The rare Bitcoin halving event has occurred, according to crypto analytics firm CoinGecko.
Reduce the number of new Bitcoin entering the market reducing the rewards earned by Bitcoin miners by 50%.
Occurring approximately every four years, the aim is to cap supply at 21 million by 2140.
This means that only 450 Bitcoins will be created per day.
Halvings also occurred in 2012, 2016 and 2020 – and the mechanism was written into Bitcoin’s code when it was created.
The cryptocurrency’s price remained stable at $63,747 (£51,531) following the halving, with analysts saying the anticipated event had already been priced in.
Investors are hoping a big increase isn’t too far away after previous drawdowns led to significant gains.
The price at the May 2020 halving was around $8,600, but a year later it rose to over $56,000.
Andrew O’Neill, crypto expert at S&P Global, said he was “somewhat skeptical about the lessons that can be drawn in terms of price prediction from previous drawdowns.”
“It’s just one factor among a multitude of factors that can drive prices,” O’Neill said.
Inside China’s Secret Bitcoin Farms
Bitcoin hit a new high of $73,803 (£59,661) in March after rising 175% in the previous 12 months.
It also received a boost in legitimacy in January when ETFs holding Bitcoin were allowed to trade on the US stock exchange.
See more information:
Why Bitcoin Suffered a Sharp Pullback from Record Highs
Computer Scientist, Not Mysterious Bitcoin Inventor, Judge Rules
Keep up with the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
The mainstream financial industry has traditionally viewed Bitcoin as extremely high risk and subject to dramatic and unpredictable price swings.
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey warned in 2021 that cryptocurrencies they have “no intrinsic value” and investors must be “prepared to lose all their money.”
He also told lawmakers in January that crypto was “quite inefficient” and “has not yet taken off as an essential financial service.”
More than 19.5 million Bitcoins have already been mined, with only 1.5 million remaining in a position to be mined in the next 116 years.
The halving occurs every 210,000 “blocks” – which typically occurs every four years.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
