Bitcoin Halving in 2024 – Full stop!
By Marius Morra, CEO and Co-founder of TOKERO Crypto Exchange
The landmark event for the crypto industry means a reduction in rewards for Bitcoin miners from 6.25 BTC per block to 3,125 BTC.
Bitcoin has successfully gone through its fourth halving event after block 840,000 was mined. The event cuts miners’ rewards in half.
The crypto community is eagerly awaiting the next step for the price of Bitcoin, with some predictions reaching as high as $250,000.
At the time of publication, the price of Bitcoin is around $66,500, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Starting now, Bitcoin miners will receive 3,125 BTC per mined block, up from the previous 6.25 BTC.
Halving is a scheduled process in the Bitcoin protocol that occurs every 210,000 mined blocks, roughly every four years.
The last three halvings occurred in 2012, 2016, and 2020, leading to significant decreases in mining rewards over time. The first Bitcoin halving took place in 2012, when the reward for mining a block was reduced from 50 to 25 BTC.
The main purpose of Bitcoin halving is to ensure rarity and reduce Bitcoin inflation rate over time. Bitcoin’s anonymous founder, Satoshi Nakamoto, built the mechanism into code.
Halving mining rewards slows the rate at which new Bitcoin is created.
Halvings will continue until around 2140, when all Bitcoin will be mined.
Major Bitcoin miners have been gearing up for the event. Marathon Digital recently announced its plans to acquire a 200 megawatt Bitcoin mining facility in Texas for $87.3 million.
Meanwhile, in December 2023, rival Bitcoin mining firm Riot Platforms purchased 66,560 mining rigs from maker MicroBT in one of the largest hashrate expansions in the firm’s history.
M2 CEO Stefan Kimmel told Cointelegraph:
The Bitcoin halving is a key event that historically signals a shift in the market, usually initiating a bullish trend in the coming months. As we approached the fourth halving, anticipation built, suggesting a continued, if less vigorous, upward trajectory.
Despite short-term predictions of price volatility in the crypto community, optimism remains about the long-term potential of Bitcoin’s price.
In an interview with Cointelegraph, billionaire investor Tim Draper believes the halving will help propel Bitcoin’s price to “$250,000 or more,” a prediction he has consistently proclaimed, especially in 2022.
“The simple reason why the prices of Bitcoin rises after the halving is that supply decreases, and with continued upward pressure on demand, the price naturally rises in a free market.”
Meanwhile, Herbert Sim, also known as “Bitcoin Man”, told Cointelegraph that there are currently other elements that play a role when speculating on Bitcoin’s price.
“The halving is not the only thing to watch for in price action,” he said, indicating that the recent approval of the Bitcoin ETF in Hong Kong will also have a major impact on price.
“All the big banks in China will have to start buying Bitcoin as well,” Sim said.
