Bitcoin halving likely this week: Here’s what to expect
This technical event happens every four years. It is when the rewards for Bitcoin miners are cut in half.
Bitcoin jumped as much as 13 per cent to USD 63,968 on Wednesday before it cooled down to just over USD 61,000 marking its highest peakpoint.
The surge over USD 63,000 was for the first time since November 2021, buoyed by a surge in trading activity in spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds this week.
In the last week, the Bitcoin has gained nearly 20 per cent in the last week, owing to increasing interest around its exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and the upcoming halving.
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The surge in traffic triggered trading outages and displays of USD 0 balances for users of Coinbase, the largest US digital asset exchange.
Notably, in 2024 so far, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap has surged around 40 per cent. The token currently dominates the crypto market with a 53per cent share in the total value, according to CoinMarketCap.
Bitcoin prices are up around 45 per cent since the beginning of the year and have soared from USD 42,000 to more than USD 60,000 in a matter of weeks.
The anticipation around Bitcoin halving has also led to a surge in the prices of the token. Halving is scheduled to take place in April and will reduce the number of Bitcoins up for trading, leading to a surge in price.
A few experts believe that the optimism may even lead to Bitcoin breaching its all-time high of around $69,000 before halving.
It is worth highlighting that the Bitcoin’s rally has lifted the whole cryptocurrency space. According to CoinGecko data, the market capitalization of the entire cryptocurrency market has surpassed $2 trillion for the first time since April 2022. Bitcoin accounts for nearly $1.2 trillion of that.
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