Bitcoin fell by 4%, breaking below the $60,000 mark
Bitcoin fell below the important $60,000 mark during the trading session, hitting a new low since March 6th, with a current intraday drop of about 4%. US spot Bitcoin ETFs are generally down more than 3%. Bitcoin may welcome its fourth "halving" in fifteen years this Friday. One of the original intentions of Bitcoin's design is to become a deflationary asset, with its value increasing over time. Analysts believe that this "halving" may be one of the catalysts for the cryptocurrency market's rally this year
On Wednesday, April 17th, Bitcoin fell below the important $60,000 mark during the trading session, hitting a new low since March 6th, with a current intraday drop of about 4%. US spot Bitcoin ETFs generally fell by over 3%, with BITB and ARKB dropping by 3.9%, showing the worst performance. The ETF BITU, which doubles the long position of Bitcoin, plummeted by 7.7%, while the ETF SBIT, which doubles the short position of Bitcoin, surged by 7.2%.
Digital currency concept stocks are currently mixed, with Mercurity FinTech rising by 16.2%, and Jia Nan Technology ADR rising by over 1.3%. The "Bitcoin holding giant" MicroStrategy MSTR plummeted by 7.8%.
According to an article on the Wall Street News website, amidst the weak prices, Bitcoin may experience its fourth "halving" in the fifteen years since its inception this Friday. This event will be the most anticipated and influential headline news in the cryptocurrency circle recently.
"Halving" refers to the halving of rewards obtained by miners through mining. Every time the Bitcoin blockchain generates 210,000 blocks, the Bitcoin block reward will be halved. One of the original intentions of Bitcoin's design is to become a deflationary asset, with its value increasing over time. Therefore, the Bitcoin rewards obtained by miners must decrease over time to limit the total supply of Bitcoin.
It is worth mentioning that the previous halving events occurred a few months before the start of the Bitcoin bull market cycle. In theory, the impact of the halving on Bitcoin's price may have already been reflected as the approximate date is known in advance. However, what is different this time is that after reaching an all-time high, Bitcoin is experiencing a halving faster than ever before. Analysts believe that this halving event may be one of the catalysts for the cryptocurrency market's upward trend this year