Binance’s CZ Joins in the Bitcoin Countdown

In a recent X post, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao shared a screenshot of a countdown to the much anticipated Bitcoin halving. According to the countdown, the fourth Bitcoin halving will take place in the first week of April 2024.

Bitcoin halving is an event that reduces block rewards by half, meaning miners will be competing to create new blocks in the blockchain in return for a dwindling supply of fresh bitcoins. This process is hardcoded into the Bitcoin blockchain, and takes place approximately every four years. The screenshot shared by Zhao showed that the next halving is expected to take place 135 days from November 19, 2023.

The first Bitcoin halving took place in 2012 when the block rewards were cut down from 50 BTC to 25 BTC. In 2016, the second Bitcoin halving further reduced the rewards to 12.5 BTC. The third halving, which happened in 2020, resulted in the miners’ rewards dropping to 6.25 BTC.

Historically, the Bitcoin halving has preceded substantial price surges. The increasing scarcity of new bitcoins following the halving leads to a supply shock, and eventually exerts upward pressure on price. For example, Bitcoin’s ATH (all-time high) of around $66k was witnessed 18 months after the third Bitcoin halving.

While the next Bitcoin halving reduces the miners’ rewards to 3.125 BTC, analysts anticipate a bullish trend could follow the halving period. Bitcoin’s current positive track, mainly driven by the widely-anticipated U.S. Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval, reinforces analysts’ bullish perspectives.

At press time, Bitcoin is priced at $37.157.63, marking a 1.57% hike in one day, 0.54% in one week, and 27.19% in one month. Bitcoin’s resilience helps maintain its highest position in the crypto space, boasting a market cap of $725.38B.