News
After Bitcoin Halving Weekend, Crypto Market Sees Small Gains
Bitcoin’s long-awaited halving event, in which the block reward is cut by 50% to slow the supply of new coins, took place over the weekend. But it didn’t trigger the massive price surges many cryptocurrency investors and miners had expected.
The Bitcoin halving event occurs approximately every four years and slows the entry of new coins into the cryptocurrency economy, helping to make the asset increasingly rare over time.
There is a strict cap of 21 million Bitcoin, of which more than 19 million have been “mined” by people solving complex puzzles with high-end computing hardware to facilitate other people’s blockchain transactions. They now receive 3,125 Bitcoin as a reward for doing so first, up from 6.25 BTC a month ago.
Bitcoin is up 5.89% over the past seven days and remains below the previous $70,000 mark, while Ether (ETH) is up 4.76% over the past week and remains below the $3,500 mark. While Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, Ether is the second largest.
(For the day’s top tech news, subscribe (to our tech newsletter Today’s Cache)
On March 14 of this year, Bitcoin hit a new all-time high of $73,750.07surpassing the $70,000 mark for the first time in its history. Investors, analysts and miners hoped that the Bitcoin Halving would further boost prices and fuel investor optimism, encouraging purchases.
After reaching the new high, the price quickly corrected, but is currently hovering above the $60,000 mark.
The popularity of cryptocurrencies and their increasing use raise questions about how governments should regulate this asset in order to protect investors while also taking action against malicious actors.
This is a Premium article available exclusively to our subscribers. Read over 250 premium articles each month You have exhausted your limit of free articles. Support quality journalism. You have exhausted your limit of free articles. Support quality journalism. X You have read {{data.cm.views}} of {{data.cm.maxViews}} free articles. X This is your last free article.