The Fate of Bitcoin: Halvening is Two Years Away
By Vytautas Zabulis
When it comes to cryptocurrencies, there are no sure predictions; otherwise, we’d all be millionaires by now. The situation is changing rapidly from day to day, not only in the crypto community itself but on a global scale, as governments try and adjust their approach to Bitcoin. So far, it has shown to be a steady currency that will slowly rise in the future. The exact 10-year anniversary of Bitcoin was this Halloween, on October 31st, 2018, and a lot has changed since the beginning.
Where will the currency be in 10 years? In 20? Well, by then, the last of the Bitcoins will be mined, and some believe that the value will continue to rise, making people profit on fees that come from calculating transactions.
Unlike all the physical currencies we carry in our wallets, Bitcoin has another unique trait. It is deflationary, meaning that its value will rise because of limited supply. How is that possible?
Think of it this way, what could you do with 20 dollars 20 years ago, and what can you do with 20 dollars today? You probably know that Manhattan, the island in New York and home to some of the most expensive real estate on the planet, was bought from the Native Americans for 60 guilders that back in 1626 was worth approximately 1,000 U.S. dollars!
Differently than the U.S. dollar that is plentiful and being printed every day as we speak, the value of Bitcoin is defined by the fact that it is limited. There are only 21 million possible Bitcoins. That’s why Bitcoin is considered digital gold by some — its value will only continue to grow and be defined by the market. It cannot be produced or printed out like all the other currencies in the world, affected by political climate and financial shifts in power.
There is another important date to mark in your calendar, it is May 27th, 2020. That day the reward for mining Bitcoin will be halved. This event is called the Halvening. Not only is this expected, but the desired effect of Bitcoin, as we have mentioned, will soon come to an end, and Bitcoin will be earned via transaction fees only. Usually, the effects are not immediate, but the price of Bitcoin should surge soon after the Halvening but is expected to stabilize as it usually did in the past.
Despite the market slowing down at the end of 2018, the predictions are that it will all change — very quickly. There are numerous predictions that Bitcoin can easily miss the 10k mark for the end of 2018, and reach even more in 2019.
Prediction of the future is a tricky business, Bitcoin’s price has a lot of factors behind it, which gives these predictions a unique perspective. Nonetheless, while a sudden loss in value is always possible, some experts suggest a quick surge could happen around the New Year.
2019 is the year of the pig in the Chinese calendar. Some might expect the pig to be fat and happy. We’ll see.
HODL Finance is the European digital lending company. HODL Finance issues loans backed by cryptocurrency and other digital assets. Founded by the shareholders of the peer-to-peer lending platform, Savy, HODL Finance now serves clients around the world.
