Congratulations to all Bitcoiners, the number one cryptocurrency has just completed its third halving event, which now reduces the miner block reward from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC.
Arguably the most anticipated cryptocurrency event of 2020, the Bitcoin halving took place Monday (11/05/2020) at 3:23 pm EST.
Having successfully completed the halving, Bitcoin BTC is currently trading at $8,600 with a market dominance of 66.9%; and 15% down from its YTD all-time high of $10,000 hit 3-days ago.
Following the creation of the first Bitcoin block in 2009, there have been three halvings from then till date – 2012, 2016, and 2020.
Each new halving occurs once every 210,000 blocks are mined, that is approximately once every four years; with each event cutting the BTC miner rewards by 50%.
The first BTC halving saw the original block reward move from 50 BTC to 25 BTC, the second halving (2016) – block reward dropped from 25 BTC to 12.5 BTC, and with this third halving the block reward now stands at 6.25 BTC.
With the fixed supply status of Bitcoin (BTC) which at 21 million coins, halving events will continue right until year 2140 when the 21 millionth BTC will be mined, and the block reward would mathematically stand at 1 satoshi or 0.00000001 BTC – the smallest unit of Bitcoin possible.
At this time, there are 18 million bitcoins in circulation.
Historically, the past two halving events have led to new all-time high prices for Bitcoin (BTC).
Following 2012’s halving, Bitcoin moved from $11 to $1,000 per coin. The 2016 halving saw Bitcoin reach an overall all-time high of $20,000 per BTC in 2017; hence repeating the same bullish pattern, which hints that a price rally usually occurs 3-18 months after each halving.
However, the current economic situation and other fundamental factors have seen many price predictions and speculations about BTC price. While some say this third halving will have no effect on Bitcoin’s price, others believe that the halving will definitely pump price of the cryptocurrency asset.
For the price rise proponents, the cut in Bitcoin supply by the halving coupled with increasing demand for Bitcoin as an asset, is a sure proof bullish factor.
A notable supporter of this theory is Stock-to-Flow Model (S2FX) creator Plan B who predicts a price rally to $288,000 per coin by 2024.
Do you predict a new Bitcoin all-time high post-halving? Tell us in the comments.
We Begin a new countdown to the next Bitcoin halving – 1458 Days – 09/May/2024. Cheers.
