Bitcoin Halving Concludes as Investors Uncertain on Gains

Like the Summer Olympics and the presidential election, bitcoin’s “halving” comes every four years.

The latest halving — a preprogrammed event that cuts the amount of available coins to be mined in half — happened Friday (April 19) evening, according to multiple published reports.

As noted here late last week, the halving is built in bitcoin’s code and designed to create more scarcity of the popular cryptocurrency — of which only 21 million will ever exist. It is typically a period when bitcoin’s price jumps to new highs.

A report by CNBC said that many investors expect big gains in the months to come based on past performances. After the halvings in 2012, 2016 and 2020, bitcoin’s price surged about 93x, 30x and 8x, respectively, from its halving day price to its cycle peak, that report said.

“Only now, with Goldman Sachs issuing a warning that given the prevailing macro conditions, this cycle’s halving may not have the same impact, investors are left clutching their digital assets and watching the market,” PYMNTS wrote late last week. 

That market, the report continued, is slumping from previous highs. Bitcoin last week dipped to $59,900 for the first time since early last month, though the price had returned to slightly up above $61,000 as of late Wednesday afternoon.

A report by Seeking Alpha quotes H.C. Wainwright analyst Mike Colonnese, who predicted ahead of the halving that the event could be a positive for the price of bitcoin due to supply-side limitations. Still, he didn’t rule out pressure on mining stocks in the short term, due to geopolitical tensions and worries about inflation.

Meanwhile, recent weeks have seen crypto companies begin hiring after a period of job cutting, another sign of the digital asset sector’s recovery. 

For example, Crypto.com is adding 1,400 employees, a little more than a year after cutting one-fifth of its workforce. CEO Kris Marszalek told Bloomberg News last week that the company has added 700 employees since November and plans to add another 500 people in customer service and 200 in corporate positions.

That report also noted that crypto companies including Coinbase, Kraken, Binance and Gemini were also expanding their workforces.

In another interview last week, Marszalek warned against overly high valuations in crypto funding rounds.

“We want the financial return,” he said. “At this moment, valuations being thrown around by project teams are very generous.”