Per-block bitcoin mining rewards officially dropped at 8:10 pm ET Friday in New York, marking the arrival of a rare industry event expected to spur ripple effects.
Known as a Bitcoin halving, such events happen roughly every four years. With the 2024 halving complete, the block reward that miners collect now stands at 3.125 BTC — down from 6.25 BTC.
Bitcoin’s 840,000 block was mined by ViaBTC Friday evening.
The halving has been top of mind for industry participants due in part to the event’s historical impact on bitcoin price.
Despite the small sample size of such occurrences, Bitcoin halvings have seemed to catalyze crypto bull markets.
Bitcoin’s price grew nearly 100 times from $12 on Nov. 28, 2012 — the date of the first Bitcoin halving — to $1,164 some 367 days later, Berenberg Capital Markets analysts said in a 2023 report.
After the 2016 halving, it took 524 days for BTC to rise from about $650 to a then-record $19,712, the report added. Bitcoin hit a then-all-time high of more than $69,000 in November 2021, 549 days after the 2020 bitcoin halving.
Read from our opinion section: This Bitcoin halving will be different — the institutions are here
Bitcoin’s price was roughly unchanged immediately following the event. It was trading at $63,783 at time of publication, per Coinbase.
Fineqia research analyst Matteo Greco pointed out in a research note earlier this month that BTC for the first time reached a new price record leading up to the halving — “a departure for previous cycles” that could signal uncertainty about what’s next.
Bitcoin reached its latest all-time high price of more than $73,500 on March 14.
“If historical trends hold true, we might anticipate the peak of this cycle occurring between the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first half of 2025,” Greco previously told Blockworks.
Aside from the halving’s projected impact on bitcoin price, the event is set to affect the mining companies that will now start collecting lower rewards per block.
Players in the industry had been preparing for the halving in a number of ways — from acquiring mining sites and machines to cutting costs and diversifying revenue sources.
Read more: The Bitcoin halving is just weeks away — here’s how miners have prepared
Still, segment observers expect pain to hit a number of miners in the coming weeks and months — particularly those with weaker balance sheets and higher energy costs.
Some with more capital at their disposal have signaled they could opt to acquire machines, sites or even companies in the coming months.
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Source: https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-halving-2024-occurs