What is Bitcoin Halving 2024?
If you have a vested interest in cryptocurrency, you may be asking yourself, “What is Bitcoin halving 2024?” If you want to learn more about the halving process and how it impacts the crypto market, you have come to the right place.
History of Bitcoin Halving
In order to answer the question, “What is Bitcoin halving 2024?” it is imperative to understand how the cryptocurrency market works. The reason why Bitcoins (BTC) hold value is because there are only 21 million of them in total. The servers can only mine these 21 million BTC, thus limiting the amount of cryptocurrency that will ever be in circulation. In other words, the quantity of Bitcoin is permanently fixed, which drives the principle of supply and demand. In order to maintain high demand for Bitcoin, access to it has to remain limited. The halving occurs approximately every four years, give or take a few months, as a means of maintaining the scarcity of BTC.
The First Halving
Bitcoin was released in 2009, and at that time, investors received 50 BTC per block. The first halving occurred in November 2012, which reduced transactions to 25 BTC per block. This pattern has continued into the present.
Bitcoin Halving in April 2024
The most recent halving took place on April 19, 2024. Prior to halving, approximately 19 million of the 21 million BTC were mined and in circulation. Since the market was coming close to mining all of the coins, blocks were reduced to 3.125 BTC per block. As of the time of writing, 3.125 BTC translates to approximately $200,000 in value.
The Future of Bitcoin Halving
Looking ahead, halvings are predicted to continue taking place every four years. The last halving is expected for 2140, which will mark the year in which all 21 million BTC will be in circulation. There will be no coins left to mine, and the miners themselves will be paid exclusively through investors’ transaction fees.
Bitcoin Halving’s Impact on the Crypto Market
We have now covered the basics of Bitcoin’s history and “What is Bitcoin halving 2024?” With that, it’s time to focus on another question: how does halving impact the crypto market at large?
Impact on BTC’s Value
Generally speaking, Bitcoin rises in value immediately before and after a halving. This is due to an influx in transactions as investors are eager to buy in. Because of the high volume of transactions going through the blockchain, BTC’s value is quite volatile at this time. While it is always in flux—similar to investing in gold, for example—it fluctuates more drastically before, after, and during halvings.
Although Bitcoin value is less predictable at this time, in most cases Bitcoin does become more valuable even after the halving frenzy dies down. In addition to the growing scarcity of Bitcoin—making it worth more overall—this increase in value is another reason that crypto fans are likely to complete transactions prior to halving.
Impact on Transactions
With that being said, there are some trade-offs when it comes to halving. Although this process is integral to maintaining Bitcoin’s value and makes investments worth more in the long run, transaction times will likely worsen.
When a large quantity of transaction requests go through at the same time, confirmation wait times are prone to growing longer. This is because Bitcoin miners can only process so many requests at a time before adding them to the blockchain. Since a transaction will only be confirmed once it has been blocked, investors may be stuck wondering for days if their transaction has been confirmed during the halving season.
Do Halvings Impact Bitcoin ATMs?
Over the past several years, Bitcoin ATMs have risen in popularity as an easy, on-the-go alternative to completing traditional Bitcoin transactions. They allow interested investors to buy cryptocurrency as they stop by the grocery store or gas station, making it easier than ever before to get involved in the crypto marketplace.
With that being said, do Bitcoin halvings have any noticeable impact on Bitcoin ATM usage? Although the connection between these two factors has not specifically been studied, some data suggests interest in using Bitcoin ATMs increases as halvings draw nearer. One study shows that although the number of Bitcoin ATMs available worldwide decreased in July 2023—which could indicate lower demand for Bitcoin ATMs at this time—the number of them has steadily risen since then, all the way up to April 2024. This could mean that businesses were more likely to install Bitcoin ATMs leading up to the halving because they saw that interest in completing transactions was increasing.
A similar pattern can be seen in the same study going back to 2020. Once more, Bitcoin ATMs kept becoming more populous worldwide in the months preceding that year’s halving, giving reason to believe that businesses may feel more inclined to install Bitcoin ATMs when they know halving is approaching.
The Advantages of Using Pelicoin for Your Next Bitcoin Transaction
Since Bitcoin ATMs continue to rise in popularity, there has never been a better time to try your local Bitcoin ATM! At Pelicoin, we seek to make crypto trading more accessible and convenient for our customers.
Although Bitcoin halving has come to an end for this year, there are still plenty of advantages to using our ATMs for your next transaction. We proudly offer the lowest crypto ATM fees, meaning that you’ll never have to worry about splurging on transaction fees. This also means that high-priority transaction fees are more affordable, providing you with shorter confirmation times.
What’s more, we take pride in protecting our customers, their data, and their investments. Our customers provide ID before conducting their Bitcoin trades in order to ensure that their money and identities stay safe.
Now that you have all the answers you need to “What is Bitcoin halving 2024?” it’s a great time to invest with Pelicoin. Check out our full list of ATM locations, and if you want to learn more, get in touch with us at support@pelicoin.com or 855-PELICOIN. We can’t wait to work with you!