BITCOIN HALVING MYTHSIn a week, another bitcoin halving is expected to take place, which is expected by many cryptocurrency traders. Cryptocurrencies are still a dark horse for traders: sharp price fluctuations in both directions, high volatility attract traders with the supposed simplicity of making money. And although many consider the industry a bubble, there are still enthusiasts willing to take risks.
What Is Halving In Simple Words? 📜
Halving is a reduction for rewarding miners for performing operations on the bitcoin blockchain network. Currently, the reward for solving equations for a block of data on the blockchain is 6.25 bitcoins. After halving, it will be cut exactly in half to 3.125 bitcoin.
Basically, miners act as accountants in the blockchain network or as an equivalent of the collective Central Bank in the blockchain and serve as a guarantee of transparency and veracity of information: it is impossible to fake it in one block without other miners noticing it, but it is necessary to fake the entire chain of operations in the entire blockchain, which is practically impossible. Miners are responsible for processing all transactions: if there were no miners, there would be no new bitcoin transactions.
How Bitcoin's Halving In 2024 Will Affect The Price? 📈📉
Bitcoin's halving in 2024 is one of the most expected and discussed events of the first half of this year. In most cases, analysts cannot clearly explain why the price of BTC (and subsequently other alts) changed, finding unconvincing reasons in hindsight. Therefore, the upcoming event is a reason to try to predict the future behavior of the price before it happens. Halving is a halving of miners' profits. That is, a miner bought expensive equipment, spends electricity in the hope that each block will be rewarded with 6.25 BTC. But then halving occurs and now the reward per block is 3.125 BTC.
In theory, halving means that fewer coins will be mined and some miners will leave the market altogether. This will be followed by an increase in the scarcity of BTC, and therefore an increase in its price. At least, this is how optimists explain the growth of BTC price after halving. But the question is: how will the reduction in the volume of its production contribute to its price increase?
1️⃣ The Approaching Halving Is Already Priced In . This myth is taken from the fundamental analysis of stock market if investors are sure that, for example, if the Fed's interest rate is going to be exactly changed in a month, they buy or sell dollars in advance. However, this does not work in cryptocurrencies for several reasons:
✔️ Halving is embedded in the blockchain and for BTC it is done every 4 years. But that doesn't mean it is already factored into the pricing.
✔️ There are very few people involved in mining. And it is not a fact that investors are basically aware of what halving is and when it will take place. Short-term speculators may still be interested in this information. Those who bought BTC with the expectation that someday it will rise again (or did not sell it after a fall) are hardly interested in it.
✔️ The role of mining in the share of speculative circulation is not high. Market makers rule the market, which can simply squeeze miners with capital.
2️⃣ Bitcoin's Price Will Fall. The halving of bitcoin in 2024 may indeed affect the prices, but not as drastically as many investors would like. An argument in favor of a fall is the example of LTC, which got cheaper before halving profits. Compare the volumes of LTC and BTC, which occupies more than 54% of the entire cryptocurrency circulation. LTC is a speculative instrument, whereas BTC has a large share of long-term capital.
3️⃣ Halving Will Lead To The Annihilation Of The Mining Industry . Supporters of this myth argue that mining is becoming less and less profitable. In addition, more and more startups are being developed on more modern algorithms that do not involve mining. In reality, existing miners aren't going anywhere. Those who have already invested money in it will continue to "recoup" their costs. There will be no influx of new miners, so the mining industry will eventually disappear on its own. But halving will definitely not be to blame for this.
✅ Conclusion
Halving bitcoin's price can affect the price significantly. The price may shift to one side or the other, but there are enough fundamental factors for growth, but not for a fall in price. Therefore, it is very likely that this event will be noticed.
