The Halving of Bitcoin 2024 has just happened. Why set up a recurring purchase now

Bitcoin's halving has happened: what to do?

Bitcoin’s halving was successful. What to do? Historical data predicts rises in the months following the event, so why set up a recurring buy now?

What should we do now that Bitcoin’s halving has happened? After the rewards for miners have halved, many wonder what will happen to cryptocurrency’s price.

Historically, this event has established a market cycle that seems to repeat itself at similar intervals. Where do we stand now? Could the recent cryptocurrency retracement be an opportunity to buy Bitcoin at a lower price?

Halving Bitcoin, what to do: analysis of the BTC price in 2024

For the price of Bitcoin, 2024 has been an interesting year. At the beginning of the year, BTC was in the $40,000 price range, while today, it orbits around $56,000 after the crypto recorded a new all-time high at $73,000 in March. Just comparing historical data might be the right way to get an idea of its future price targets.

In the days following the 2020 halving, which occurred on 11 May of that year, Bitcoin’s price was in the $8,000 zone. In January 2021, it broke to its current all-time high at $20,000, while less than 12 months after the event, it recorded a new one at $64,000.

The main difference from that market cycle concerns the new all-time high. Bitcoin recorded a new all-time high about a month before the important event.

If you have been with us in the crypto market for a few years, you may remember that BTC rose in a similar move during the bear market of 2018-2019. At that time, the rise was 100%, but then it quickly subsided. Due to the market shake-up over the last few weeks, we are again below the ATH, but given Bitcoin’s performance during 2024, we might reach it again soon!

Check the price of Bitcoin now!

How long until the next upturn? 

Looking at Bitcoin’s past bear market performance, we can see that after the bottom, the crypto took some time to recover. Indeed, it has been “water under the bridge” since November 2022, the month in which Bitcoin hit the low point at $15,000. Should it move as it has in the past, that area of the chart will never be reached again.

Still referring to past movements, buying Bitcoin regularly over the next few months could bring great satisfaction. Indeed, one could put the crypto aside at bargain prices, waiting for the explosion that usually occurs a few months after halving.

Of course, one cannot look at the past to predict the future, but knowing historical data is indispensable for making decisions.

What to do? Focus on recurring purchase

What could stimulate the price rise? In the past, Bitcoin’s halving has jump-started crypto. In fact, the halving of rewards has always been the starting point of a new bullish cycle. 

Contrary to what one might think, these price movements and the consequent reaching of new all-time highs never occur suddenly. Above all, the initial phases are usually very slow and gradual and become more explosive after new highs are reached. 

It must also be said that the experts’ forecasts for BTC at the end of 2024 are decidedly optimistic: according to Standard Chartered analyst Geoff Kendrick, the price of Bitcoin, after halving, will easily touch $100,000. For TechDev, the outlook is at $160,000.

Setting up a recurring purchase in pre-halving Bitcoin only takes a few minutes. Go to the Piggy Bank section of the Young Platform app, choose the amount and frequency you want and start saving your cryptos by taking advantage of the bear market!

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*The information in this article is for educational purposes and is not an incentive to invest. It is based on historical and objective Bitcoin market data, and the charts do not represent future predictions. The performance of any cryptocurrency portfolio is always subject to market conditions and volatility.

Will Bitcoin reach $100,000 after the halving?

Bitcoin's price after halving

Bitcoin reached a new all-time high in March. Will it reach $100,000 after the April halving?

What happened in March had never happened in history. The price of Bitcoin had never reached a new all-time high before the halving, scheduled for 19 April (the date may still change).

Since the first target (a new all-time high) has already been reached, it is necessary to identify the next one. In this sense, the most sensible one seems to be the $100,000 mark, a key price zone since the last bullish cycle. According to the Stock-to-Flow model, it was the ‘final’ target for Bitcoin’s price. 

Will BTC reach $100,000 after the next halving? We try to answer this question by analysing the halving mechanism, what happened during past cycles and the macroeconomic situation.

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Halving as a ‘marketing move’

In the past, every halving has had an impact on the price. Not only does the event lead to a reduction in BTC issuance, but it halves it. Certainly, the decrease in Bitcoin’s inflation, which currently stands at around 1.7% and will fall to 0.85% after halving, impacts the asset’s value, especially in the long term. However, the effect this event has on the price of BTC is also different.

Specifically, it can be understood as an arguably unintentional ‘marketing strategy’ of Bitcoin’s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. This is because Nakamoto designed Bitcoin’s blockchain so that the halving happens suddenly, catalysing attention and stimulating debate around the cryptocurrency. 

In fact, the decrease in BTC issuance does not occur gradually, as is the tokenomics of many other cryptocurrencies, but every 210,000 blocks, i.e. about four years

In this way, halving becomes, by necessity, a major event that every industry enthusiast eagerly awaits. But that is not all. Due to its periodic and regular nature, this mechanism not only punctuates the cyclical price movements of BTC but also attracts the attention of the mass media and individuals hitherto opposed to this technology.

Faced with this scenario, the days leading up to halving represent a potentially strategic moment for those considering buying but cannot decide on the best time. 

Buying Bitcoin now could allow you to position yourself before the combined effect of reduced issuance and increased interest drives possible price appreciation. While the exact outcome of the halving remains uncertain, history suggests that the event could be followed by an upward phase, making these last few days an opportunity for those wishing to buy BTC to consider it carefully.

C

Follow the Bitcoin price!

The possible imminent interest rate cut

The upcoming halving of Bitcoin comes at a particularly relevant time in history from a macroeconomic point of view. Mainly because interest rates are expected to be cut by the major central banks, including the Federal Reserve (FED) and the European Central Bank (ECB), presumably starting in June. 

This scenario could act as a catalyst for assets considered more volatile or risky, such as equities and, in particular, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In an environment where high-interest rates offer attractive returns, investors, and significantly institutional investors, tend to prefer safer investments such as government bonds or government securities. 

However, as interest rates and, consequently, the yields offered by these instruments fall, capital shifts towards riskier but potentially more profitable assets.  

This context of falling interest rates opens the door to increased interest from institutional investors in the cryptocurrency market, particularly Bitcoin.

In addition, the recent introduction of Spot ETFs on Bitcoin has proven to significantly impact the price of BTC, further underlining the importance of institutional investment in the sector. These instruments offer a more accessible and regulated means for these actors to access the cryptocurrency market, acting as a bridge between the traditional financial and cryptocurrency worlds.

Consequently, this scenario sets the stage for a potential bullish rally for BTC. Investors attentive to these macroeconomic and market dynamics might find an additional motivation to consider Bitcoin as an integral part of their portfolio in this context.

Bitcoin’s price after halving in history

Finally, to estimate the impact of halving on the price of Bitcoin it may be useful to look back. How has halving affected the price of BTC in past bull markets? To oversimplify the question and provide a straightforward answer, halving has always had a positive impact.

In the months following the first halving in history, which took place on 28 November 2012, the price of Bitcoin rose from a price of $12 to a high of around $1,000

The following year (2016) also positively affected Bitcoin’s price action; the value of BTC reached the historic $20,000 level from the $650 level

The last halving in 2020, although it generated a lower price increase than previous halvings—740% compared to 2,900% in 2016 and 8,300% in 2012—allowed Bitcoin to reach an all-time high of $64,000. On 11 May 2020, the day Bitcoin’s issuance halved, the price of BTC was $8,000.

What will happen in the coming months? Will the halving, cutting of interest rates, adoption of spot ETFs, and thus the entry of institutional investors contribute to Bitcoin’s price increase?

The new all-time high for Bitcoin!

Bitcoin all-time high

Bitcoin has reached a new all-time high, surpassing $71,000. What are the three leading causes?

Bitcoin has officially recorded a new all-time high (ATH). A few minutes ago, it hit the $71,627 level.

This term describes the maximum value Bitcoin touches or, in general, any asset. What has happened in recent weeks is anomalous. Bitcoin has never reached a new all-time high before halving during past cycles, coming in less than fifty days.

How is it possible that Bitcoin has now reached this new record high? Given that a year ago, its value was more than three times lower than it is today. Here are the three main reasons

Bitcoin’s historical high: the causes

Identifying all the causes of Bitcoin’s unexpected all-time high is a daunting challenge. While it is much easier to find the main ones, the question to build on to understand the economic context in which to place the crypto’s recent bullish rally is: Why did Bitcoin record a new all-time high? And more importantly, why did it reach this milestone before the next halving?

  1. The approval of spot ETFs

The first reason is apparent. From 11 January onwards, Bitcoin has entered the Olympus of assets. The approval of spot ETFs by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has incredibly boosted the crypto’s status, making it attractive even to those who have not delved into its technology. Most institutional investors, historically antagonistic to BTC, have re-evaluated it and finally understand its potential. 

However, if we analyse what has happened from an economic point of view, the situation is even more evident. Right now, there is an imbalance between supply and demand, which favours the former. Thanks to their ETFs, funds are buying vast amounts of Bitcoin daily, while issues remain stable and will halve with the halving of April.

  1. Halving 2024

The second reason relates to the event that all crypto enthusiasts have been waiting for. In past cycles, this has always preceded Bitcoin’s new all-time high, but this time, everything is different. How come? It’s impossible to say for sure, but what happened could be connected to the approval of ETFs.

Usually, halving was, for many, an ‘excuse’ to return to crypto after months in which most investors ignored it due to the bear market‘s bearish price movements. This time, however, in part, the interest has come early, attracted by significant American funds.

  1. A virtuous bear market

The third and final reason is related to the bear market. The strong growth that Bitcoin and the crypto world, in general, have experienced in the last period is also the result of the work done in the previous two years. You know, there is no better time to build new solutions or improve existing ones than when prices fall and the euphoria disappears.

Over the past few months, many technological innovations have been born (or improved) on Bitcoin. Some are more controversial and divisive, such as Ordinals and BRC 20 tokens; others, such as Layer 2, are universally considered necessary. The other ecosystems, e.g. Cosmos, Ethereum and Solana, have also renewed themselves, trying to improve above all from the point of view of ease of use. A historical weakness for this sector.

As mentioned, these are not all the causes contributing to Bitcoin reaching a new all-time high. How not to mention the considerable interest in artificial intelligence and the consequent rise in the share price of technology companies, e.g., Nvidia? Or the imminent end of quantitative tightening policies, and thus the likely cut in interest rates in the coming months. 

Spot ETFs on Bitcoin approved!

The approval for Bitcoin spot ETFs has finally arrived. Here’s everything you need to know. When will trading begin?

The Bitcoin spot ETFs have been approved over six months since BlackRock’s approval request, followed by those of many significant American investment funds.

A few minutes ago, the SEC announced that these financial instruments meet the guidelines. Here are all the details on the approval of the Bitcoin spot ETFs. When will trading of these financial instruments begin, and what will happen to the price of BTC?

Impacts of the approval

The approval of the Bitcoin spot ETFs, widely anticipated in recent months, has finally arrived today, January 10, 2024.

The SEC has approved the applications of ARK 21Shares, Invesco Galaxy, VanEck, WisdomTree, Fidelity, Valkyrie, BlackRock, Grayscale, Bitwise, Hashdex, and Franklin Templeton. The document is available on the SEC’s website.

New institutional players will now be able to offer Bitcoin to their clients, radically changing the perception of the leading cryptocurrency and the entire sector. This development opens up new possibilities based on a more robust image and a positive perception from the general public. Inevitably, the rest of the crypto industry will benefit from this change and the exposure to a new public segment, introducing alternative dynamics.

The crypto world expects the most significant influx of capital in its history. According to some estimates, between 100 and 300 billion dollars could enter the market in the next four years thanks to these financial instruments. If this happens, the impact on the price of Bitcoin will be, to say the least, explosive.

Want to buy Bitcoin? Recurring purchasing is the way

Buying Bitcoin with recurring purchases: why it pays off

Why you should consider buying Bitcoin regularly explained in 3 charts

Buying Bitcoin through recurring purchases is cheaper than spot buying by constantly looking for the perfect moment to enter the market (spoiler: it does not exist). We’re going to show you this with three charts: you’ll see that the drawdown is lower, as is the volatility and average price. Recurring purchasing is the most effective strategy to set aside Bitcoin regularly and automatically and you can set it up in your Moneybox

We ran a simulation based on historical market data on the price of BTC, and imagined a recurring purchase of €50 in Bitcoin per week from January 2020 to March 2023. Here are our results. 

A positive performance for 80% of the period 

Maybe you have some regrets about 2020 spent on the couch in your pyjamas… Today we add to the list not having set up a recurring purchase on the Moneybox. If you had decided to spend €50 per week to buy Bitcoin automatically now your situation would be as described by this chart. 

Chart Bitcoin Value with recurring purchase

Here you can see the value your wallet would have had in March 2023. The yellow line indicates the total amount spent to buy BTC, the green line is the value of your holdings (+22.5%). The moneybox represented by the graph was in the positive for 86.2% of the time considered. With the best performance at +71.43 and the worst at -30.77%. 

Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to buy Bitcoin at its lows instead of at any time? If you have this doubt, read the results of this research which shows that there is actually no such thing as the ‘perfect moment’. Predicting market movements is not for everyone, recurring buying removes this difficulty and still leads to good results. 

Even in a bear market the losses are smaller

In this second graph, the blue line shows the price of BTC from March 2022 to March 2023, the green line the percentage return (profit and loss) of the holder that chose to buy Bitcoin with recurring purchases. 

Chart Bitcoin performance with recurring purchase

According to the analysed data, the drawdown, i.e. the maximum loss that can occur in a time interval, is smaller compared to that of a single purchase. In the period considered, from the beginning of March last year with BTC at $45,000 to March 2023, there would have been a maximum drawdown of 20% compared to the -64% recorded by the price of Bitcoin. In short, the recurring buyer would be in profit by 16% after one year. 

The savings are obvious

In these times of inflation, saving money is becoming a mission for most people. If you are looking for a way to buy Bitcoin while optimising your spending, recurring purchasing is again an option you might consider. Let’s look at the third chart. 

Chart Bitcoin's average price with recurring purchase

The blue line shows the price of BTC from January 2020 to January 2023, while the red line shows the average price paid to buy Bitcoin with recurring purchases. Considering that the cryptocurrency has a bullish trend over large time intervals, the result is that with recurring purchases over the long term, you can get a very good average purchase price compared to the market value. In January 2022 buying spot would have been around $5,000, with recurring buying instead less than $2,000. This is not because there are different prices in the same period, but because the price of the recurring purchase averages out all levels by also including purchases made when the cryptocurrency was at its lowest. 

Again you may ask yourself if buying at lows is not the best thing to do, theoretically the answer is yes. But again ‘lows’ are not easy to predict, so buying on a regular basis is a good trade-off to avoid fretting over ‘impromptu’ market analysis and instead buy Bitcoin conveniently. 

*The information in this article is for educational purposes and is not an incentive to invest. It is based on historical and objective Bitcoin market data, charts do not represent future predictions. The performance of any cryptocurrency wallet is always subject to market conditions and volatility. 

How to hedge against inflation with Bitcoin? An analysis

How to hedge against inflation with Bitcoin

Research compares Bitcoin and traditional financial assets in the fight against inflation

How to hedge against inflation? A legitimate question given the recent trend in consumer prices. Well, Bitcoin turns out to be an effective hedge against inflation according to research from 2022 published in Axioms, an international academic journal supported by The European Society for Fuzzy Logic and Technology (EUSFLAT), International Fuzzy Systems Association (IFSA) and Union of Slovak Mathematicians and Physicists (JSMF)

In this article we will explain why:

  • Bitcoin is the asset that responds better than other safe haven assets in both stable and turbulent market times; 
  • Recurring buying (or DCA) is the best strategy to enter a market (whatever its trend may be); 

Hedging against inflation? Bitcoin beats the competition

In the economic climate in which we live, characterised by rising prices and stagnating wages, it is legitimate to try to understand how to hedge against inflation. And thus protect our savings. 

The research entitled “Do Bitcoin and Traditional Financial Assets Act as an Inflation Hedge during Stable and Turbulent Markets? Evidence from High Cryptocurrency Adoption Countries‘, compares the effectiveness of different strategies and instruments to combat inflation using those with high cryptocurrency adoption as sample countries

In summary, what has emerged is that Bitcoin is better protected against inflationary shocks than other traditional assets such as shares, gold and oil.

On Young Platform with the ‘Recurring Purchase‘ feature you can set aside Bitcoins automatically and with an amount and frequency of your choice.

What is inflation? 

When wondering how to hedge against inflation, it is worth making a few conceptual clarifications. Inflation refers to the increase in the prices of the goods and services we buy every day, which leads to a reduction in the purchasing power of money. In other words, we can buy fewer things with our savings than in the past. 

For example, in the US in 1980 going to the cinema cost only $2.89, in 2019 the average price of a ticket increased to $9.16! So with a $10 note in 1980 we would have bought 3 tickets, but today only 1. 

Solutions against inflation 

You may have heard that one of the most effective solutions to respond to rising prices is to invest ‘in bricks and mortar’. For a long time, real estate has been a safe haven for our savings, but it is not always a viable option for those who are perhaps younger and do not have much liquidity. 

In any case, this option reminds us that the important thing is to defend our own savings by converting them into an asset that is more resilient than money, whose value is maintained over time, such as a safe haven asset. This is because keeping your earnings ‘under the mattress’ does not bring results in the long term, as they gradually lose their value due to inflation.  

Investors try to hedge against inflation by buying assets that increase in value when prices rise, such as shares in companies that produce commodities or raw materials. Other examples are gold and oil. In short, the rule applies: investing is better than saving

Beyond gold and oil: how to hedge against inflation with Bitcoin 

Are gold, stocks and oil really the only ways to hedge against inflation? There are those who advocate relying on Bitcoin, but can it work as a hedge? At first it is difficult to answer this question with certainty. After all, Bitcoin is a new asset that needs to be studied in its own right, in relation to its target market. 

The analysis presented by Axioms experts tries to answer this doubt. See the results. 

First, it is noted that in order to assess how well an asset can hedge against inflation, several factors must be taken into account. Such as inflation trends over time and the national territories studied. Which in the case of this research are 10.  

In short, there are some assets that can offer protection in the short to medium term, such as Bitcoin, gold, stocks or oil. For the long term things get complicated, the levels of effectiveness against inflation are more heterogeneous and it is not easy to find a better and definitive asset.

However, Bitcoin seems to be an attractive option for countries with high cryptocurrency adoption. In times of increased economic turbulence, Bitcoin is the asset that statically responds best to market downturns. But what does this mean for investors?

To avoid inflation, you should consider leveraging BTC to create a hedge during a market downturn or when asset prices respond to inflation more quickly.  

Secondly, research results show that Bitcoin is the most effective inflation hedging instrument for most countries, both in stable and turbulent economic regimes. With a peak especially in countries with less resilient economies. This could be an advantage that every government should consider when developing cryptocurrency regulations.

What is the best strategy? 

To hedge against inflation, however, it is not enough to choose the right asset, this must be combined with a strategy. That of regularity

The analysis conducted by the Charles Schwab Corporation, a US investment firm that manages over $7 trillion in assets for its clients, compares five investor profiles and calculates their performance over five years, assuming each has $2,000 to invest each year

Here is the result: in first place is the trader who – by preparation or luck – chooses the timing perfectly and buys at the correct time. They are followed in second and third place by those who invested the $2,000 every year in one lump sum and those who broke it up into 12 installments and entered regularly every month. Closing the ranking with the worst results are those who bought at the wrong time – driven by FOMO or through extreme bad luck – and those who did nothing and obstinately kept their liquidity on their savings account. 

The good news is that for ordinary mortals who are not traders or do not feel kissed by luck, there are great opportunities to get the most out of their investments through regularity. That is, by regularly buying a certain asset. This strategy is called recurring buying or (DCA). 

Sticking to the terms of the analysis, if we had bought €25 worth of Bitcoin once a week for 5 years, as of today (March 2023) we would have €6,925 in Bitcoin but with a portfolio value of €15,803, i.e. a net gain of €8,800 (+128%). 

Conclusions 

In summary, those who are trying to figure out how to hedge against inflation should keep in mind that no asset can offer complete protection in the long run. But assets like Bitcoin can be a good option in the short to medium term. In any case, it is always important to pay attention to asset selection and the timing of investments.

***

*This article was written on the basis of research published in Axioms, an international, peer-reviewed, open-access academic journal covering mathematics, mathematical logic and mathematical physics, published monthly online by MDPI. Aximos is supported by The European Society for Fuzzy Logic and Technology (EUSFLAT), International Fuzzy Systems Association (IFSA) and Union of Slovak Mathematicians and Physicists (JSMF). To read the full research, download the PDF at this link.  

What happens when all 21 million Bitcoins are mined?

What happens when all 21 million Bitcoins are mined?

In 2140, miners will finish issuing Bitcoin. Will their work no longer be needed? What will happen after that? 

Bitcoin, like all precious things, is limited and scarce and therefore will not be issued forever. The distribution of coins will cease at 21 million, more or less around the year 2140. This event, although very far away, will affect future miners who will no longer receive new BTCs as a reward. What happens when all 21 million Bitcoins are mined? Will the miners stop securing its blockchain?

Why aren’t Bitcoins infinite?

The maximum amount of Bitcoins that can be issued is limited to 21 million. This number is also called ‘max supply‘. This limit was introduced by Satoshi Nakamoto since the creation of the cryptocurrency to curb inflation and make crypto scarce and therefore more valuable. If Bitcoin’s availability were unlimited and BTCs were mined indefinitely at some point each of these cryptos would no longer be worth anything. Currently 19 million Bitcoins have been issued and therefore there are only 2 million left to reach total supply

Miners’ rewards reduced by halving

Another Bitcoin mechanism, related to mining, is halving. This regulates the gradual decrease in rewards given to miners who validate blocks, which are halved about every four years. This also serves to reduce the crypto in circulation, to maintain scarcity. After the successful halving in April 2024, miners get 3.125 BTC for each validation block. The process of validating a block takes, on average, 10 minutes.

What happens to the miners when all Bitcoins are issued?

The security of Bitcoin’s blockchain is guaranteed by the miners, so it is legitimate to wonder whether the moment no more BTCs are issued, the network will stop working, because no one will have any incentive to check the validity of transactions. 

Fortunately, Satoshi Nakamoto has also thought of this. In fact, the miners not only receive a portion of the newly mined BTC as a reward, but also the transaction fees. When all 21 million Bitcoins have been issued the fees will become the only source of income for the miners.

The end of Bitcoin minting will have an unpredictable impact. Certainly miners may be affected, and for some of them, mining Bitcoin may cease to be a profitable activity. But this depends very much on the evolution of Bitcoin as a cryptocurrency. For example, if in about 120 years BTC becomes a fully-fledged store of value, the transaction fees (which will be much more expensive than now), will probably be sufficient to reward the miners. Alternatively, they could migrate to other blockchains, as happened to Ethereum when its network switched from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism.

Over the past year, thanks to a new technology called inscription, Bitcoin’s blockchain is evolving. The BTC network is no longer a ‘pure’ network that only handles cryptocurrency transfers but can also host NFTs, decentralised applications (Dapp), DeFi protocols, and even Layer 2 blockchains. In short, the activity on Bitcoin’s network is increasing, which also contributes to raising the fees that users have to pay, on average, to make a transaction. As the volume of commissions increases, the miners will earn more money.

Lately, thanks to a new technology called inscription, Bitcoin’s blockchain is evolving. The BTC network is no longer a ‘pure’ network that only handles cryptocurrency transfers, but can also host NFTs and possibly soon decentralised applications (Dapp) and DeFi protocols. Due to inscription, activity on the Bitcoin network is increasing, which also helps to raise the fees that users have to pay on average to make a transaction. As the volume of fees increases, the miners will earn more money.

Unfortunately, there is no certain answer to the question: what happens when all 21 million Bitcoins are mined. In any case, since it is about 120 years away, the miners still have some time to prepare.

Bitcoin price: trends and history from 2008 to today

Bitcoin price: history, value and trends over the years

The price of Bitcoin has grown exponentially over the years, what have been the main milestones in its history?

The history of Bitcoin’s price has been quite eventful, marked by both bullish and bearish periods. From its inception in 2008 to the present day, several significant events have influenced its value and performance. Do you know the history of Bitcoin’s price from 2008 to the present? What events have most influenced its value and the cryptocurrency’s performance?

What was the launch price of Bitcoin?

At the beginning of its history, when Bitcoin was created, cryptocurrency exchanges did not yet exist, so users, in order to sell or buy BTC, had to agree among themselves to establish its value by engaging in a real negotiation. The value of a crypto is determined by its conversion into fiat currency. Since transactions at the time were only done through peer-to-peer exchanges, it is impossible to trace the exact price of Bitcoin at the time of its launch.

However, we know how much BTC was worth when it was first converted into dollars on 12 October 2009. On that day, a user known on the ‘Bitcointalk’ forum under the pseudonym ‘New Liberty Standard’ bought 1,309 BTC for one dollar. Dividing one dollar by the number of BTC the user bought, we can say that the price of Bitcoin started at around $0.0009. Today, the value of the cryptocurrency is about 70 million times its initial value

So, let’s examine the main stages in Bitcoin’s price history to understand how it established itself and what difficulties it has faced.

From Bitcoin Pizza Day to the birth of the first exchanges (2009-2012)

In 2009, Bitcoin was a niche technology, a phenomenon linked to a subculture of computer engineering and had no real market. The first time it was used to purchase a ‘real world’ asset was on 22 May 2010; on that day, a user on the Bitcointalk forum bought two pizzas from the American fast food restaurant Papa John’s for 10,000 BTC. This event, dubbed ‘Pizza Day’, has become a real holiday that crypto enthusiasts remember yearly

2010 also saw the birth of BitcoinMarket.com, a rudimentary website that allowed its users to exchange BTC, which shut down the following year. In 2011, however, the crypto world’s first exchange was launched: Mt.Gox. The birth of Mt.Gox drew attention to cryptocurrency by making it easier to buy. In February 2011, the price of Bitcoin reached $1, while in July of the same year, one BTC was already worth $15.

From 2012 to 2015: the first bull market and the Mt.Gox hack

2012 was a bad year for the Bitcoin price story. From the high of $15 touched in July 2011, the value of BTC fell dramatically to $3, a zone on the chart in which it was caged until the beginning of 2013. With the new year, however, the cryptocurrency changed gears completely, thanks to a great wave of interest in the sector. The first crypto bull market in history had begun!

In 2013, the price of Bitcoin rose from $12 to $1,000, driven by some Chinese institutional investors and companies that started accepting it as a payment method.

But then came the first crypto bear market in history, coinciding with the hacker attack suffered by Mt.Gox on 24 February 2014. Then, during the summer of 2015, when some institutional investors, such as Goldman Sachs and Nasdaq, approached these new technologies, the market rebounded. 

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On 30 July 2015, Ethereum was launched through an ICO, and a new bullish phase began for Bitcoin’s price, around $400.

2016 to 2021: the second halving and COVID-19

The second halving on 9 July 2016 breathed new life into the price of Bitcoin, which had already started its upward movement in the summer of 2015. The bull market of 2017 was explosive. From the $1,000 zone, it was in January BTC reached $20,000 by the end of the year. In that period, media interest in cryptocurrencies grew considerably: the first ETF on Bitcoin was approved in the United States, the Chinese government regulated crypto trading, and several companies, including Microsoft and Dell, chose to accept BTC as a payment method.

In 2018, Bitcoin’s value plummeted from a high of $20,000 to $3,000, stabilising at around $3,700 at the end of the year. 2019, the year in which the cryptocurrency’s 10th anniversary was celebrated, was also not good due to the failure of the exchange Quadriga CX and a hacker attack on Binance. Bitcoin’s price in 2019 fluctuated between $3,000 and $14,000, changing direction several times. 

In 2020, the crypto market shone again, thanks mainly to the decentralised finance applications (DeFi) born on Ethereum. The collapse of Bitcoin’s price that occurred at the same time as the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was absorbed quickly. A few days later, the bull market began, taking the crypto’s value to a time high of $68,800. This period also saw the emergence of NFTs, which further boosted the whole sector.

The bear market of 2022: industry failures, inflation and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict?

Then, in 2021, after Bitcoin hit $68,000, the crypto market was hit by a series of internal negative events, such as the collapse of the Earth-Moon ecosystem and the bankruptcy of FTX. But also external: the macroeconomic crisis caused by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and inflation. 

These episodes also affected the value of the cryptocurrency, which reached its peak at $15,000.

From 2023 to the present: the resurrection of the crypto market

With the beginning of 2023, and thus during the last phase of Bitcoin’s price history, crypto has taken off again! In the first part of the year, BTC’s upward movement was slow, only to become more explosive at the beginning of autumn. 

At the beginning of 2023, the price of Bitcoin hovered around the $20,000 level, and 10 months later, in October, in the $25,000 area. Since then, however, everything has changed. What attracted interest in the sector were the spot ETFs on Bitcoin proposed by American investment funds, which were approved in January of this year and the approaching halving

Follow the Bitcoin price

In short, the bull market began at the start of 2024, causing strong upward movements affecting several cryptos. Bitcoin reached a new all-time high at $73,000 in March, the hottest month so far.

We may only be at the beginning of this bullish market cycle, to the extent that it should prove similar to those of the past. What impact will the halving that just took place have on Bitcoin’s blockchain? There is no crystal ball, and therefore, no one can know with certainty the targets for the current phase of Bitcoin’s price history. Will the crypto manage to reach the historic $100,000 level?

Bitcoin mining: what does it take? Does it still make sense in 2023?

How to mine Bitcoin? Years ago an ordinary computer was enough, and today? 

How to mine Bitcoin? If you have known the crypto world for a while, you surely have asked yourself this question at least once. Mining is the process by which transactions are validated on Proof-of-Work blockchains, and thus also on Bitcoin‘s. Miners, through very complex calculations, create the network blocks and allow the network to function. And they receive rewards for their work.

Mining is also a competitive activity, as rewards are only given to the first miner to solve the mathematical problem. The amount of miners participating in the network influences the mining difficulty: a parameter that measures how difficult it is, on average, to validate a block. The difficulty also increases in relation to the power of the hardware. 

Now that you are clear on the big picture, find out how to mine Bitcoin and why it is getting harder!

Bitcoin mining: what does it take?

The answer to the question ‘how to mine Bitcoin’ has varied a lot over time. If we had asked a miner in 2010 he would have answered “with a normal computer and mining software”. 

The same question, in 2015, would have had a different answer. Back then, miners had already started using specially designed machines called ASICs (Application-Specific Integrated Circuits). And today? How do you mine Bitcoin in 2023?

  • Hardware: in order to mine Bitcoin, it is necessary to start with hardware. From simple computers that were used years ago to sophisticated ASICs. There is a wide range of devices with which it has been possible to mine Bitcoin over time. Miners in the past used GPUs (video cards) because they had much more computing power than CPUs (processors) and were cheaper than ASICs. 

GPUs used to be connected in series, i.e. one in a row, and by doing so, their computing power added up. Today, however, even this method has become obsolete and it is not possible to mine Bitcoin unless you have an ASIC.

  • Software: an aspiring miner must obtain or develop ad hoc software. This point is even more complex than the previous one because it requires, in most cases, a high degree of computer knowledge. Some mining devices already have software installed inside them to be configured, but in most cases, the ‘command prompt’ or ‘terminal’ must be used to activate them. That is, the black screen in which to write code that anyone who is not a computer scientist ‘accidentally’ opens on their computer from time to time.
  • Crypto wallet: The last thing a miner must have is the crypto wallet on which to receive rewards for validated blocks. A user who is in the process of building their own mining business should definitely not neglect this point if they do not want to work for free! This is definitely the easiest part of the whole process. Usually miners, like crypto enthusiasts, prefer to use hardware wallets, which are more difficult to hack since they are not constantly connected to the network.

Mining is also a team game

To be able to compete with the large mining companies that have many ASICs synchronised with each other, the ‘smaller’ miners have learnt to play as a team. Thus, mining pools were born, organisations that enable them to coordinate and work together to find the correct hash in the shortest possible time. Thus, you can try to mine Bitcoin even if you only have one device; by participating in pools and sharing the prize with other participants. Unfortunately, however, it is not possible to know for sure whether or not you will be able to mine any blocks, and you need to buy at least one ASIC to be admitted to a mining pool.

Mining is increasingly difficult

The hardware that can solve the very difficult calculations and the large amount of electricity required to run them makes mining a very expensive business. Moreover, the difficulty grows over time as it tends to adapt to changes in the hashrate, i.e. the total computing power of the network. The latter takes into account the hardware and software characteristics of all the miners that are connected to the BTC network and is updated every fortnight. It is however positive that mining Bitcoin is becoming increasingly difficult, the more miners participate in block validation the more secure the blockchain is. 

Now that you know how to mine Bitcoin it is up to you to decide whether to start. However, if you have read this article carefully you may have realised that the game is probably not worth it (anymore). Unless you have access to a large amount of cheap electricity. There are, however, other less expensive ways to secure blockchains and obtain rewards, such as opening a node on a Proof-of-Stake network. You can take a cue from former Ethereum miners who have reinvented themselves since their blockchain changed consensus mechanism.

Bitcoin Halving 2024, everything you absolutely need to know

Bitcoin halving 2024: all the things to know

When is the next Bitcoin halving scheduled? Things to know to prepare for the event!

Bitcoin’s next halving is scheduled for early 2024, when block number 840,000 will be mined. Why is this such an eagerly awaited event? What will happen next? Let’s try to shed some light and go over all the things we need to know about it.

Next Halving Bitcoin 2024: what is this operation for?

Halving is the internal mechanism within the Bitcoin system that regulates the gradual decrease in rewards given to miners who validate blocks. It serves to reduce the crypto in circulation, to maintain scarcity. Miners in fact receive a share of BTC every time they validate a block. Halving has been an element of BTC tokenomics since its creation and is managed by an algorithm. 

When the halving takes place and how the exact date is calculated

Bitcoin’s next halving is expected to arrive between March and May 2024, at block No. 210,000 starting from the previous halving, so at No. 840,000. It is an event that users might not notice as it does not alter the state of the blockchain in any way, only the miners notice it; but nevertheless all crypto enthusiasts await this moment with trepidation. The moment the last of the 210,000 blocks is validated, the issuance of BTC is halved

To calculate when the next halving of Bitcoin will take place, you need to multiply the number of blocks that need to be validated from one halving to the next (210,000) by the time it takes to do so, which is on average 10 minutes. Then you need to divide the resulting number by 60, which is the number of minutes that an hour consists of. Doing this quick calculation we find that about 35,000 hours pass from one halving to the next, plus or minus 1458 days or a little over four years. In order to know the exact date of the next halving in 2024, we need to look at what block number we are at day by day. 

These ‘halvings’ will not be infinite, they will cease when the maximum supply of Bitcoin, which amounts to 21 million BTC, is issued, presumably around the year 2140. This means that the cryptocurrency still faces about 30 halvings in 117 years.

How many rewards will there be after the 2024 halving?

Another key piece of information about halving has to do with the issuance of Bitcoin over time. Miners, at the time Bitcoin was created (January 2009), received 50 BTC for each validated block. The first halving took place in 2012 and halved the rewards to 25 BTC. The process was then repeated in 2016 and 2020 when the rewards per block became 6.25 Bitcoins. At the next halving in 2024 these will become 3.15 BTC.

On the Young Platform exchange you can follow the price of Bitcoin in real time and monitor the impact of the next halving.

Check the price now

Halving and the price of Bitcoin 

As the issuance of this crypto is halved, Bitcoin becomes scarcer and scarcer and this indirectly has an impact on the price. In the months following the halving in 2012, the price increased by almost 12,000%, and after the halving in 2020 by about 300%. Of course, halving is not the only cause of these incredible bullish rallies in the past, but in general the price of Bitcoin has always responded positively to this recurring event.

Halving also affects Bitcoin’s inflation rate. In 2011, for example, BTC was subject to an annual inflation of 50%. In 2012 this became 12%, while today it stands at around 1.77%. One wonders at this point, where it will go after the next halving.
Although the latter is an automatic event, it does not go unnoticed but strongly influences the Bitcoin ecosystem and also the entire crypto world. A year after the expected process, we still find ourselves caught in the clutches of this seemingly endless bear market. Will the euphoria that grows as the next Bitcoin halving of 2024 approaches help the crypto market raise its head?