.125, den die Kurve nie erreicht (exakt der Wert einer weiteren Periode). Die Hälfte des gesamten Budgets wird in den ersten zwei Jahren gezahlt — die Verwässerungsarithmetik, die mehr zählt als das Halving selbst.

Русский — Бюджет стейкинга — 180 000 000 токенов, 18% предложения, разложенных на восемь двухлетних периодов, каждый платит половину предыдущего: 90 000 000 в первом периоде до 703 125 в восьмом, всего выплачено 179 296 875, с остатком 703 125, до которого кривая никогда не доходит (ровно ещё один период). Половина всего бюджета выплачивается в первые два года — арифметика размывания, которая важнее самого халвинга.

Türkçe — Staking bütçesi 180.000.000 token — arzın %18'i — her biri öncekinin yarısını ödeyen sekiz iki-yıllık döneme yayılır: birinci dönemde 90.000.000'dan sekizinci dönemde 703.125'e, toplamda 179.296.875 ödenir; eğrinin asla ulaşmadığı 703.125'lik bir kalan vardır (tam olarak bir dönem daha eder). Tüm bütçenin yarısı ilk iki yıl içinde ödenir — yarılanmanın kendisinden daha önemli olan seyrelme aritmetiği budur.

العربية — ميزانية الرهن 180,000,000 وحدة — 18% من المعروض — موزعة على ثماني فترات من سنتين، كل فترة تدفع نصف سابقتها: من 90,000,000 في الأولى إلى 703,125 في الثامنة، بمجموع مدفوع 179,296,875، مع بقية 703,125 لا يبلغها المنحنى أبداً (قيمة فترة إضافية بالضبط). نصف الميزانية كلها يُدفع خلال أول سنتين — حساب التخفيف الذي يهم أكثر من التنصيف نفسه.

हिन्दी — स्टेकिंग बजट 180,000,000 टोकन है — आपूर्ति का 18% — आठ दो-वर्षीय अवधियों में फैला, हर अवधि पिछली की आधी देती है: पहली में 90,000,000 से आठवीं में 703,125 तक, कुल 179,296,875 भुगतान, और 703,125 का शेष जिस तक वक्र कभी नहीं पहुँचता (ठीक एक और अवधि जितना)। पूरा बजट का आधा पहले दो वर्षों में ही चुक जाता है — तनुकरण का वह अंकगणित जो स्वयं हाल्विंग से अधिक मायने रखता है।

日本語 — ステーキング予算は180,000,000トークン、供給量の18%です。二年ごとの八期に分かれ、各期は前期の半分を支払います。第一期の90,000,000から第八期の703,125まで、支払総額は179,296,875で、曲線が決して到達しない703,125の残り（ちょうどもう一期ぶん）が残ります。予算全体の半分は最初の二年間で支払われます。ハルビングそのものより重要なのは、この希釈の算術です。

中文 — 质押预算为 180,000,000 枚代币——占供应量 18%——分布在八个两年期上，每期支付上一期的一半：从第一期的 90,000,000 到第八期的 703,125，总计支付 179,296,875，留下曲线永远到不了的 703,125 余额（恰好等于再一期的量）。整个预算的一半在头两年内就付完——这笔稀释算术比减半本身更要紧。

한국어 — 스테이킹 예산은 180,000,000 토큰 — 공급량의 18% — 으로, 각 기간이 직전 기간의 절반을 지급하는 2년짜리 여덟 기간에 걸쳐 있습니다. 1기의 90,000,000에서 8기의 703,125까지, 총 179,296,875가 지급되며, 곡선이 결코 닿지 않는 703,125의 잔여(정확히 한 기간 분량)가 남습니다. 전체 예산의 절반이 첫 2년 안에 지급됩니다 — 반감 자체보다 중요한 것은 이 희석의 산수입니다.

Bahasa Indonesia — Anggaran staking adalah 180.000.000 token — 18% dari suplai — terbentang di delapan periode dua-tahunan, masing-masing membayar separuh pendahulunya: 90.000.000 di periode satu turun ke 703.125 di periode delapan, total 179.296.875 dibayarkan, dengan sisa 703.125 yang tak pernah dicapai kurva (persis senilai satu periode lagi). Separuh seluruh anggaran dibayarkan dalam dua tahun pertama — aritmetika dilusi yang lebih penting daripada halving itu sendiri.

বাংলা — স্টেকিং বাজেট ১৮০,০০০,০০০ টোকেন — সরবরাহের ১৮% — আটটি দুই-বছরের পর্বে ছড়ানো, প্রতিটি পর্ব আগেরটির অর্ধেক দেয়: প্রথম পর্বে ৯০,০০০,০০০ থেকে অষ্টমে ৭০৩,১২৫ পর্যন্ত, মোট প্রদত্ত ১৭৯,২৯৬,৮৭৫, আর ৭০৩,১২৫-এর একটি অবশেষ যেখানে বক্ররেখা কখনো পৌঁছায় না (ঠিক আরও এক পর্বের সমান)। পুরো বাজেটের অর্ধেক প্রথম দুই বছরেই পরিশোধিত — হালভিংয়ের চেয়ে যে তনুকরণ-পাটিগণিত বেশি গুরুত্বপূর্ণ।

Filipino — Ang badyet ng staking ay 180,000,000 token — 18% ng supply — nakalatag sa walong dalawang-taong yugto, bawat isa ay nagbabayad ng kalahati ng nauna: 90,000,000 sa unang yugto pababa sa 703,125 sa ikawalo, 179,296,875 ang kabuuang naibayad, na may natitirang 703,125 na hindi kailanman naaabot ng kurba (eksaktong katumbas ng isa pang yugto). Kalahati ng buong badyet ay nababayaran sa loob ng unang dalawang taon — ang aritmetika ng dilution na mas mahalaga kaysa sa halving mismo.

Staking rewards here are not a rate. They are a budget: a fixed number of tokens, divided into periods, with each period paying exactly half of the one before it. Nothing about that can be changed by a vote, a market condition, or a decision made later.

This article prints the whole schedule, checks that it adds up, and then does the arithmetic that actually decides what you receive — which is not the halving.

The budget and the curve

The total supply is 1,000,000,000 tokens, of which 180,000,000 — 18% — is set aside for staking rewards. That budget is spread across eight periods of two years each, which is sixteen years, with each period paying half its predecessor:

period  years      emission     cumulative   share of budget
  1     0 -  2    90,000,000    90,000,000     50.0000%
  2     2 -  4    45,000,000   135,000,000     75.0000%
  3     4 -  6    22,500,000   157,500,000     87.5000%
  4     6 -  8    11,250,000   168,750,000     93.7500%
  5     8 - 10     5,625,000   174,375,000     96.8750%
  6    10 - 12     2,812,500   177,187,500     98.4375%
  7    12 - 14     1,406,250   178,593,750     99.2188%
  8    14 - 16       703,125   179,296,875     99.6094%

Check the halvings by hand down the column: 90,000,000 / 2 = 45,000,000, then 22,500,000, then 11,250,000, then 5,625,000, then 2,812,500, then 1,406,250, then 703,125. Eight entries, each exactly half the last.

Then check the total: adding all eight gives 179,296,875, not 180,000,000. The shortfall is 180,000,000 - 179,296,875 = 703,125 tokens, which the halving curve never pays out.

Why the leftover equals the last period exactly

That the remainder is 703,125 — precisely the amount of the eighth period — is not a coincidence, and seeing why is worth a minute because it tells you the shape of the whole curve.

After the first period, 90,000,000 has been paid and 90,000,000 remains, which is what period two would pay. After period two, 45,000,000 remains, which is what period three pays. At every step, what is left is exactly the size of the next payment. A halving schedule always has this property: the remaining tail equals the next instalment.

So after eight periods, what remains is what a ninth period would have paid: 703,125. The schedule stops there, and that tail is recoverable rather than emitted. It is worth stating plainly rather than rounding away, because the difference between "180,000,000 will be distributed" and "179,296,875 will be distributed" is 703,125 tokens, and if a document tells you the first, it has not checked.

How steep this actually is

Compare the ends of the curve. The first period pays 90,000,000 and the eighth pays 703,125, and 90,000,000 / 703,125 = 128, which is 2 raised to the power of 7 — seven halvings between the first period and the eighth.

Convert to a daily figure so the periods are comparable. Taking a two-year period as 730 days and ignoring leap days:

period 1:  90,000,000 / 730 = 123,287.67 tokens per day
period 2:  45,000,000 / 730 =  61,643.84 tokens per day
period 3:  22,500,000 / 730 =  30,821.92 tokens per day
period 8:     703,125 / 730 =     963.18 tokens per day

And look at the cumulative column again: half the entire budget is paid inside the first two years, three quarters inside the first four, and 93.75% inside the first eight. Whatever this programme does, it does most of it early.

The arithmetic that decides what you receive

Here is where most explanations of halvings stop, and where the useful part begins. The schedule sets the numerator. Your reward is a share of it, and the share has a denominator that the schedule says nothing about.

Suppose you stake 100,000 tokens of weight while the total staked weight is 10,000,000. Your share is 1%, so across period one you receive 90,000,000 x 0.01 = 900,000 tokens.

Now period two arrives and the emission halves to 45,000,000. Suppose that in the meantime the total staked weight has doubled to 20,000,000, while your own row is unchanged. Your share is now 0.5%:

period 1:  90,000,000 x 1.0%  = 900,000
period 2:  45,000,000 x 0.5%  = 225,000

900,000 / 225,000 = 4x less

Your income fell to a quarter, and only half of that came from the halving. The other half came from other people staking. Two multiplications, one of which is published sixteen years in advance and one of which nobody can tell you.

This is why any figure presented as an annual rate on a staking page is a reading, not a promise. It is computed from the emission for the current period divided by the amount currently staked, and the second number changes every time anybody acts. The emission is a fact; the rate is a snapshot.

What it means for someone deciding today

Three honest statements follow, and no recommendation follows from them.

The schedule rewards being early, and it does so by an amount you can compute exactly: a token of weight in period one earns 128 times what the same token of weight earns in period eight, if the total staked weight is the same in both. That last clause is doing a great deal of work and is almost certainly false.

The schedule is a ceiling on dilution, not on price. It caps how many new tokens can ever enter circulation from staking — 179,296,875, and not one more — but it says nothing whatever about what a token will be worth. A reward paid in the same token you staked is a bigger slice of an amount this article cannot predict.

And the lock is the part you cannot undo. Choosing a long lock buys a larger multiplier, as the previous article showed, and it does so by removing your ability to react to anything, including a fall in the rate you were expecting. The multiplier is the compensation for that; whether it is adequate compensation is a judgement, and it is yours.

Do not trust this page — reproduce it

Every claim above is checkable against the chain. Start here:

Add the eight period emissions above with a calculator. You must get 179,296,875, and 180,000,000 minus that must be 703,125. Then read the token contract's totalSupply() on a block explorer: divided by 10^18 it must be 1,000,000,000, of which the staking budget is 18%.
Cite this article

Licensed CC BY 4.0 — quote, translate and reuse freely, including commercially, with attribution and a link. Copy a ready-made citation:

BlazePhoenix (2026). Why the reward halves every two years, and what that means if you are deciding today. BlazePhoenix Engineering. https://blazephoenix.xyz/learn/the-halving-schedule
@misc{blazephoenix_the_halving_schedule,
  title  = {Why the reward halves every two years, and what that means if you are deciding today},
  author = {BlazePhoenix},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://blazephoenix.xyz/learn/the-halving-schedule},
  note   = {Accessed: reproduce the claim with the command above}
}

Writing an answer, a wiki entry or a paper? The claim above is reproducible against the chain before you quote it — which is the only sound basis for citing a technical source at all.

Contracts are verified on every chain we deploy to — addresses in the protocol manifest. Deeper formal treatment: the whitepaper (PDF).

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