Bitcoin Halving and Advantages

With extensive experience as an electrical/software/coding engineer along with having a diverse financial background, Thomas Wettermann’s areas of interest include Machine Learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), and Financial Technology (FinTech). For the past few years, Thomas Wettermann has focused on the underlying technologies that support and promote all phases of cryptocurrency ecosystems. 

What is Bitcoin Halving?

The financial rewards that successful miners earn include new Bitcoin. But, as explained in Satoshi's Whitepaper, the number of new coins that a successful Bitcoin miner receives decreases every four years.

More specifically, these financial rewards change over time by a process called “halving.” Halving is reducing by “half” the number of new Bitcoin coins that are added to the network every four years.

For example, at the start of 2020, each winning miner received 12.5 new Bitcoin. At today’s market value, this equates to approximately $480,000. Currently, every 10 minutes, a new block is written to the Bitcoin blockchain. Therefore, a winning miner is selected to receive these financial awards every 10 minutes.

In May of last year, a miner’s earnings were “halved” to 6.25 new Bitcoin. And then four years later, a miner’s earnings will be “halved” again to 3.125 Bitcoin. This halving process will continue until all 21 million coins have been mined.

Proponents of the halving process argue that as the amount of new Bitcoin entering the market is reduced over time, it is more likely than not that the value of Bitcoin will continue to rise.

What Are Advantages Of Using Blockchain?

Bitcoin Blockchain (source: forbes.com)

All participants in the network have a copy of the ledger and therefore a complete history of all Bitcoin transactions. Since no single entity controls the Bitcoin ledger, anyone with an internet connection can have access to this ledger.

As soon as a miner has validated a Bitcoin transaction and this validated transaction has been entered via a new block to the blockchain, it is essentially immutable. It will be extremely difficult - if not impossible - to modify, breach, or revise the Bitcoin blockchain. Every single network participant has the very same copy of all of these validated records. Therefore, a single record cannot be changed or modified unless that very record is likewise changed on every single ledger on every single computer within the network.

In addition, all blockchain transactions are individually encrypted. Bitcoin transactions are also time-stamped so that anyone with access to the blockchain can identify when a particular transaction took place.

All the views expressed on this site are those of Thomas Wettermann and do not represent the opinions of any entity whatsoever with which Thomas Wettermann has been, is currently, or will be affiliated.

Trading digital financial assets such as cryptocurrencies can carry a high level of risk, and may not be suitable for all investors. Before deciding to invest, purchase, and/or trade cryptocurrency you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, adversity to risk and volatilities. The possibility exists that you may sustain a loss of some or all of your initial investment and therefore you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose. You should be aware of all the risks associated with cryptocurrency trading, and seek advice from a qualified and independent financial advisor.

Thomas Wettermann is not an independent financial advisor. Any opinions, news, research, analyses, prices, or other information contained on this website is provided as a general market commentary of Thomas Wettermann and does not constitute investment advice. Thomas Wettermann will not accept liability for any loss or damage, including without limitation to, any loss of profit, which may arise directly or indirectly from the use of or reliance on such information. All opinions expressed on this site are owned by Thomas Wettermann and should never be considered as advice in any form.