Bitcoin Halving 4 Successful, Mining Reward "Halved" to 3.125 BTC

The fourth and final Bitcoin Halving event has successfully concluded. The block reward for miners has officially reduced from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block.

Bitcoin Halving 4 Successful, Mining Reward "Halved" to 3.125 BTC. Image: Protos

At 07:10 AM on April 20, 2024 (Vietnam time), Bitcoin completed its fourth Halving at block 840,000, mined by the ViaBTC pool.

Despite the reward per block being halved to 3.125 BTC, block 840,000 recorded over 37 BTC in transaction fees, valued at more than $2.4 million USD, indicating significant community interest in having their transactions included in this historic block, as well as catching the Runes Protocol trend.

Information about Bitcoin block 840,000 - marking the fourth Halving event in BTC history. Source: Blockchain.com

As explained by Coin68, Halving is Bitcoin's mechanism for inflation control, designed to halve the reward for mining blocks every 120,000 blocks or approximately every four years. This is intended to prolong the process of Bitcoin issuance, ensuring that the maximum supply of 21 million BTC is reached by the year 2140.

Since Bitcoin's inception in 2009, it has undergone three previous Halvings in 2012, 2016, and 2020.

With this Halving, the block reward has decreased from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. Halvings will continue until the final Bitcoins are estimated to be mined around 2140. After that, miners will earn solely from transaction fees.

The next Halving event is projected to occur between February and April 2028.

• Read more: Bitcoin and its 15-year journey leading the cryptocurrency market

Bitcoin's price experienced a volatile day on April 19, fluctuating sharply. After dipping to $59,600 USD in the morning due to news of Israel retaliating against Iran with missile launches, the world's largest cryptocurrency rebounded strongly to around $65,000 USD by evening. However, at the time of the Halving, BTC remained stable around $63,500 USD.

1-hour chart of BTC/USDT pair on Binance exchange at 07:55 AM on April 20, 2024

However, the long-term impact of Halving on prices tends to outweigh short-term effects. Historical data shows that post-Halving, BTC prices typically enter a growth cycle and set new highs, driving the entire crypto market upwards before undergoing a significant correction.

Bitcoin price fluctuations after each Halving season. Source: Crypto.com

Nevertheless, the current situation appears somewhat different. Thanks to momentum from ETF funds following SEC approval for Bitcoin spot ETFs in January 2024, BTC has seen a spectacular ascent in the months since. BTC broke the previous ATH record and set a new ATH for this bull season above $73,000 USD in March.

Therefore, predicting how the king coin's price will fluctuate after this Halving is challenging, especially amidst geopolitical tensions that can impact risk asset groups.