Bitcoin Halving Set to Change Everything. Or Not.
Just what will change on May 12th?
In the next few days, somewhere around May 12th, the question of what will happen after Bitcoin’s third halving will finally be answered.
In recent months, and especially in recent weeks, the debate has raged openly within the crypto community and even beyond, in wider financial circles. Will the 50% drop in annual Bitcoin inflation help drive the price and adoption of the orange coin, reduce it, or have no impact all? There are compelling arguments for each scenario, and, as the moment approaches, the voices from each camp are reaching a crescendo.
The reason it’s so difficult to asses what will happen next is that, first, there are only two precedents in Bitcoin’s entire eleven-year history — hardly enough data points to be able to create a likely outcome that has any real credibility — and, second, Bitcoin’s awareness, use and adoption levels are far higher than then they were even for the most recent halving event in 2016. How does that fact alone change things?
The ‘downside’ crowd will argue that Bitcoin’s halving could actually have an adverse effect. After all, once the protocol kicks in and miners find themselves with half the reward for the doing the same work with the same costs, much of their equipment will simply…
