{"id":196364,"date":"2023-11-28T13:40:05","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T13:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tokenstalk.info\/?p=196364"},"modified":"2023-11-28T13:40:05","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T13:40:05","slug":"11th-anniversary-of-bitcoins-first-halving-from-12-to-37000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tokenstalk.info\/crypto\/11th-anniversary-of-bitcoins-first-halving-from-12-to-37000\/","title":{"rendered":"11th anniversary of Bitcoin\u2019s first halving: From $12 to $37,000"},"content":{"rendered":"
Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market value, experienced its first-ever halving 11 years ago today. As the community celebrates the anniversary of the first Bitcoin halving, it\u2019s timely to revisit some of Bitcoin\u2019s historical milestones ahead of the next halving expected in April 2024.<\/p>\n
The first Bitcoin transaction occurred nearly 15 years ago on Jan. 3, 2009, a few months after the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, published the Bitcoin white paper in October 2008.<\/p>\n
On Nov. 28, 2012 \u2014 three years and 10 months after Bitcoin\u2019s first block was mined \u2014 the first-ever halving event took place. At the time, BTC traded at around $12, according to data from StatMuse, or 308,200% below Bitcoin\u2019s current price, according to data from CoinGecko.<\/p>\n
Though Bitcoin’s halving and the digital currency’s 21 million supply cap are not directly described in Nakamoto’s white paper, the document still hints at certain mechanisms to control the creation of new BTC. The white paper reads:<\/p>\n
\u201cTo compensate for increasing hardware speed and varying interest in running nodes over time, the proof-of-work difficulty is determined by a moving average targeting an average number of blocks per hour. If they’re generated too fast, the difficulty increases.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Unlike some basic information in the BTC white paper, the halving aspect is mentioned in the Bitcoin source code. The halving is specifically available on the Bitcoin Core GitHub repository on the validation.cpp file\u00a0indicates that the miner\u2019s block subsidy is \u201ccut in half every 210,000 blocks, which will occur every four years.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The Bitcoin halving mechanism had been programmed into the BTC mining algorithm to counteract inflation by maintaining scarcity.<\/p>\n
Before the first halving occurred, miners were compensated with as much as 50 BTC per block. After the first halving event in 2012, the subsidy was slashed to 25 BTC, followed by the second halving in 2016, which reduced the subsidy to 12.5 BTC. The most recent Bitcoin halving occurred in 2020, cutting the block subsidy from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC.<\/p>\n
As Bitcoin halvings significantly increase the cryptocurrency\u2019s scarcity, the Bitcoin price cycle has been historically impacted by halvings. Just a year after its first-ever halving, Bitcoin had risen to nearly $1,000, while the second halving triggered a 350% surge during the year after the event, with BTC subsequently rallying to all-time highs of nearly $20,000 in December 2017.<\/p>\n
Related: <\/em><\/strong>Crypto community begins Bitcoin halving countdown as milestone date nears<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
In the aftermath of the third Bitcoin halving, BTC surged as high as $69,000 in November 2021.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The anniversary of the first Bitcoin halving comes as the cryptocurrency community awaits the fourth Bitcoin halving, which is now expected to occur on April 17, 2024. Many Bitcoin advocates are especially bullish on the Bitcoin price in 2024 amid growing expectations that United States securities regulators could finally approve a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.<\/p>\n
The 2024 halving won’t be the last one, though. Bitcoin miner reward is expected to be halved 34 times until it reaches 0 BTC after all 21 million Bitcoins are mined. Based on the current schedule, the maximum supply of 21 million bitcoins will be reached around 2140.<\/p>\n
Magazine: <\/em><\/strong>5,050 Bitcoin for $5 in 2009: Helsinki\u2019s claim to crypto fame<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n