Next Bitcoin Halving Could Squeeze out Retail Miners, But Jury’s Split on Price

CoinDesk reports, “Is the next halving going to send bitcoin to the moon?

“Well, maybe not that fast. As the programmed reduction of the miners’ reward is approaching (expected to happen in May next year), people are disagreeing about its probable effects.

“Bitcoin has gone through the halving two times before, in November 2012 and July 2016, and both times the events marked the beginning of the next bull market. But, it’s an open question if the halving brings an uptrend and if so, how strong that uptrend will be.

“Miners took the stage to debate the issue last week at the recent World Digital Mining Summit in Frankfurt organized by Bitmain, the Chinese equipment manufacturer and pool owner.

“Jihan Wu, co-founder and ex-CEO of Bitmain, is ‘pessimistic’ about the prospect of a price surge after the halving. He suggested that the first two uptrends might have been ‘catching up with the bubble-and-bust cycle’ phases at the time.

“Further, he pointed to halving of litecoin in August, which sent the price not surging but plunging. The token’s value shot from $31 to $135 in the first half of the year, but then started falling in July, right before the halving. It’s now trading around $57.

“Wu said:

“’Maybe people speculate too much before the halving, and then you can’t sell the good news anymore. Maybe, this time a bullish cycle is not coming yet.’

“Offstage, Wu told CoinDesk that the bump projected from the halving might be baked in because people have ‘started to bet on the price growth in advance…'”

Continue to read the full article at CoinDesk.

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