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Bitcoin (BTC-USD) recently underwent its fourth halving event on Friday, following a scheduled software update in the blockchain. This event, which occurs approximately every four years, is a significant milestone for the world’s most prominent cryptocurrency.
The 840,000th block was added to the Bitcoin blockchain, triggering a halving of the mining rewards provided to miners for validating transactions. This adjustment resulted in a notable decrease in the number of newly generated coins.
According to Blockchain.com, the changes took effect at 8:10 p.m., reducing the Bitcoin miner rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per mined block.
The completion of the overall halving process was expected by 9:40 p.m. Prior to the event, analyst Mike Colonnese from H.C. Wainwright suggested that the halving could positively impact the price of bitcoin (BTC-USD) due to constraints on the supply side.
Despite this optimistic outlook, concerns regarding geopolitical tensions and inflation led to speculation about potential short-term pressures on mining stocks such as (MARA), (RIOT), (HUT), (HIVE), (BTBT), and (BITF).