Bitcoin Forks Flounder Despite Imminent Halvings
With the halvings for Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin SV (BSV) failing to drive a surge in demand, it appears that their block halvings may turn out to be non-events.
Despite their halvings, BCH and BSV exhibited normal volume, and strong correlation with the crypto markets at large.
Bitcoin forks fail to attract demand heading into halvings
While at least six cryptocurrencies prepare to reduce their miner rewards in 2020, the market only appears interested in the forthcoming BTC halving.
Within 48 hours of this writing, Bitcoin SV (BSV) will become the latest crypto asset to halve its block reward. Despite this upcoming event, BSV has largely remained steady against BTC in recent weeks — with today’s 11.6% rally from 0.0258 BTC to 0.0288 BTC comprising the first signs of pre-halving demand.
BSV/BTC 4Hr Chart.
BSV’s event comes on the heels of BCH’s halving — Bitcoin Cash saw similarly meager gains against BTC during recent weeks, before producing a roughly 7% pop from 0.0350 BTC to 0.0375 BTC over the last day.
BCH/BTC 4Hr Chart.
Fellow-BTC fork, Bitcoin Gold (BTG), will be the next cryptocurrency to halve after BSV, appearing on-course to cut its block reward on April 18. BTG has also shown significant correlation with BTC for several weeks — with prices hovering around 0.0110 BTC before producing a 5% bounce yesterday.
BTG/BTC 4Hr Chart.
Bitcoin Diamond (BCD) is also scheduled to fork on Aug. 1.
Privacy coins to fork in 2020
ZCoin (XZC) and Zcash (ZEC), privacy coins based on different whitepapers from the same author, are also slated to undergo their first halvings this year.
ZCoin will halve during September, while Zcash is on course to slash block rewards in November.
Litecoin halvings drive 100% plus price gains
The run-ups to both of Litecoin’s (LTC) previous halvings produced significant short-term price gains for LTC.
In the months preceding last year’s halving in August, LTC rallied 125% from 0.0080 BTC to 0.0180 BTC, before fully retracing by the end of September.
LTC/BTC 1W Chart.
During 2015, a combination of pre-halving demand and thin liquidity drove LTC prices up 450% from 0.0060 BTC at the start of May to 0.0334 BTC two months later.