The upcoming fourth Bitcoin halving is looming just two weeks away, occurring in approximately 2,000 blocks.
The countdown points to April 20 around 1 p.m. ET as the potential date based on Bitcoin’s average block production time of 10 minutes. The payout for network miners mining Bitcoin will decrease from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC for each block during the subsequent halving event.
Every 210,000 blocks, or roughly every four years, Bitcoin is scheduled to automatically halve. For each block of transactions that miners add to the blockchain and mine, they are rewarded with 50% fewer bitcoins after each halving event. They do, however, still receive additional transaction fees for every block that is mined.
Bitcoin has undergone three halving events, reducing block rewards from 50 BTC to 25 BTC in 2012, then to 12.5 BTC in 2016, and 6.25 BTC in 2020. Ultimately, only 21 million bitcoins will ever exist.
Halving events will persist until around 2140 when the last bitcoin is projected to be mined. At that point, miners will solely rely on transaction fees for income.
In the past, there have been notable variations in the value of Bitcoin due to its halving. There isn’t a clear cause-and-effect link, but these occurrences frequently come before significant bull runs in the bitcoin market.
Whether the Bitcoin halving is “priced in” gets thrown about every time the event comes around. However, there is one data point that makes a case for it being “priced in” this time.
Coinbase analysts David Duong and David Han stated, “This is the first halving cycle which saw bitcoin breach its all-time high before the halving, which could mean that the effect has already been priced in by savvy traders.”
However, the analysts did note that there is still widespread speculation that the halving may raise prices, “which could result in behavior that results in a rally.”
Also Read: Fox Business Analyzes Bitcoin Halving’s Market Impact
