Bitcoin fell slightly early Saturday following the so-called halving, which will drastically reduce the amount of money in circulation in the world's largest cryptocurrency.
price of
Bitcoin
It fell 1.3% in the past 24 hours to $63,676, above the $60,000 it traded at earlier this week on concerns about inflation, the outlook for interest rates and the conflict between Israel and Iran.
Bitcoin's “halving,” a programmatic monetary policy change completed late Friday, will limit supply at a time when demand is rising following the approval of a new spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund. Ahead of the halving, Bitcoin's price has already risen more than 50% this year, but it remains well below its mid-March high of around $74,000.
Brian Bendig, president of MJP Wealth Advisors, said that while past events have pushed up Bitcoin prices, Bitcoin is “perfectly priced at the moment after a very steep rally so far this year. “There is definitely a price increase associated with the halving,” he said. The event will probably be muted. ”
“What makes this halving event unique is the presence of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the market, a dynamic that did not exist during previous Bitcoin halving events. , spot ETFs have definitely increased demand and interest in Bitcoin in recent months,'' Wendig added.
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Crypto bulls are hoping that the Bitcoin halving will trigger further gains in the coming weeks and months. After the first three halvings in 2012, 2016, and 2020, Bitcoin performed well. According to CoinDesk, the last halving in May 2020 caused Bitcoin to rise from $9,500 to $65,000 in the following year.
Thomas Perfumo, head of strategy at Kraken, said that historically Bitcoin prices peak 12 to 18 months after a halving, but the cryptocurrency has already hit an all-time high in less than two months. “This is faster than previous market cycles,” he said. ”
However, Bitcoin prices remain only 10-15% above their all-time highs, suggesting that “perhaps the market cycle has started early, but history shows that we have not even reached the end of the cycle yet.” ” Perfumo said.
Beyond Bitcoin
ether
The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization fell 1.5% to $3,045.Smaller tokens were mixed as follows
Solana
down 1.8%,
ripple
It increased by 3.7%.Meme coin rose slightly
dogecoin
Increased by 0.2%,
Shiba Inu
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Increased by 0.3%.
Email Joe Weelfel at joseph.woelfel@barrons.com.
