The cryptocurrency market has been recovering in the past few weeks against the backdrop of the widespread crisis in the banking sector, and its recovery has been led by Bitcoin (BTC), which is looking forward to a halving in a little over a year and a potential price hike that could be connected to it.
Indeed, Bitcoin is estimated to go through another halving in the first half of 2024, specifically sometime in late April or early May, when BTC is set to reach 840,000 blocks, at which time the reward for mining new Bitcoin blocks, which currently amounts to 6.25 BTC for each block mined, will be cut in half.
This process was introduced to control the supply of the maiden decentralized finance (DeFi) asset, as there can only ever be 21 million BTC in circulation, making it deflationary, as opposed to inflationary currencies like fiat money that can be printed in the amount and period decided by governments.
Bitcoin halving cycle patterns
As it happens, the previous halving events, the last of which occurred in May 2020, take place roughly every four years and have typically been followed by an increase in the price of Bitcoin, leading many crypto traders and analysts to expect no less from the future Bitcoin halving.
With this in mind, the pseudonymous crypto analyst therationalroot has compared the past Bitcoin halving cycles and the price of the flagship cryptocurrency on a chart with a focus on its all-time highs (ATHs). Upon comparison, some interesting similarities arise, such as the timing of the top formation after a similar number of days.
More recently, the analyst also shared a chart that demonstrates the progress of the current Bitcoin halving cycle and BTC price compared to the historical trends, indicating that Bitcoin is now 72% into the current halving cycle as of March 20.
The chart is also useful in observing the timeline of the previous BTC price spikes, suggesting the next one could occur about a year after the fourth halving cycle date, taking into account that Bitcoin had the habit of spiking roughly 10-12 months after each of the halving events.
Bitcoin price change
Meanwhile, Bitcoin was at press time changing hands at the price of $27,757, which demonstrates a slight decrease of 2.05% over the last 24 hours but still a 14.12% gain across the previous seven days and 12.4% on its monthly chart, as per the latest CoinMarketCap data retrieved by Finbold on March 21.
Taking into account its chart patterns surrounding the past halving events, it is safe to assume that the fourth Bitcoin halving in May 2024 will involve a significant price increase for the crypto industry representative and its largest asset by market capitalization.
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