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As the fourth Bitcoin (BTC) halving is getting closer, cryptocurrency analysts publish various forecasts about its potential impact on the digital asset market. While most of the forecasts are bullish, some theories might sound alarming for miners.
"Many will suffer": Charles Edwards on Bitcoin (BTC) halving
In general, the halving of miner rewards is great for Bitcoin (BTC) and the entire cryptocurrency segment in the long run. At the same time, its short term outcomes might be painful for some actors within the BTC ecosystem, Capriole Investments' founder Charles Edwards says on X.
Long-term, the Halving is great for Bitcoin and sound money. Short-term, many entities will suffer. Some will go bust in the coming months.
— Charles Edwards (@caprioleio) April 13, 2024
In particular, the fourth Bitcoin (BTC) halving looks dangerous for miners with old-gen hardware. Some of them will "go bust" as soon as this year, Edwards admits.
The fourth Bitcoin (BTC) halving is expected to happen April 19, 2024, at about 1:53 p.m. UTC once the largest cryptocurrency reaches 840,000 block height.
The mining rewards will drop from 6.25 BTC per block to 3.125 BTC per block. As such, some miners with less energy-efficient hardware might go underwater in the next cycle.
For instance, Bitmain Antminer S19, one of the most popular generations of ASIC miners for SHA-256 coins — BTC, LTC and others — will only be profitable post-halving when the BTC price is over $80,000, some estimations reveal.
Tether's Paolo Ardoino calls BTC halving "poetic," here's why
Bitcoin's (BTC) halving mechanism is hard-coded into the tech design of the first cryptocurrency. It reduces BTC emission by half every 210,000 blocks or roughly once in four years.
Thus, Bitcoin (BTC) becomes a scarcer asset, which, combined with the limited net supply, makes it more valuable economically.
Tether and Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino is excited by the role of the BTC halving in the tokenomics of the orange coin:
The Bitcoin halving is poetic. It can't be changed. It clocks every 4 years. It's a reminder of the immutable. It's a physics law
After the previous halving that took place May 10, 2020, Bitcoin's (BTC) price rallied by almost 600% in just 18 months.