Bitcoin miners might not feel as much enthusiastic about their livelihood after hearing this news: the reward for mining is no longer 25 Bitcoins, it is 12.5 pieces from now on. Howsoever saddening the change might seem, it is inevitable because the virtual currency was designed in this way.
When Satoshi Nakamoto and other Bitcoin founding members programmed the virtual currency, a total 21 million Bitcoins were allocated to all the blockchains that will ever be created. To attract people towards this free money, they initially kept a 50 Bitcoin reward for making a single block.
However, as the more and more of the virtual coins will be unlocked, this reward will be cut down to half. Ultimately, the prize will become zero and there won’t a point of mining anymore. Here is what you need to know,
- The Bitcoin Halvening takes place after 210,000 new blocks have been mined.
- The Halvening event only reduces the number of coins unlocked as a reward, it does not affect the value of the cryptocurrency.
- A total 64 Halvening events would take place and on the 64th itineration, all the 21 million Bitcoins will be unlocked to the market.
- Expectedly, the last Halvening would not take place before 2116.
- 75% of coins have already been unlocked and distributed in the market.
- Currently, 1 Bitcoin is valued at $650.
So minors should rest sure USD/BTC price will not be affected by the second Bitcoin Halvening, it will only increase its value.
