In order to understand halving and what it means, we first have to know more about how bitcoin is created. In simple terms, new bitcoins are created through a process called mining.
Mining involves running software on your computer that performs complex mathematical equations and contributes those solutions to the shared network of processing power.
Because this takes time and energy, miners who contribute their efforts are rewarded by earning newly-generated bitcoins. Every four years, miners are given a chance to earn the right to collect the next batch of bitcoins through what’s termed a “halving” process.
To explain how bitcoin mining works, it is best to think of it as a giant poker game with coins as chips. Miners compete with each other in hashing attempts, and the miner who successfully processes the most hashes win some bitcoins and loses others.
The number of bitcoins in play at any given time roughly corresponds to the value of every pool of hardware on earth. Since bitcoin rewards miners based on the amount of computational work they perform, miners try to maximize the number of bitcoins they collect while minimizing the electricity used in their efforts.
As you can probably imagine, this would be impossible if everyone played with all their hardware at the same time.
Table of Contents
Past Bitcoin Halvings: Lessons Learned
Although the term “halving” sounds ominous, it’s really a cause for celebration and profit. While many bitcoin investors are aware of the upcoming halving, they fail to understand why it’s such an exciting event.
The first halving occurred in November 2012, when the first batch of bitcoins was released to miners who successfully contributed their processing power to solve new blocks. The price for bitcoin as a whole surged after that first halving.
When this happens, less money will go to mining pools, which means fewer mining pools will be created. The proportion of hashing power controlled by mining pools is known in the industry as the “network hash rate.”
It serves as a measurement for the total amount of computing power available to mine new blocks. As the next halving is closer than ever, many bitcoin investors are worried that their money will be concentrated in fewer mining pools, potentially creating a drop-in network hash rate.
Alternatively, miners might choose to split their efforts between mining bitcoins and purchasing them on exchanges or through other means. This would cause the price of bitcoin to rise as the fewer bitcoins will be more valuable.
Bitcoin is a deflationary currency, which means its value increases over time. As the supply of bitcoins is cut in half every four years, the price per coin also halves. If the number of miners increases but their bitcoin purchases remain constant, then the price of bitcoin will rise.
However, if they sell more bitcoins than they win through mining and purchasing on exchanges, then each individual bitcoin will be worth less money.
What Makes This Halving Special?
Some investors believe that the halving will have little effect on bitcoin’s price. In fact, some believe that miners will not even care about the halving because they invest in bitcoin solely to make money.
However, there are reasons to believe that the halving will have a real and lasting impact on bitcoin prices. The first is that the increase in difficulty will force miners to work harder to earn more bitcoins. This will increase the cost of mining, which should be passed on to consumers.
In short, the price may rise if energy costs go up, but bitcoin’s volatility should drop when the network is not flooded with higher-than-average hash rates.
The second reason to expect a rise in price is that miners may turn to alternative currencies after the halving occurs. This could leave bitcoin exposed if miners decide to invest in other cryptocurrencies as opposed to spending their money on hash power and equipment upgrades.
After all, if bitcoin is no longer profitable for miners, Fortunately, it’s unlikely that miners will drop out of the bitcoin mining game after the halving. Even a small decrease in hash rates could lead to many miners selling their hardware.
They may be willing to continue mining if they know they’ll be able to purchase bitcoins at a low price through pools and exchanges. If you want to know more about bitcoin and cryptocurrency investments, then highly recommend visiting bitcoin motion uk website.
Conclusion
While it’s impossible to predict what will happen after the halving, there are a few things that bitcoin experts can anticipate.
First of all, the price of bitcoin should rise if the network hash rate dips after the halving, but it could drop if miners decide to purchase more bitcoins instead of hitting their hard drives with powerful machines until they mine new blocks.
Second, if bitcoin continues to gain popularity as a currency and store of value, then its price has the potential to grow in spite of the halving.
Join The Logo Community
We hope this article has been helpful. If you would like more personal tips, advice, insights, and access to our community threads and other goodies, join me in our community.
You can comment directly on the posts and have a discussion with Andrew, the Founder of The Logo Creative.
*TIP – We recommend Skillshare to learn online. There are tons of classes for everything including graphic design, web design, marketing, branding and business-related courses. Get a free trial with our link and you won’t regret it Trust us!
