The Bitcoin halving is expected to take place at the end of April 2024, in approximately 32 days, according to CoinMarketCap’s halving countdown. Bitcoin halving is when the reward of mining bitcoin is split in half, and this halving occurs approximately every four years when 210,000 blocks are attached to the chain.
Bitcoin exchanges are tracked using distributed ledger technology, such as blockchain. Cryptography links the records, known as blocks, in a blockchain, a distributed ledger. Mining adds blocks to the chain.
Miners use computing power to solve complex mathematical puzzles to build the blockchain and earn rewards in the form of new bitcoin.
Mining creates the equivalent of a lottery system that prevents people from easily adding new blocks to the chain. After the halving, miners will get half as much bitcoin as a reward when compared to mining before the halving.
Bitcoin was designed, from its inception, to have a capped supply of 21 million tokens.
Pseudonymous Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto wrote halving into Bitcoin’s code, which reduces the rate at which new bitcoins are released into circulation.
Originally, the prize from mining was 50 bitcoins, and it has been halved three times since, according to Investopedia. It is hard to see if there has been a clear effect of previous halvings on Bitcoin’s price, with some saying it has made an impact and others claiming that the anticipated halving was already accounted for in market pricing.
Halving may increase Bitcoin value
Halving may address inflation by increasing the scarcity of the coin and, thereby, its value.
Regulators have repeatedly warned that Bitcoin is a speculative market, driven by hype and “FOMO” (Fear Of Missing Out), and poses real harm to investors, even as they simultaneously approve bitcoin trading products.