The digital assets industry marked another historic day in its success story as the world’s most popular crypto experienced its fourth halving event. This episode is crucial for Bitcoin as it halves the incentives rewarded to miners with an aim to slow down the new coins entering the supply chain. However, it has further implications for investors, miners, and the industry.
Bitcoin halving hype
As expected the halving event will likely have an immediate impact on miners. This community is liable for validating transactions and adding them to the blockchain. The block reward is reduced from 6.25 Bitcoins to 3.125 Bitcoins. This signals that miners will face lowered rewards for their efforts.
Data shows that the current minimum transaction fee on the Bitcoin network exceeds 1,050 sat/vb (approx worth $94). It added that there are more than 237,000 transactions pending confirmation, and the memory usage exceeds 300 MB and reaches 1.15 GB. It mentioned that runes went online and new runes were minted, which caused congestion.
IntoTheBlock reported that before the halving happened, miners’ Bitcoin holdings hit 12 year low. This shows that miners have been net sellers leading up to the halving.
As of now, Bitcoin fees have exploded drastically with Ordinals NFTs and meme coins like PUPS recording high volumes.
Bitcoin price haven’t seen the anticipated hike till now. BTC price is down by 2% in the last 24 hours, while it has dropped by over 5% over the last 7 days. The original crypto is trading at an average price of $63,700, at the press time. It is down by around 13% from its all time high (ATH) of $73,750 recorded on March 14.
BTC’s 24 hour trading volume is down by 36% to stand at $32.4 billion. Its market cap stands at around $1.25 trillion.
What’s next?
Experts hint that miners with access to affordable and reliable power sources are better positioned to navigate the post-halving market. Meanwhile, there are still some miners with limited access to power and efficient machines. They may have to exit the market which can lead to limited access to power and efficient machines.
JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank had already given out their prediction post halving. They anticipate a potential downside in bitcoin’s price after the halving. However, the demand shock from these ETFs could offset any negative price movements.
