The Great Bitcoin Halving of 2024: Buckle Up BTC Fans!
Mark your calendars, Bitcoin fans, because in April we’re going to witness the next major event in the crypto’s evolution: the next halving! Today we’re going to unpack this event and what it means. Then we’ll round-up all of the trading events for your calendar this week. Let’s get to it!
What’s a bitcoin halving?
A bitcoin halving is an event where the reward for mining new blocks is cut in half, meaning miners receive 50% fewer bitcoins for verifying transactions. This sounds a bit weird, but it isn’t a freak event or some random hack, but something pre-programmed into the blockchain.
Halvings are scheduled to occur once every 210,000 blocks — roughly every four years. This will continue to happen until the maximum supply of 21 million bitcoins has been mined by the network sometime in 2040.
Practically speaking, the reward for mining a BTC will drop from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 — slicing the reward for all that hard work by your graphics processing unit (GPU) in half.
Why does this happen?
Bitcoin’s value is partially derived from the fact that it’s a finite resource. It has a fixed supply of 21 million coins. This scarcity is part of its allure, just like diamonds wouldn’t be so sought-after if there were piles of them lying around.
The halving ensures that new Bitcoins enter the market at a predictable rate, preventing inflation and (ideally) keeping the value stable. Though, the laws of supply and demand also dictate that the price should exponentially rise, as supply dwindles.
How could it affect BTC price?
The million-dollar question — quite literally in some cases! Historically, halvings have coincided with significant price increases. The last halving on 11 May 2020, saw an immediate price increase of 14.3%.
Source: Tradingview via Coinmarketcap
Of course, past performance isn’t a guarantee. But, crypto experts are buzzing with predictions, ranging from the usual “lambo to the moon” to “meh, no biggie.”
Some analysts have even predicted that the price of BTC may rise as high as $301,000 before the halving. Charting a course for 1 BTC to hit the $1,000,000 mark, longer-term.
As with price appreciation of any commodity, it all depends on factors like global economic conditions, adoption rates, and, of course, a light sprinkle of magic.
To be clear, no single event has ever dictated Bitcoin’s fate, nor should it. This halving is definitely a significant chapter, but the story’s far from over.
Tell us your story
Are you buying BTC in anticipation of a boom? How high can Bitcoin go? Perhaps you’ve been HODLing for this exact moment. We’d love to hear your predictions over on X, @_Contentworks.
Top fundamental events week commencing 19/02/24
Here are all of the key events coming up this week.
Monday
No major events are scheduled
Tuesday
● AUD — RBA Meeting Minutes
● CAD — Inflation Rate YoY
Wednesday
● JPY — Balance of Trade
● AUD — Wage Price Index QoQ
● USD — FOMC Minutes
Thursday
● EUR — German HCOB Manufacturing PMI Flash
Friday
● USD — German Ifo Business Climate
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Speak soon!
The Contentworks team