Tag: bitcoin

Crypto Price Today: Bitcoin Shows Sign of Price Recovery, Altcoins Show Mixed Movement

Bitcoin on Monday, May 20 showed up on the profit-making side of the crypto market reflecting an increase of 1.11 percent. While this profit seems small for now, BTC did manage to rise in value on both, national as well as international exchanges over the weekend. In India, BTC is trading around the price point of $70,701 (roughly Rs. 58.8 lakh) on exchanges like CoinDCX and CoinSwitch. On the other hand, Binance and CoinMarketCap showed the value of BTC hovering over the mark of $67,070 (roughly Rs. 55.8 lakh).

“Over the weekend, Bitcoin surged. This swift change in sentiment comes on the heels of recent economic data indicating a softening in US inflation, coupled with regulatory filings revealing significant interest in the relatively new spot Bitcoin ETFs,” Parth Chaturvedi, Investments Head, CoinSwitch Ventures told Gadgets360.

Ether, in an unusual market movement, did not tail behind BTC on the profit side of the crypto chart on Monday. The asset, having incurred a loss of 1.87 percent, is presently trading at $3,260 (roughly Rs. 2.71 lakh) on Indian exchange WazirX. Internationally, ETH is trading at $3,088 (roughly Rs. 2.57 lakh).

“ETH still needs to clear several hurdles to overtake Bitcoin. ETH is hovering around $3,100, staying above the 20 EMA daily, which is a positive sign. Its resistance levels stand between $3,250 (roughly Rs. 2.70 lakh) and $3,650 (roughly Rs. 3.03 lakh),” the CoinDCX research team told Gadgets360.

The crypto chart by Gadgets360 showed mixed price movements for altcoins.Tether, Binance Coin, and Solana for instance, managed to retail gains on the price chart alongside BTC.

Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, Monero, Iota, and NEM also recorded gains.

“Shiba Inu and Ripple could see gaining further bearish momentum amidst a wider bullish trend for Bitcoin. Moving averages for Bitcoin indicate a ‘Buy’ sentiment as well as it has defied previous price levels. However, as May progresses, the price movement toughens due to price consolidation post halving as well as midyear sentiment shifts,” Rajagopal Menon, Vice President, WazirX told Gadgets360.

Loss-making cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, include Cardano, Avalanche, Tron, Polkadot, Chainlink, Polygon, Litecoin, Uniswap, and Leo.

The overall crypto market cap dropped by 0.36 percent in the last 24 hours. It now stands at $2.42 trillion (roughly Rs. 2,01,46,512 crore), showed CoinMarketCap.

In the global regulatory landscape, the US could see a revamp in its crypto-related rules. The House of Representatives in the US is set to vote next week on the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21), which could become the first major crypto-regulation bill in the US if approved. Turkey, meanwhile, has introduced a bill to regulate crypto businesses. The Capital Markets Board (CMB) will be responsible for licensing and overseeing these enterprises.

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article. 

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Crypto Price Today: Bitcoin Price Rises Alongside Several Altcoins as Inflation Data Spurs Speculation on Interest Rate Cut

Bitcoin price on Friday rose by 5.56 percent and the digital asset is currently trading at around $69,196 (roughly Rs. 57.7 lakh) on Indian cryptocurrency exchanges like WazirX and CoinSwitch and $66,155 (roughly Rs. 55.2 lakh) on foreign exchanges like Binance. Earlier this week, the US Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics released the consumer price index (CPI) data that shows inflation recorded in April showed signs of cooling down. In the backdrop of this development, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are now trading at higher values.

“The overall crypto market is stable now, with BTC showing good momentum post-CPI. Technically, BTC faces a short-term hurdle at $66,670 (roughly Rs. 55.6 lakh). Clearing this level could lead to a continued upside move. The major support is at $60,850 (roughly Rs. 50.8 lakh), and BTC should maintain its position above this level,” the CoinDCX markets team told Gadgets360 on Friday.

Cryptocurrencies that rose in value alongside Bitcoin on Friday included Tether, Solana, Cardano, Shiba Inu, Avalanche, Tron, and Polkadot.

Polygon, Leo, Cronos, Cosmos, and Bitcoin SV also saw their prices rise on Friday.

Ether is trading at $3,147 (roughly Rs. 2.6 lakh) on national exchanges and at $2,998 (roughly Rs. 2.5 lakh) on international exchanges, after its price fell by 3.30 percent.

“The ETH/BTC pair continues to drop, causing ETH to lag behind BTC, while alts are trading mixed. ETH, although bullish, is weaker compared to BTC. Key support for ETH is at $2,875 (roughly Rs. 2.40 lakh), and resistance is at $3,040 (roughly Rs. 2.5 lakh),” the CoinDCX team added.

Binance Coin, USD Coin, Ripple, Dogecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Chainlink, and Litecoin also dropped in value.

The overall crypto market cap stands at $2.36 trillion (roughly Rs. 1,96,97,456 crore) after incurring a drop of 0.90 percent in the last 24 hours, as per CoinMarketCap.

“While the broader market is in the red, a clear outlier amidst the leading cryptos is LINK (+13.6 percent). The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) in the US, along with Chainlink and major US banks, completed a successful pilot to accelerate the tokenisation of funds. This collaboration is a step further towards the adoption of blockchain technology in the traditional asset management sector,” Parth Chaturvedi, Investments Head, CoinSwitch Ventures told Gadgets360.

In a recent development, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) suggested the appointment of multiple regulators to oversee crypto trading in the country. The suggestion was submitted to a government panel responsible for advising the finance ministry on policy formulation. On the policy front, Turkey and India advanced crypto policies on May 16 that could create a framework for businesses and investors operating in each country.

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article.

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Crypto Price Today: Bitcoin, Ether See Losses Alongside Majority Altcoins; Tether, Iota See Small Gains

The crypto chart, on Wednesday, May 15, reflected losses next to most cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin clocked a loss of around one percent that has brought its trading value to $66,124 (roughly Rs. 55 lakh) on Indian exchanges like CoinDCX and CoinSwitch. On international exchanges, meanwhile, the most expensive crypto asset is trading at a slightly lower price point of $61,945 (roughly Rs. 51 lakh). BTC was unable to sustain the gains from the day before and faced downward pressure in the last 24 hours causing most altcoins to also register losses.

Ether incurred a loss of 1.48 percent on Wednesday. With this, its pricing on national and international exchanges stands at $3,083 (roughly Rs. 2.57 lakh) and $2,902 (roughly 2.42 lakh) respectively.

“Technically, BTC and ETH continue to exhibit choppy price action, remaining within a range and experiencing liquidations on both sides. Funding rates are neutral, and the overall price action is mixed, though both cryptocurrencies are currently at key support levels. Today’s US CPI numbers will be crucial to watch as they are expected to significantly impact the market,” the CoinDCX markets team told Gadgets360.

Cardano, Polkadot, and Chainlink alongside Ripple, Dogecoin joined most cryptocurrencies in seeing losses on Wednesday.

Uniswap, Cosmos, Cronos, Stellar, and Monero also recorded profits alongside Polygon and Leo.

“The markets are expected to remain choppy in the coming weeks as inflation data will keep the investors on their toes. However, Raoul Pal, a well-known financial sector figure, predicts a significant expansion of the cryptocurrency market, forecasting its market capitalization could reach $100 trillion,” Shivam Thakral, CEO of BuyUcoin tol Gadgets360.

The overall market cap declined by 1.45 percent in the last 24 hours to sit at $2.26 trillion (roughly Rs. 1,88,70,887 crore), CoinMarketCap’s data showed on Wednesday.

Tether, Floki Inu, Iota, Zcash, and Status managed to record minor gains.

“In other news, US’ Wisconsin has became the first state to disclose the purchase of Bitcoin after it highlighted the purchase of over 94,000 shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) in the first quarter of the year. The markets reacted positively to this development, but the narrative soon shifted towards the expected inflation data,” the CoinSwitch Markets Desk told Gadgets360.

In India, developments in the blockchain sector are making the headlines. Earlier this week, CoinDCX announced the industry’s first ever Orchestration Layer called Okto. Through a unified set of SDKs, Okto is empowering developers to easily integrate complex Web3 functionalities and flows into their applications while offering single-click mobile-native web2-like experiences for their users.

India’s blockchain gaming ecosystem Oneto11 is also planning a global expansion starting with Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa regions.

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article. 

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Crypto Market Today: Bitcoin Records Minor Gains, Most Altcoins Reflect Profits

The crypto chart reflected more gains than price dips on Friday, May 10. Bitcoin recorded a minor price hike of 2.03 percent to trade at $66,115 (roughly Rs. 55.2 lakh) on Indian exchanges like CoinSwitch. On international exchanges, meanwhile, the asset is trading at a slightly lower price point of $62,879 (roughly Rs. 52.5 lakh). In the last few days, Bitcoin has retained its value in the same bracket. Market analysts have pointed out that technical indicators like the RSI suggest a potential dip back to $60,000 (roughly Rs. 50 lakh) for BTC in the coming days.

“This might be the start of BTC’s recovery wave, but the bears might remain active near the $63,200 (roughly Rs. 52.7 lakh) resistance zone,” Parth Chaturvedi, Investments Lead at CoinSwitch Ventures, told Gadgets360.

Ether joined Bitcoin on the green side of the crypto charts. In India, ETH is trading at $2,994 (roughly Rs. 2.50 lakh). On the other hand, Ether is trading at 3,045 (roughly Rs. 2.54 lakh) on international exchanges like CoinMarketCap.

“This is becoming a notable level for the token acting as both support and resistance. Predictions of a market surge cannot be ruled out for Ethereum. However, with various factors at play in the market, a breakout move in either direction might be imminent,” Rajagopal Menon, Vice President, WazirX, told Gadgets360.

Most of the popular cryptocurrencies recorded profits on Thursday. These include Binance Coin, Solana, Dogecoin, Cardano, Shiba Inu, Avalanche, Tron, and Polkadot.

“In the meme coin universe, DOGE (+2.5 percent) was the outlier. Additionally, VanEck’s MarketVector has launched a new memecoin index, tracking the largest meme coins including DOGE, SHIB, FLOKI, WIF, and BONK. The index is up 195 percent on a yearly basis,” Chaturvedi added as part of his analysis.

Loss-making cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, included Ripple, Cosmos, Underdog, and Baby Dogecoin.

The overall crypto market valuation has risen by 2.24 percent in the last 24 hours. At the time of writing, the sector valuation stood at $2.33 trillion (roughly Rs. 1,94,54,160 crore) as per CoinMarketCap.

Giving a general perspective, Santiment, an on-chain analytics firm, underlined that investor sentiment toward leading cryptos was still negative. It further added that the mood had dramatically shifted since Bitcoin’s halving event, before which an overtly ‘greed’ sentiment dominated the market.

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article. 

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What is TBTC Bitcoin Testnet and Why Do Developers Think It Needs a Revamp?

Casa, a Bitcoin custodian firm based in the US, operates a separate and parallel version of the Bitcoin blockchain called the TBTC testnet. This technology supports tBTC tokens, which have no financial value linked to them but come in handy for conducting tests around new protocols that could be supported on the Bitcoin blockchain. In fact, the full form of TBTC is ‘testnet Bitcoin’. Casa’s cofounder and blockchain developer Jameson Lopp, in a recent blogpost, said that this TBTC testnet urgently requires a configuration revamp.

The TBTC testnet helps developers figure out the working of potentially usable blockchain solutions. This testnest is used for the testing and development of these solutions. On the testnet Bitcoin, the speed of transactions is significantly higher than the original mainnet. To put things in perspective, an average of 144 blocks are reportedly produced on the Bitcoin mainnet on a daily basis, whereas on the other hand, the TBTC is capable of producing over 10,000 blocks per day.

Because of the speed of processing blocks, the testnet has already logged the block height of 2,811,000. For Bitcoin’s mainnet to reach this block height, the blockchain would reportedly need to wait till year 2061. This development has resulted in the drop of reward tokens earned by testnet miners to almost zero – making the testnet almost unusable for developers. Consequently, the number of tBTC tokens – which can be exchanged for BTC and are native to the testnet, have become extremely scarce because miners are not adding new blocks. Presently, the block reward for these testnet miners stands at only ~0.006 TBTC.

As per Casa chief, Lopp, “Testnet coins are supposed to be plentiful and free so that developers can experiment and test their Bitcoin software without having to spend money or put real value at risk when debugging software. It’s time to reset Bitcoin’s test network, also known as ‘testnet’ or ‘testnet3′ to be more specific.”

The TBTC testnet has not been reconfigured in the last thirteen years.

“People have been using it (the testnet) for airdrops and other activities promising actual value. This has created economic demand for TBTC. People are buying / selling TBTC on multiple sites. Testnet has a weird quirk we should fix because it’s somewhat responsible for getting us to this point,” Lopp has noted in his blog post.

As of now, it remains unclear by when this blockchain revamp work start on the TBTC and what would be the outcomes of this for the developers using it to design Bitcoin-compatible protocols.

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Bitcoin Crosses One Billion Transactions Milestone First Time Since Its Inception in 2009

Bitcoin, the oldest and most expensive cryptocurrency in existence, has completed its first billion transactions this week. The asset, created in 2009, has taken fifteen years to hit one billion transactions. The crypto community is elated and flooding the social networking platforms with messages congratulating each other for BTC’s milestone moment. In the backdrop of this development, the asset’s price currently stands at $63,582 (roughly Rs. 53 lakhs) on international exchanges like CoinMarketCap.

Bitcoin completed one billion transactions on May 5 at block number 842,241, shows Clark Moody’s Bitcoin dashboard. As of Tuesday, May 7, the total number of BTC transactions stand at 1,000,701,505.

Nischal Shetty, the Founder and CEO of Indian crypto exchange WazirX took to X to comment on the development.

“This celebration of technology helps us further the Web3 ecosystem. While Bitcoin focuses on asset value and has limited transaction capacity, I’m excited about the day we celebrate 1B transactions per day in Web3,” Shetty said.

The first Bitcoin block was mined on January 3, 2009. In the 5,603 days of existence, the Bitcoin network has reportedly processed an average of 178,475 daily transactions excluding those processed through the lightning network, which is a Layer-2 Bitcoin protocol that facilitates faster transactions.

Bitcoin’s completion of one billion transaction happened just weeks after the blockchain underwent its fourth halving event on April 20. Three days later on April 2023, Bitcoin recorded the highest daily transaction count of 926,000. These transaction number spiked in the backdrop of the launch of the Runes protocol.

Created by Casey Rodarmor, who also created the now popular Ordinals protocol for BTC-based NFTs, Bitcoin Runes is an innovative protocol created to address issues associated to Bitcoin-based token systems that depend on off-chain data and native tokens used for operations.

The anonymous creator of Bitcoin, pseudo named Satoshi Nakamoto, published the first ever Bitcoin Whitepaper on October 31, 2008. At the time, each BTC token was priced $0.0008 (roughly Rs. 0.067).

At present, the market cap of Bitcoin stands at $1.25 trillion (roughly Rs. 1,04,87,989 crore), shows data by CoinMarketCap. Out of the total BTC tokens capped at 21 million, 19,695,050 tokens are already in circulation. The latest all-time high for Bitcoin, $73,790 (roughly Rs. 61.6 lakh) was achieved on March 14.

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Crypto Price Today: Bitcoin Price Falls Below $60,000, Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, Other Altcoins See Gains

The last few weeks have pushed Bitcoin under the price point of $60,000 (roughly Rs. 50 lakh) for the first time in two months. As of Friday, May 3, Bitcoin was trading at the price point of $57,690 (roughly Rs. 48 lakh) as per Indian exchanges. With a loss of around 0.15 percent, the value of Bitcoin on foreign exchanges stands at $59,790 (roughly Rs. 49.85 lakh). For the most part of this week, Bitcoin has found itself trading under losses after showing a major spike in April.

“This price drop suggests that there exists a buying activity at the lower level. Bitcoin has not yet recovered and gained enough strength to make a sharp move due to macroeconomic factors and geopolitical tensions, making sideways trading more likely. Resistance for Bitcoin is seen at $60,300 (roughly Rs. 50.2 lakh), with support at $58,800 (roughly Rs. 49 lakh),” Edul Patel, CEO of Mudrex told Gadgets360.

Ether, that has been showing a mixed price movement for days, found itself on the loss-side of the crypto chart on Friday. At the time of writing, ETH was priced $2,907 (roughly Rs. 2.42 lakh) after clocking a loss of 1.85 percent.

“Ethereum has witnessed a surge driven by strong spot Ethereum ETFs in Hong Kong and increased network activity. Ethereum’s next resistance levels are forecasted at $3,100 (roughly Rs. 2.58 lakh) and $3,300 (roughly Rs. 2.75 lakh),” Patel added.

Tether, Solana, Cosmos, and Braintrust joined Bitcoin and Ether on the loss-making side of the crypto chart.

Apart from these, majority altcoins are seeing minor but notable profits as of Friday. These include Ripple, Dogecoin, Cardano, Shiba Inu, and Avalanche.

Tron, Chainlink, Polygon, Near Protocol, Litecoin, Leo, Uniswap, and Cronos also registered profits on May 3.

In the last 24 hours, the overall valuation of the crypto market went up by 3.46 percent to hit $2.23 trillion (roughly Rs. 1,85,85,957 crore), as per CoinMarketCap.

“While spot BTC ETFs saw a combined outflow of $563 million (roughly Rs. 4,692 crore) on Wednesday, BlackRock predicts that there will be a new wave of inflows from different types of investors which will include sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and endowments. The company expects a pent-up demand for BTC exposure via the ETFs,” Parth Chaturvedi, Investments Lead, CoinSwitch Ventures told Gadgets360.

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article. 

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Crypto Price Today: Bitcoin Sinks to Two Month Low Pricing, Ether, Most Altcoins See Losses

The crypto price chart found itself drenched in losses on Wednesday, May 1. Bitcoin recorded a significant dip of 5.20 percent on Wednesday. With this, the price of the oldest cryptocurrency dropped to a two-month low of $60,170 (roughly Rs. 50.2 lakh) on Indian exchanges, showed the crypto price tracker by Gadgets360. As per foreign exchanges like CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin is trading at $60,099 (roughly Rs. 50.1 lakh). Bitcoin is down over 16 percent through April and once again retesting the crucial support zone.

Ether joined Bitcoin on the loss-making side of the crypto chart. Succumbing to a loss of 5.27 percent, the value of ETH presently stands at $3,004 (roughly Rs. 2.50 lakh), as per CoinMarketCap. Internationally, ETH is trading at $2,997 (roughly Rs. 2.50 lakh).

“While this move could be attributed to a pending technical correction, another catalyst of the same was the world’s largest crypto exchange Binance’s former CEO Changpeng Zhao getting his sentence announced yesterday,” the CoinSwitch Markets Desk told Gadgets 360.

Zhao has been given a sentence to serve jail time for four months. Last year, he pleaded guilty of enabling money laundering through Binance. Previously, Zhao had agreed to pay a fine of $50 million (roughly Rs. 417 crore).

“Many are hailing it as a positive development given Binance can now officially be free from the US regulators, barring the fine that they had paid. BNB token would be one of the cryptos that investors will keep a look out for, in the coming days or weeks,” the CoinSwitch team added.

Majority cryptocurrencies are trading in losses as of Wednesday. These include Solana, Ripple, Dogecoin, Cardano, Shiba Inu, and Avalanche.

“Shiba Inu’s volatility decreases, potentially signalling an upcoming rally. Despite limited price movements, recent trading patterns indicate investor accumulation, setting the stage for potential price action,” Rajagopal Menon, Vice President, WazirX told Gadgets360.

Polkadot, and Chainlink alongside Polygon, Near Protocol, Leo, and Litecoin are also reeling under losses.

In the last 24 hours, the overall crypto market cap dipped by 4.28 percent taking the sector valuation to $2.22 trillion (roughly Rs. 1,85,33,026 crore), as per CoinMarketCap.

Meanwhile, Tether, Leo, Cosmos, Iota, Dogefi, and Nano Dogecoin managed to retain gains on the crypto chart.

Market analysts, however, predict price growths for altcoins in the coming days.

“The launch of Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs in Hong Kong will offer new opportunities for local and global investors. While Bitcoin resistance consolidates around $63,000 (roughly Rs. 52.5 lakh), ETFs’ launch could attract institutional interest, potentially igniting market activity,” Menon noted.

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article.

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Bitcoin Runes Debut in Crypto Space: Here’s What We Know About Them

The year of 2024 has seemingly ushered in an exciting time for the Bitcoin ecosystem. Right from Bitcoin ETFs getting approved for trading in the US this January, to its most recent halving event – a lot has been going on in the Bitcoin habitat. In another latest development, a new name has entered the Bitcoin family. Called the Bitcoin Runes, this is an innovative protocol created to address issues associated to Bitcoin-based token systems that depend on off-chain data and native tokens used for operations.

Bitcoin Runes made its debut in the crypto sector on April 20 – sharing its launch date with Bitcoin’s fourth halving event. Runes has been created by Casey Rodarmor, who also created the now popular Ordinals protocol for BTC-based NFTs.

The purpose of Bitcoin Runes is to reportedly enhance the management of Unspent Transaction Output or the UTXO on the Bitcoin blockchain. The UTXO is a fraction of Bitcoin value linked to a specific address on the blockchain representing the funds that are yet to be spent.

The protocol is capable of directly using Bitcoin’s native functionalities to reduce blockchain fluff and make user experience better. In doing so, Runes will make sure that every unit of Bitcoin that is part of a transaction – is properly accounted for. With this, any chance of currency duplication is eliminated, hence making all transactions ripe with transparency and integrity at the time of minting. Rodarmor has been keeping followers on X updated with the benefits tied to Runes.

The introduction of Runes is expected to expand the types of tokens that the Bitcoin blockchain could support, and could lead to a spike in Bitcoin’s overall utility quotient. In addition, the Runes protocol will simplify the process of creating NFTs based on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Runes launch has reportedly also contributed to a fluctuation in transaction fees.

With medium-priority transactions now costing $8.48 (roughly Rs. 705) while high-priority transactions costing $9.32 (roughly Rs. 775), the transaction fees on Bitcoin blockchain have reportedly recorded a significant drop from previous metrics. Before the halving and launch of Runes, the BTC transaction prices were at $146 ((roughly Rs. 12,167) for medium-priority transactions and $170 (roughly Rs. 14,167) for high-priority transactions.

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Cryptocurrency Prices across Indian exchanges

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Bitcoin ‘Halving’ Software Update Cuts Supply of New Tokens in Threat to Miners

A highly anticipated Bitcoin software update called the “halving” has been completed, dealing a potential blow to the companies that make money by ensuring that the digital currency functions smoothly and securely. 

The once-every-four-years event cut in half the so-called mining reward, which is the amount of Bitcoin released from the network to compensate companies known as miners for validating transactions. The modification went into effect as of 8:10 p.m. Friday evening New York time, according to data from analytics website mempool.space and Blockchain.com. The price of Bitcoin was little changed near the $64,000 level following the halving.

This change to the rewards was all by design and preordained by the code that runs Bitcoin’s blockchain. The supposed anonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, sought to use the halving mechanism to maintain an eventual hard cap of 21 million Bitcoin in order to keep the original cryptocurrency from being inflationary. As a result of this halving, the fourth since 2012, the daily reward paid to miners will drop to 450 Bitcoin from 900.

Bitcoin advocates expect the halving to be a positive catalyst for the latest bull market since it further reduces the supply of new tokens at a time when demand for them has risen from new exchange-traded funds that directly hold the digital asset. Proponents of the original cryptocurrency such as MicroStrategy Inc. Chairman Michael Saylor have touted it is a better store of value than traditional fiat currencies, which they say are more vulnerable to inflation. 

Still, while Bitcoin has rallied to records following past halvings, market watchers including analysts from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Deutsche Bank AG had predicted that the event was pretty much priced into the market.

“As expected, the halving was fully priced in so price movement was limited,” said Kok Kee Chong, chief executive officer of Singapore-based AsiaNext, a digital-asset exchange for institutional investors. “Now the industry will have to wait and see whether a rally will occur in the coming weeks amid sustained institutional interest.”

Notably, the dilutive effect of Bitcoin mining decreases with each halving. While the number of tokens mined in the cycle that followed the first halving amounted to 50% of Bitcoin outstanding at the time the halving took effect, new supply in the upcoming cycle will only amount to 3.3%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Bullishness toward Bitcoin in the near term may be dampened by macroeconomic influences, such as signals from the Federal Reserve that interest-rate cuts are on hold and conflict in the Middle East, according to Edward Chin, co-founder of Parataxis Capital.

“We are likely to chop a bit over the coming quarter until there is clarity on the macro front,” Chin said. “During that time, the primary driver of price will likely continue to be ETF fund flows.”

The main impact from the halving is expected to be on Bitcoin mining companies rather than the actual price of the cryptocurrency.

The blockchain update is poised to wipe out billions of dollars in annual revenue for miners, though the effect will be mitigated if the cryptocurrency’s price continues to rise. 

Bitcoin mining is an energy-intensive process, in which miners use specialized computers to validate transactions on the blockchain. Large-scale miners such as Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. and Riot Platforms Inc. have spent billions of dollars on acquiring energy, purchasing mining equipment and building out data centers. 

JPMorgan expects the sector to consolidate, with publicly-traded firms gaining market share. 

“Publicly-listed Bitcoin miners are well positioned to take advantage of the new environment, mainly due to greater access to funding and in particular equity financing,” JPMorgan analysts wrote in a note this week. “This helps them to scale their operations and invest into more efficient equipment.”

Past halvings have been completed with no discernible disruption to the functioning of the Bitcoin blockchain. 

The next halving is set to take place in 2028 and the reward will be reduced to 1.5625 from 3.125 for a miner that successfully processes a block of transaction data. The average time to finish a block is around 10 minutes. There are expected to be 64 Bitcoin halvings before the 21 million cap is reached sometime around 2140, at which point halvings will cease and the blockchain will stop issuing new tokens.

When that happens, Bitcoin miners will have to rely on transaction fees, their other revenue source besides mining rewards. Rising transaction fees may help some miners stay afloat as the rewards continue to dwindle, yet those fees are currently only a small portion of total revenue for miners.

© 2024 Bloomberg L.P.

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