Bitcoin Halving 2024
Bitcoin halving is when the reward for bitcoin mining is cut in half. Halving takes place every four years. The next halving should occur around April 20.
Bitcoin halving is when the reward for bitcoin mining is cut in half.
Halving takes place every four years.
The next halving should occur around April 20.
The halving policy was written into bitcoin’s mining algorithm to counteract inflation by maintaining scarcity.
In theory, the reduction in the pace of bitcoin issuance means that the price will increase if demand remains the same.
At the moment, bitcoin has an inflation rate of less than 2%, which will decrease with further halvings, says David Weisberger, CEO of trading platform CoinRoutes.
Since there is a set supply of bitcoin at any given point, the currency’s inflation rate is relatively easy to calculate.
The available supply of fiat currencies rises and falls under the watchful eyes of national central banks, but the total supply of bitcoin is fixed and immutable.
There will only ever be 21 million bitcoin. Presently, more than 19 million bitcoins have already been mined, leaving under 2 million left to be created.
The bitcoin protocol periodically reduces the number of new coins earned by miners in a process called halving.
It is generally assumed the next bitcoin halving will take place on or around April 20, 2024.“One of the most important features of bitcoin is its limited supply and issuance mechanism,” says Bruce Fenton, CEO of fintech company Chainstone Labs.
Halving’s role in controlling the supply of new bitcoins is one of the reasons the world’s most popular cryptocurrency is seen as a store of value that’s more akin to gold than a fiat currency.
Source: Forbes
