Benzinga – April 19 will see the fourth halving for Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), the world’s first and most popular cryptocurrency.
But what exactly happens during the halving and what consequences could it have for Bitcoin investors?
How The Bitcoin Halving Mechanism Works
Bitcoin’s supply is capped at 21 million coins. This finite supply is a core principle differentiating Bitcoin from traditional fiat currencies, which have theoretically unlimited supply. To distribute bitcoin, the network relies on a process called mining. Miners compete to solve complex mathematical puzzles, and the successful miner receives a block reward in the form of newly minted bitcoin.
The halving event, embedded in Bitcoin’s code, reduces this block reward by 50% every 210,000 blocks mined, roughly every four years. The first halving occurred in 2012, followed by subsequent halvings in 2016 and 2020. Each halving has been accompanied by a…
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