Bitcoin is gaining momentum for the fourth time. The markets are unrecognizable compared to what they were even four years ago. Here are five interesting facts about the halving of 2024.
1- There are few bitcoins left
Bitcoin has already achieved significant structuring, which has led to a large portion of its total volume already in circulation. After halving, miners will only have 1.3 million BTC left—and this amount should be enough until 2140. From then on, only 450 BTC per day will be created, which means that only 657,000 BTC will appear on the market between now and 2028.
2- Bitcoin halving has exploded search engines
Despite modest spikes in 2016 and 2020, the number of searches about Bitcoin halving in 2024 broke all records. Google Trends data shows that Nigeria, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Cyprus, and Slovenia have emerged as the leaders in terms of users interested in the upcoming 50% reduction in blockchain rewards.
3- BlackRock is ready to take off
The world’s largest asset management company recently took a step forward by launching an exchange-traded fund linked to the spot price of Bitcoin. For the first time, many institutional investors were able to get a halving valuation without owning the digital asset directly.
According to BlackRock CEO Jay Jacobs, the iShares Bitcoin Trust fund, iShares Bitcoin Trust is the fastest-growing ETF of all time. In a recent blog post, Jacobs said that halvings are “critical to Bitcoin’s value proposition as a transparent, finite-stock cryptocurrency.”
4. The rise in popularity of Bitcoin Ordinals
A recent development in the bitcoin world concerns ordinals, which are essentially the blockchain’s response to unplayable tokens. Ordinals allow rare messages, images, and videos to be recorded for one satoshi, which is equal to one 100-millionth of a bitcoin.
Data from CryptoSlam! shows that in the last 24 hours, Ordinaries sales reached $13.8 million – more than Ethereum and Solana combined.
5. Uncertain short-term outlook
While it’s all too easy to predict the price of bitcoin, the real money is invested in what is predicted. And according to data from Polymarket, the short-term outlook for BTC hasn’t looked too encouraging in recent months.
According to the latest data, bettors believe there is only a 46% chance that bitcoin will hit the $100,000 mark this year, with sentiment declining over the past few weeks. Only 11% believe we’ll see $250,000 by December. With BTC briefly dropping to its lowest price since February, when a double-digit decline was approaching, 17% believe the world’s largest cryptocurrency will not rise above $60,000 on that day.
