The bitcoin halving took place on the night of April 20, 2024, and its first effects are already being felt on the price of the cryptocurrency. However, we will have to wait for its long-term impact.
That’s it: the 840,000th block of the Bitcoin blockchain was mined on the night of April 20, 2024, just after 2:00 am. A halving has taken place. Nothing has really changed for Bitcoin owners. Their bitcoins are still there and the blockchain is working as usual. At the moment, the halving is most felt especially among minors.
As of last night, the rewards given to miners for each new verified block actually decreased by two. They used to get 6.25 BTC per block — now they only get 3.125 BTC. A drastic reduction that will cut their income in half and that will have strong effects on the entire crypto ecosystem in the coming days.
Will a halving cause the price of Bitcoin to rise or fall?
Since the halving, the price of Bitcoin has remained relatively stable, but initially declined. While it spent the day around $60,000, it first dropped to $59,600 at 2:20 a.m., then rebounded and then lost everything again.
Since then, Bitcoin has gradually regained its value and reached the prices it had the day before the halving. However, it should be noted that since Bitcoin broke its ultimate price record in March, crossing $69,000 and then $70,000, the cryptocurrency has fallen back. Since then, it has been stagnant around $60,000.
While it is still too early to know what impact this reduction will have on Bitcoin in the long run, experts are leaning towards three different scenarios. In the first case, the halving will lead to an increase in prices, as has already happened in the past. But this hypothesis is increasingly criticized.
The second scenario is more nuanced: some experts believe that the craze for Bitcoin ETFs and the fact that Bitcoin recently surpassed its previous price record has run out of steam in the market. As a result, they believe that the halving may not have a major impact on bitcoin prices, which would stagnate or rise only slightly.
Finally, the third scenario is the most pessimistic. JPMorgan Bank estimates that the price of Bitcoin could fall in half after the cut and even fall back to $42,000. This forecast is supported by the recent example of Bitcoin Cash, the result of the Bitcoin fork in 2017. Bitcoin Cash also experienced a halving in early April, and although prices quickly recovered after that, they ended up falling by 30%. Is Bitcoin facing a similar fate? Answer in the next few days.