About every four years, the number of new bitcoins circulating is halved. It helps manage the amount of Bitcoin and keep its worth steady over time. Bitcoin’s architect, the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto, designed halvings as an essential aspect of Bitcoin’s design.
It’s good to know a bit about Bitcoin halving, its past, why it’s essential, and especially what’s likely to happen in 2024. Bitcoin halving happens about every four years. This event, scheduled to occur every time 210,000 blocks of Bitcoin transactions are processed, reduces the reward miners receive by 50%.
Safeguarding value through reductions
From the inception of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto created a system to manage the release of new bitcoins and safeguard their value from dropping dramatically over time.
Bitcoin halvings, where the reward for mining Bitcoin is halved, have occurred three times before. These took place in November 2012, when the reward was reduced to 25 BTC, in July 2016, when the reward fell to 12.5 BTC, and in May 2020, when the reward was halved to 6.25 BTC.
We’re anticipating the next halving event to happen in April 2024. The reward for every block will drop from 6.25 down to 3.125 BTC.
Price trends and complexity
Bitcoin’s price has generally gone up after past halvings. However, factors like media coverage also contributed to these increases, making the whole topic a bit complex.
There’s no set pattern when we look back at previous price increases. However, after the first halving in November 2012, the price of Bitcoin jumped from roughly $12 to more than $1,000 within a year.
After Bitcoin’s halving in July 2016, its value increased from around $650 to almost $20,000 by December 2017. This impressive growth happened over eighteen months. After the latest halving in May 2020, Bitcoin’s value jumped from $8,787 to a record high of $67,549 by November 2021.
Although there seems to be a pattern of Bitcoin’s price increasing after a halving event, other factors like wider acceptance and media coverage might also have had a significant
Impacts of 2024 Bitcoin halving: considerations ahead
As we approach the 2024 halving, many factors could impact Bitcoin’s price. These include how miners behave, what investors feel, and general changes in the market at the time.
Although previous halvings show an exciting trend that’s hard to overlook, the ever-evolving cryptocurrency market means the impact of the next halving isn’t guaranteed. That’s why investors must watch this event without losing sight of the broader market perspective.
When the block rewards are reduced by half, miners must depend more on transaction fees to survive. It could likely result in increased costs for Bitcoin users.
The need for this change is unavoidable as miners have to focus on transactions with higher fees to keep their current profits intact. Miners are currently facing a challenge because their earnings from transaction fees are, on average, just about two percent.
If Bitcoin’s price and usage don’t rise enough to balance the decreased block rewards, many miners might find it hard to make a profit. It could cause them to reconsider their future in the field, potentially leading to substantial problems.
This development could trigger a large number of miners to step back or join forces, impacting Bitcoin’s price. Smaller operations lacking efficiency might need to close for good or combine with bigger miners to cope with these difficulties.
The mining industry might become controlled by fewer but bigger players. Only the strongest and most financially stable firms will prevail if this happens. Despite the hurdles, the forthcoming Bitcoin halving opens up chances for many.
In the past, Bitcoin’s price has typically gone up after each halving, which might lessen or even remove the effect of decreased rewards. This halving might inspire miners to be more innovative and cost-effective since reduced rewards mean they must streamline their operations.