It Happened: Bitcoin Just Experienced Third Halving in Its History

Published at: May 11, 2020

The most anticipated cryptocurrency event of 2020, Bitcoin’s (BTC) third halving, has just taken effect. Occurring only once every four years, the latest Bitcoin mining block reward halving just reduced the Bitcoin block reward from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC.

Bitcoin’s third halving event took place at 7:23 p.m. UTC on Monday, according to data from Tradeblock.com. Having overcome the halving, Bitcoin is trading at $8,500, with market dominance of 67% as of press time, according to Coin360.

Bitcoin block reward path from 50 BTC to 0.00000001 BTC

Since the first Bitcoin block was generated back in 2009, there have been three halving events. Taking place once every 210,000 blocks mined, or approximately once every four years, a Bitcoin halving cuts the current miner block reward by 50%. The first Bitcoin halving event took place in 2012, cutting the original block reward from 50 BTC to 25 BTC. The second halving took place in 2016, with the reward dropping from 25 BTC to 12.5 BTC.

As Bitcoin’s supply is limited to 21 million coins, Bitcoin halving events should continue to take place until the year 2140, or until the 21-millionth BTC. By that time, the block reward should reach 1 satoshi, or the smallest unit of Bitcoin at 0.00000001 BTC. At the time of publication, the number of Bitcoin in circulation amounts to 18.37 million, according to Blockchain.com.

The Bitcoin halving’s impact

As the two previous Bitcoin halvings eventually impacted Bitcoin’s price in positive ways, Bitcoin halvings have become the subject of diverse price predictions and speculation. While some crypto players have predicted that the third Bitcoin halving will have no effect on Bitcoin's price, others are confident that the halving will definitely affect the price of the cryptocurrency due to a cut in new Bitcoin supply.

While Bitcoin price correlation appears to be questionable, the latest Bitcoin halving has a direct impact on miners. A number of crypto experts predict that the new halving will imminently trigger miners to shut down generating new Bitcoin as a wide number of mining devices will become outdated. According to mining pool Poolin’s vice president, Alejandro De La Torre, a number of unprofitable miners had already begun shutting down their equipment before the Bitcoin halving on Monday.

Bitcoin’s halving has just happened, but Cointelegraph’s Bitcoin halving party still continues on YouTube. Check out the schedule and use this link to join.

Tags
Bitcoin
Cryptocurrencies
Mining
Halving
Bitcoin Halving
Related Posts
Examine the Bitcoin First Difficulty Adjustment Post 2020 Halving
The third Bitcoin (BTC) halving has settled, and the Bitcoin network has just experienced its first difficulty adjustment post third halving. The difficulty has decreased from 16.1 trillion to 15.14 trillion, which is about a 6% downward adjustment, providing miners who have survived so far with some relief. Bitcoin network hash rate experienced a significant decline post-halving It is important to recognize that the network hash rate cannot be directly observed; rather, it needs to be calculated from the average block production time and the difficulty level. Based on the average block time analysis, the Bitcoin network has experienced a …
Blockchain / May 24, 2020
Bitcoin Halving Was Not the Apocalyptic Event Some in Crypto Feared
Following Bitcoin’s (BTC) recent much-hyped halving event, many in the industry had anticipated a drop in value, especially after BTC slid to as low as $8,100 on May 10. However, following this aforementioned uncertainty, the flagship crypto asset proceeded to gain a cool 6% and rise to around the $9,500 mark in less than 48 hours and could now be heading toward the $10,000 mark. On Monday, crypto miners all over the world saw Bitcoin’s native reward quotient slashed in half — from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC — thereby inducing an air of uncertainty around the currency’s price. This …
Bitcoin / May 14, 2020
A Closer Look at the Bitcoin Network’s Post-Halving Hash Rate
The cryptocurrency industry has just experienced the most anticipated event, Bitcoin’s (BTC) third halving. The last 12.5 Bitcoin block was mined by F2Pool and encoded the message: “NYTimes 09/Apr/2020 With $2.3T Injection, Fed’s Plan Far Exceeds 2008 Rescue,” paying tribute to Satoshi Nakamoto, the token’s creator. Antpool was in luck, mining the first 6.25 Bitcoin block. The first Bitcoin halving happened in Nov. 2012 and was mined by Slushpool, while the second having happened in July 2016 and was mined by F2Pool. The post-halving will still see a positive adjustment The market experienced some volatility during the last 60 blocks …
Blockchain / May 13, 2020
Binance’s Mining Pool Could Disrupt the Entire Mining Industry
Binance has launched its own mining pool. This could spell bad news for miners, but probably not for the reason you’re thinking of. We’re all aware that Binance is continuing to extend its reach across the industry. The exchange’s purchase of CoinMarketCap for a reported $400 million signaled a bold step toward grabbing attention at the top of the crypto funnel, and its recent foray into mining just ahead of the 2020 halving shows that Binance is also interested in having influence at the source. By all accounts, the company culture at Binance appears to be one of innovation and …
Blockchain / May 10, 2020
Mark Cuban and Tyler Winklevoss Squabble Over Bitcoin Complexity
Despite being over a decade old, Bitcoin (BTC) is still not particularly easy to understand. Even major BTC bulls like Tim Draper have admitted that Bitcoin still lacks ease of use for mainstream adoption. In the same vein, two key figures in the community held an informal Twitter debate over Bitcoin’s complexity today. Debate intro: Cuban might change his mind about Bitcoin if it gets so easy that “grandma can use it” Mark Cuban, one of the most well-known Bitcoin sceptics, prefers to own bananas than invest in bitcoins. Cuban previously criticized Bitcoin’s complexity in an interview with Anthony “Pomp” …
Adoption / April 17, 2020