Bitcoin Price Sets New All-Time High – Will Trend Continue With Next Halving?

Bitcoin is going to the moon again – and it’s right on schedule. Still, the crypto odds at crypto betting sites say we might want to cool our jets just a little.

If you know anything about crypto, you knew this was probably going to happen. Bitcoin may have spent most of 2023 in a rut, but the world’s leading cryptocurrency has been hitting all-time highs lately – including at press time, when Bitcoin was selling at around US$72,500.

Just like nature intended. This latest moon shot comes right as Bitcoin is about to experience its next “halving,” when the rewards for mining crypto will once again be slashed by 50%. Each halving has seen the price of Bitcoin skyrocket, and sure enough, the next event is expected to happen sometime in April.

A lot of smart people have made a lot of money riding Bitcoin’s scheduled ups and downs. However, will this joyride continue? Maybe, maybe not.

What Is Bitcoin Halving?

This probably isn’t your first cryptocurrency rodeo, but as a refresher, Bitcoin works because it’s running on a network of computers that’s busy recording all the transactions on the public ledger, known as the blockchain. Every time a block is completed (i.e. all the transactions are verified), the “miners” behind the computers receive a certain amount of bitcoins as a reward.

When Bitcoin was first launched in 2009, miners received 50 bitcoin for completing a block. But the software is set up to slash that reward in half every 210,000 blocks. This is done to keep a lid on the amount of coins in circulation, which will eventually cap out at 21 million.

When Is The Next Bitcoin Halving?

New blocks are programmed to be added every 10 minutes – in reality, the mining sometimes takes a bit more or a bit less time – so as it turns out, these halvings have occurred roughly every four years, almost like clockwork:

• 25 bitcoins: November 28, 2012
• 12.5 bitcoins: July 9, 2016
• 6.25 bitcoins: May 11, 2020

According to the Bitcoin Halving Clock, we should reach our next target of 840,000 blocks somewhere around April 18, 2024. And just like every other halving, the price of Bitcoin has been going up in anticipation, with miners rushing to meet increasing demand in the face of dwindling supply.

Will This Halving Trend Continue?

Probably – but with diminishing marginal returns. Each Bitcoin halving has seen a smaller bump in price compared to the previous; the price went up about 20x between the eventual market peaks in 2013 and 2017, then a little over 3x between 2017 and 2021. If the price doesn’t at least double this time around, miners won’t recoup their losses from the halving, and that’ll be that.

We’ve got a way to go yet. The previous market high from 2021 was $69,010, so if history is any indication, we should see a new peak sometime in 2025; in the meantime, the crypto odds at Bovada (visit our Bovada Review) have Bitcoin favored at -450 to close below $100K at the end of 2024.

If you’re looking for a shorter-term bet, Bovada has Bitcoin props on the board for the closing price on April 30, and Over $70K is the favorite in this horse race. However, that’s at odds of +125, so if the betting market is accurate, we’re probably in for some “price corrections” before things really take off.

What About ETFs?

Yes, the introduction of spot Bitcoin ETFs in January has also helped bring new investors into the marketplace. According to last week’s report by The New York Times, over $7.5 billion has been injected into Bitcoin ETFs since January.

This isn’t the same kind of speculative fury that we saw four years ago, when memecoins and NFTs were artificially inflating the price of Bitcoin.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is a lot more robust these days when it comes to regulating cryptocurrency; investing in spot Bitcoin ETFs is much less hazardous than putting your money behind a drawing of an ape with a cigarette dangling from its mouth.

Then again, the SEC will probably end up toothless if Donald Trump becomes president for a second term. Trump has become much more open to crypto in recent years, and given his party’s lust for de-regulation, there’s bound to be another mad rush of speculators looking to take advantage should he retake the White House. Bet and invest accordingly.