On Monday, May 12th, the much-anticipated bitcoin halving event happened, lowering the rate at which fresh BTC coins are created. Monday’s adjustment reduced the rewards given to BTC miners from 12.5 BTC per block mined, to 6.25 BTC. Bitcoin recorded an all-time high hash rate on its third halving day.
According to data by TradeBlocks.com, the historic third-halving event happened at 3:23 p.m. EST on Monday. Following the halving event, BTC is presently trading at $8,720 dominating 67 percent of the entire cryptocurrency market, according to Coinmarketcap.com.
BTC sees record hash rate on Bitcoin halving day
The flagship digital currency recorded an all-time high hash rate on its block halving day. This is the third occasion the block rewards reduction is taking place since Bitcoin was created 11 years ago. The new record hash rate is at about 140 EH/s. Despite being a slight improvement on the previous high recorded back in March, it was not consistent in anticipation of lessening of the hash rate.
The previous all-time high hash rate was recorded early in March at approximately 133-135 EH/s. The popular digital currency, which is currently trading at around $8,700, has surged by about 20% since January. BTC price touched $10,000 last week after recovering from the mid-March market crash which saw its price fall below $4,000.
The Aftermath of BTC halving
Bitcoin halving events have been the subject of divergent price predictions and discussions due to the positive effect of the previous two halvings on the price of BTC. Some market participants speculate that the latest event won’t have any effect on the price of BTC, while others anticipate a positive outcome due to the reduction in the supply of BTC tokens.
Although its impact on the price of BTC remains to be seen, bitcoin halving has a direct impact on bitcoin miners. Indeed, some market experts anticipate miners to close down the creation of fresh bitcoin tokens as the majority of mining equipment will be out of date.
As per the vice president of mining firm Poolin, Alejandro De La Torre, several unsuccessful mining firms had already begun closing down their equipment before the Bitcoin halving event on May 12.