Bitcoin Halving 2024: On the Final Stretch

Introduction

As the Bitcoin halving nears, the world’s waiting with bated breath to witness the upcoming Bitcoin’s fourth halving, which is expected to take place on 19 or 20 April 2024—a significant date to remember in the history of Bitcoin!

Bitcoin has become the most popular one across the crypto market. It has become a talk-of-the-crypto town for its upward and downward movements, in terms of price and of course, the halving that happens every four years.

Bitcoin!!! Born from the 2008 financial crash and invented by Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous identity, Bitcoin would have been what the world might have dreamed of; if not back then, then when? Bitcoin was launched as an international currency to operate in a decentralized space rather than any operated by any centralized banks or government. The inception thought was that there would be 21 million Bitcoins only, as written by Satoshi. However, what’s this Bitcoin halving? How does that work? What happens during Bitcoin halving? We have got answers for all of your questions, continue to read to learn more about Bitcoin halving!

What is Bitcoin Halving?

Bitcoin halving is a predetermined technical event coded into the Bitcoin protocol as to occur every four years approximately or after every 210,000 blocks mined. During the Bitcoin halving, the Bitcoin miners receive specific rewards for validating the transactions and adding them to the blockchain. However, this reward is cut in half during each Bitcoin ‘halving’. The reduction of the rewards during the halving events are designed to control the supply of new Bitcoins entering circulation and maintain the scarcity of the digital currency. As a result, this will ensure that Bitcoins become rare and are more valuable.

What happens to Bitcoin’s Price during the Halving and Post-Halving?

After the first halving in November 2012, Bitcoin’s price rose from $12.35 to $127 five months later and after the second halving occurred in 2016, the price doubled to $1,280 within eight months and between the third halving in May 2020 and March 2021, Bitcoin’s price jumped from $8,700 to $60,000. Last month, Bitcoin’s price reached an all-time high of $70,000 — this is the first time that Bitcoin peaked before halving and then dropping back down.

Although Bitcoin’s price has nothing to do with the technical halving event and vice-versa but can be purely considered as a coincidence. After each halving, the interest to invest in Bitcoin has noticed a significant hype among the crypto community and the number of Bitcoin buyers witnessed exponential growth. This established a demand for Bitcoin in the market which resulted in a spike in Bitcoin’s price.

However, the economic circumstances, at the moment seem to be different from previous history. The upward trend in Bitcoin’s price boosted the rise of ETFs allowing institutional investors to bet on Bitcoin’s price without having to actually buy Bitcoin.

Well, Bitcoin admirers believe that the price will increase following this year’s halving. But the other side of the story is that a few believe that this time, after the halving, Bitcoin’s price is expected to decrease due to the “buy the rumour, sell the news” strategy, cashing on their holdings with interested buyers around.

Again, Bitcoin halving, the technical event has nothing to do with Bitcoin’s price. The price may vary with run ups & downs and is dependent on several global economic factors.

What’s the deal for Bitcoin miners during the halving?

Here is the interesting part: Bitcoin miners play a key role in safeguarding the network from attacks, creating new Bitcoins and also getting rewarded in terms of Bitcoins.

After every halving, miners receive rewards in bitcoins for processing new transactions. However, as mentioned earlier, the rewards to create new Bitcoins would be cut in half. After the upcoming Bitcoin halving, block reward for Bitcoin miners will drop to 3.125 bitcoin from the current 6.25 bitcoin which makes it a significant amount of reduction in the miners’ revenue.. This will create an unprofitable path for the Bitcoin miners. But if the miners are hired by bigger mining companies such as Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. CleanSpark Inc., Hut 8, Agro Blockchain and so on, then these miners’ revenue will still remain profitable, as long as the Bitcoin price spikes upward.