Crypto Miners Still Selling Their Bitcoin as Reward Halving Looms, Blockchain Data Show (2024)

FAQs

Crypto Miners Still Selling Their Bitcoin as Reward Halving Looms, Blockchain Data Show? ›

Data tracked by Glassnode shows the estimated number of BTC held in wallets tied to miners fell by 8,426 BTC ($530 million) since the start of the year to 1,812,482 BTC. The decline began in the second half of October, when miners held over 1.83 million BTC.

The Bitcoin halving reduces the block reward for miners by 50%, meaning the rate at which new Bitcoins enter circulation is cut in half. While the immediate impact on Bitcoin's price may not be significant, the halving is expected to have long-term effects on the supply and demand dynamics of the cryptocurrency.

The built-in halving mechanism in Bitcoin's code ensures that the minting of new Bitcoins will stop once this cap is reached. By 2140, miners will no longer earn block rewards, relying solely on transaction fees as compensation. This design guarantees that there will never exceed 21 million Bitcoins in circulation.

“All else equal, the halving will cut industry revenues in half, triggering a wave of consolidation and business closures, while (hopefully) rationalizing the network hashrate and industry capex, which is ultimately good for the remaining operators,” JPMorgan analyst Reginald Smith said in a recent note to investors.

New coins emitted with each block are given to miners as a reward for the work. They also receive transaction fees. Currently, the miners receive 6.25 BTC per block.

Bitcoin halvings are scheduled to occur once every 210,000 blocks – roughly every four years – until the maximum supply of 21 million bitcoins has been generated by the network. Bitcoin halvings are important events for traders because they reduce the number of new bitcoins being generated by the network.

Bitcoin halving is when the reward for bitcoin mining is cut in half. Halving takes place every four years. The next halving is expected to occur sometime in 2028. The halving policy was written into bitcoin's mining algorithm to counteract inflation by maintaining scarcity.

“Miners need their revenues to be more than their costs, like any business,” Malekan says. “What is likely to happen after the halving is that some miners will no longer be profitable, and they will stop mining.”

Miners receive two types of rewards for mining: new coins created with each new block, and transaction fees from all the transactions included in the block. To earn this reward, the miners compete to solve a difficult mathematical problem based on a cryptographic hash algorithm.

The historical correlation between halving events and the bitcoin price exists, with the price of bitcoin substantially increasing approximately six months after the halving days from 2012, 2017, and 2020.

Will bitcoin cash go up after halving? ›

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) surged 10% after successfully completing its reward halving event that cut the block reward to 3.125 BCH.

In a research note from Needham on Apr. 16, analysts said they expect the halving to only have a modest impact to miners' estimated EBITDA margins, despite the 50% reduction in revenue, since the price of bitcoin has been trading in the range of $60,000 to $70,000.

JPMorgan said it expects bitcoin to fall after the reward halving. The bank's analysis shows that the cryptocurrency remains overbought. Miners will be most affected by the event, the report said.

As of March 2023, the top 1% of Bitcoin addresses hold over 90% of the total Bitcoin supply, according to Bitinfocharts.

To improve profitability, miners may be using their stored BTC to buy more efficient equipment so that running costs drop, said FRNT Financial, a crypto platform based in Toronto. "Miners may also be inclined to sell in order to better position ahead of the halving," FRNT Financial said in a Tuesday newsletter.

After the halving, miners' rewards for processing new transactions will be reduced from 6.25 bitcoin to 3.125 (about $200,000)—a significant immediate reduction of revenue. As a result, mining will become unprofitable for many smaller operations.

The 2016 halving occurred on July 9th, 2016, at block 420,000. Before the halving, miners were rewarded with 25 bitcoins for every block they successfully added to the blockchain. Post-halving, this reward was reduced to 12.5 bitcoins.

How many Bitcoin halvings left? In total, there will be 32 Bitcoin halvings. There will be 29 more Bitcoin halvings until 2140 — when new BTC will stop being created entirely.

Our analysis shows that after June 2018, mining is only profitable for professional miners located in those countries where electricity costs less than 0.14$/kWh.

It is named after Satoshi Nakamoto, the Bitcoin creator(s). The satoshi to bitcoin ratio is 100 million satoshis to one bitcoin.