Bitcoin's third halving has long been a highly anticipated event in the crypto market. It took place on Monday evening, May 11, on the bitcoin network. Bitmain-owned mining pool Antpool managed to mine a block worth of 6.25 BTC.
Bitcoin halving is an event when the reward for mining Bitcoin transactions is cut in half. According to the algorithm introduced by bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, the number of halvings was originally embedded in the network of the No.1 cryptocurrency. The halving should occur after every 210,000 blocks, that is, one time in four years. 21 million coins are expected to be in circulation by 2140, and the mining of the cryptocurrency will be completed.
The first halving event was on November 28, 2012, and the second one occurred on July 9, 2016. On May 11, BTC halving took place for the third time in bitcoin’s history.
As a rule, bitcoin’s halving usually boosted the price of the most popular cryptocurrency. However, this time, the opposite happened. After reaching $10,000, bitcoin's price fell drastically. Notably, BTC is still unable to regain its lost positions. On Tuesday, May 2, the BTC value did not exceed $8,800.
At the same time, experts note that bitcoin transaction fees after the halving event have increased markedly. The fees totaled 15% of the block reward. The average transaction price did not top $2.59.
Crypto market experts pinpoint that currently, the interval between finding blocks reduced. At the same time, after halving, the speed of block mining increased. Moreover, despite a decrease in the reward, bitcoin hashrate (the computing power of hardware for mining BTC) remained at the same level.
Analysts at Finance Research point out that the reductions in block rewards have forced some miners to switch to bitcoin cash mining. During the mining of this asset, the hashrate of this network soared by more than 130%, leading to the acceleration of blocks mining.
