Search the Community

BITCOIN HALVING: The facts and the FAQs In less than 72 hours to the much anticipated bitcoin halving, there has been so much enthusiasm and questions popping up about it. So I intend to look at them... But firstly, we need to know 👇 What is bitcoin halving and how does it work?. In the simplest term, bitcoin halving is an occurrence whereby the rewards given to bitcoin miners for processing bitcoin transactions is cut by half. This happens approximately every four years after every 210000 blocks are mined. It is its unique way of reducing the inflation rate of the bitcoin until all of it is released to circulation which is expected to continue happening until 2140. When that happens, miners are rewarded with fees for processing transactions which network users will pay. In 2009, the rewards for for each block in the chain was 50btc, when the first halving occurs in 2012 it was reduced to 25btc, and 12.5btc in 2016 and come 12th of May, 2020, it will be reduced to 6.25. Now let's waste no more time and go to the FAQs. Will bitcoin halving sees the its price doubles, trippled or even halved in no time? : If we look back in history, the halving has contributed significantly to the price of bitcoin but the believe that the bitcoin price will increase immensely immediately need to be scraped. The principle of demand and supply still holds true but the halving won't see an immediate decrease in supply and increase in demand. In fact, if we take a look back to the previous bitcoin halving, the significant price changes occurs months after the halving. This is likely partly because of the decrease in the supply of new Bitcoins, and partly because of the increase in demand from the hype that surrounds it and those who perceive the ingenuity of the halving. So, what will the effect of halving this month have on the price, We don't know yet. Will you have half amount of your bitcoin after halving? : There has been an online social media scam going round about some frauds going around and making their victims believe the amount of bitcoin on hold will be halved thereby buying them at a very much cheaper price. This is a pure scam and there is absolutely nothing like this. Will the supply of bitcoin fall after halving? : I have seen many people talking about this even in this forum. The bitcoin halving will not see the bitcoin supply fall rather it will see the supply of new bitcoin fall. Until the total amount of bitcoin that can ever be created is reached, which is 21million bitcoins and is calculated to happen in year 2140, the supply continue to increase but at a slower rate at every halving (approximately interval of 4 years). So the halving is not really a decrease in supply of bitcoin. Will halving make miners lose? : Maybe this is the biggest fear most of people have in mind, but it is not so. It might make the smallest miners unable to catch up but the bitcoin network is still in place and active and the mining rigs have evolved rapidly over the years to increase the processing powers. Since mining event is known, there should have been in place for miners, technologies that can be efficient for it. Feel free to discuss, correct or drop any question.. Please do not qoute all the topic and leave it clean for I will report any form of spamming. Thank you.