Shadowing Practice: Bitcoin Halving Explained (Animated) - Why, How, and What it Means for You! - Learn English Speaking with Video
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We are assuming you've seen Marvel's Endgame, and if you haven't, there will be a small spoiler alert, so don't blame us.
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In the movie Endgame, Thanos' main motive is to find all the stones for the Infinity Gauntlet,
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and then he wants to be able to snap and wipe away half of the population from the world.
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His vision is that with a lower population, there would be less competition, and thus, people would be happier with the same amount of resources.
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He believed there was overpopulation and that it was a big problem.
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Similarly, around every four years, a certain metric in Bitcoin is cut in half.
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Now, you don't have to be a genius to know that if we look forward in the future, there will eventually be a time where that metric is close to zero.
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Welcome to Whiteboard Crypto, our YouTube channel where we explain the topics of cryptocurrency using analogies, stories, and examples so that way you can easily understand them.
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Today, we want to explain what the Bitcoin halving event is
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and what you should expect to see roughly in 2024 and many years after.
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So, what is Bitcoin having?
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Well, before we get too deep into this video, you need to know basics of how Bitcoin works.
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First, let's assume that you know Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency.
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Second, let's assume that you know that Bitcoin uses a proof-of-work mechanism, which simply means a bunch of people are competing to solve a problem, and when they win that problem,
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they get the reward of some Bitcoin, but they also get the reward of getting to add the next block to the blockchain.
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If you don't know what this means, and if you want to learn more, we actually have a specific video about proof of work including what this specific problem that they're solving is.
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And third, let's assume that you know Bitcoin was launched in 2009.
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So now that you know what these three things are, let's teach you about the halving event.
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Every four years, the amount of Bitcoins that are given out as a reward is cut in half.
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So in 2009, the rewards of solving a Bitcoin block was 50 Bitcoins.
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Actually, all the way from 2009 to 2012,
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the block reward was 50 then from 2012 to 2016 The reward for solving the problem was 25 bitcoins
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and then from 2016 to 2020 the reward for solving the Bitcoin problem was 12
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and a half and now since 2020 all the way to 2024 the reward will be
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6.25 bitcoins per block after 2024 you guessed it the reward will be half of 6.25
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which is 3.125 125 so moving on what's the reason for this well
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if you think about any fiat currency
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that you currently carry you can better understand what is happening
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Let's take the US dollar for example whenever the United States of America needs more cash
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or when it wants to reach certain Economic goals it can print it literally it can print more money
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And if the US starts to see
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that there's too much in circulation They will print less
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and less next year and vice versa
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if they think there needs to be more being humans You can probably guess
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that we usually print more than we need anyways this ever-increasing The increasing rate of money printing causes something called inflation.
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The topic of inflation is a bit out of the scope for this video, but you need to know that it makes the value of your dollar less over time.
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If you want to support inflation here on this channel, consider clicking the like button, because as there's more and more likes on this video,
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we will require more and more likes to have the same motivation to create another video.
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Moving on, Bitcoin is different than US cash though, because it does have a hard limit.
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More and more bitcoins get added each day.
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However, each day, the clock is ticking down to there being less and less Bitcoins created.
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If the price stays the same, inflation will happen, but it doesn't happen at an exponential rate like the US dollar does.
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In fact, inflation of Bitcoin happens less and less as time goes on.
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Actually, eventually Bitcoin theoretically will become deflationary, meaning as time goes on, there will be less and less of it.
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Why?
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Because people will probably accidentally send Bitcoin to wallets that they do not have access to, meaning that the total circulating supply of Bitcoin will drop.
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And due to this, and due to the law of supply and demand, if demand stays the same, but more Bitcoin is lost each year than the amount that is mined, the price should increase.
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That's getting a little technical, so let's move on to how does the Bitcoin halving actually happen.
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Well, it's important to note that Bitcoin doesn't use real-world time to determine when to cut miners' rewards in half.
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Instead, it uses its own block numbers.
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But more about that later.
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Bitcoin actually has an internal clock that is just a little off.
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It aims so that every 10 minutes, a new block is created, or mined, by the miners.
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But you might be asking, what if a ton of new miners join, and then because of that, the block is solved every 5 minutes?
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Because there's more people attempting to solve it, and by the law of probability, the rate at which the math problem is guessed is quicker.
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What happens then?
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Well, Bitcoin has something called a difficulty, and this is how it makes sure that on average it takes 10 minutes to solve a block.
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It goes, oh, you have that much mining power?
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Well statistically with that much mining power, I'm going to make the problem harder, so that it takes exactly 10 minutes to solve the problem each time.
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In other words, Bitcoin makes the problem to solve the block harder
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or easier depending on how many miners there were in the last two weeks.
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Basically every two weeks it adjusts itself.
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That's right, every two weeks, or actually, 2016 blocks, Bitcoin will change its difficulty so that the average block, or the problem that is solved, is solved in 10 minutes.
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So that was a little confusing, but you just need to know that Bitcoin has an internal clock, and due to that, we just need one more piece of information,
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and that is that Bitcoin halves its block rewards every 210,000 blocks.
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And if we use our average block time of each block taking around 10 minutes to solve, what What we get is the average halvening event happens every 4 years.
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So what should you do if you own or maybe you're a miner of Bitcoin?
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Let's go over that.
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As an owner, you don't need to do anything.
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Some investors use the halving event as an event to speculate price, as the last few halvings have caused the price to increase.
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But this could also be simply due to the fact that Bitcoin is in the news more often, and not because the supply is restricted a little bit.
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On the other hand, if you're a miner, you might need to look and see if your operation is still profitable.
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As a smaller reward is given out to the same amount of equipment, the large players who have what is called economies of scale,
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which are things like large cooling warehouses or solar panel power, those miners might have an edge.
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And on the other hand, if a bunch of people stop mining, then the difficulty will drop, which may increase your own profitability.
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Either way, we highly recommend you to do your own research and err on the side of caution whenever investing.
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This brings us to one last problem.
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What happens when it keeps halving and it halves to zero?
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Because one day the miner rewards will be so low
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that the price of mining may not be worth the rewards that you get from mining it.
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What happens then?
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Well, we don't really know.
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But maybe we can save that question for another video.
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So now it's your turn.
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What do you think of this halving idea?
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Is it good for inflation?
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Is it good for the miners?
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Do you think it should be increased or decreased?
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Was Thanos right snapping half the population away?
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We'd love to know your opinions below.
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But before fully signing off, I want to take a moment to really thank you guys for watching our videos and supporting us from the comments section.
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As the channel has been growing, you all have been our main motivators, and it makes creating this type of content much easier knowing that you guys are there with us along for the journey.
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As always, we hope that you enjoyed today's video, we really hoped you learned something, and most importantly, we hope to see you in the next video.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 94 sentences and 1487 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:16. The speaker talks fast, about 204 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| reward noun | /ɹɪˈwɔɹd/ | Something of value given in return for an act. |
| solve verb | /sɒlv/ | To find an answer or solution to a problem or question; to work out. |
| miner noun | /ˈmaɪnə(ɹ)/ | A person who works in a mine. |
| bitcoin noun | /ˈbɪtˌkɔɪn/ | A unit of the bitcoin (proper noun proper noun sense 1) cryptocurrency. |
| inflation noun | /ɪnˈfleɪ.ʃən/ | An act, instance of, or state of expansion or increase in size, especially by injection of a gas or liquid. |
| clock noun | /klɑk/ | A chronometer, an instrument that measures time, particularly the time of day. |
| difficulty noun | /ˈdɪfɪkəlti/ | The state of being difficult, or hard to do. |
| topic noun | /ˈtɑpɪk/ | A subject; a theme; a category or general area of interest. |
| snap verb | /snæp/ | To fracture or break apart suddenly. |
| metric adjective | /ˈmɛt.ɹɪk/ | Of or relating to the metric system of measurement. |
| compete verb | /kəmˈpiːt/ | To be in battle or in a rivalry with another for the same thing, position, or reward; to contend. |
| resource noun | /ɹɪˈzɔːs/ | Something that one uses to achieve an objective, e.g. raw materials or personnel. |
| currency noun | /ˈkʌɹ.ən.si/ | Money or other items used to facilitate transactions. |
| roughly adverb | /ˈɹʌf.li/ | In a rough manner; without kindness, softness, or gentleness. |
| alert adjective | /əˈlɝt/ | Attentive; awake; on guard. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| give out verb | To utter, publish; to announce, proclaim, report. |
| go over verb | To look at carefully; to scrutinize; to analyze. |
| sign off verb | To log off; to stop using a computer, radio, etc.; especially, to stop talking. |
| wipe away verb | To remove or erase with a wiping motion. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 14 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, doesn't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: inflation /ɪnˈfleɪ.ʃən/, motivation /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/, caution /ˈkɔːʃ(ə)n/, circulation /ˌsɝkjʊˈleɪʃən/, deflationary /dəˈfleɪ.ʃənˌɛɹ.i/
- Long words — get the stress right: difficulty /ˈdɪfɪkəlti/, similarly /ˈsɪm.ə.lə.li/, mechanism /ˈmɛk.ə.nɪ.zəm/, accidentally /ˌæk.sɪˈdɛnt(ə)li/, motivation /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like reward, solve, miner.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if you haven't, there will be |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is cut · was launched · are given |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | you've seen · have caused · have been |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.