Only 5,000 blocks left until the Bitcoin Halving

2024-03-24

The next halving will take place in April. The Bitcoin market has been positioning itself for this for months. Is the event already priced in?

It's getting closer: less than 5,000 blocks remain until the upcoming halving. According to Nicehash, block no. 835,230 has been surpassed. The halving will take place at block 840,000. The processing time for a block is ten minutes. According to current calculations, the halving will therefore take place on 17 April. However, the date may still be postponed.

The crypto space has been eagerly awaiting the halving for months. The halving, which takes place every 210,000 blocks and therefore approximately every four years, halves the reward for a valid block from the current 6.25 to 3.125 Bitcoin in future. The halving will not affect the transaction fees that miners receive for each block.

The halving is accompanied by optimistic price forecasts. The supply of new Bitcoin in circulation is continuously decreasing due to the halving. The recurring supply shortage could prove to be a price driver if demand is correspondingly high.

Blackrock, has now bought well over 200,000 Bitcoin

Demand has recently received a significant boost from ETF trading. In January, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved several Bitcoin Spot ETFs. The largest of these, Blackrock's, has now bought well over 200,000 Bitcoin.

Meanwhile, the competition for the last blocks before the halving has led to new hashrate records in the mining industry. Profit margins are also at record levels due to the recent upward trend.

However, it remains to be seen whether the halving will have an immediate impact on the share price. The effects will only materialise in the long term. The surge in demand caused primarily by media excitement could already be saturated by the ETFs. More on this topic in the BTC-ECHO podcast: Have Bitcoin ETFs brought forward the halving?