Author: Helen Partz, CoinTelegraph
Compiled by: Wuzhu, Golden Finance
Bitcoin is the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, having experienced its first halving event 12 years ago, reducing the block reward from 50 BTC to 25 BTC.
Since then, the Bitcoin block reward—an incentive for crypto miners to validate Bitcoin transactions and secure the network—has been reduced to 3.125 BTC after three halvings, greatly limiting the supply of newly mined BTC entering the market.
On the occasion of Bitcoin's 12th anniversary halving, the trading price of Bitcoin approached the historical high of around $99,600 set on November 22, partly due to the fourth halving event in April.
Bitcoin halving date and block reward. Source: BitDegree
As the community celebrates the anniversary of the first Bitcoin halving, this article revisits some key historical milestones of BTC and changes in the mining ecosystem.
There are still 1.2 million Bitcoins left to mine.
As of November 27, the circulating supply of BTC is 19.8 million, with 1.2 million left to mine until the capped supply of 21 million is reached.
The supply cap of Bitcoin is 21 million, which is one of the fundamental principles of the Bitcoin network, aimed at providing asset scarcity.
Total circulating Bitcoin. Source: Blockchain.com
Although the 1.2 million BTC remaining is relatively small compared to the amount of Bitcoin already mined, the process of mining the remaining BTC will require miners to spend more time and effort due to reduced rewards and increased mining difficulty.
According to MinerStat data, the current Bitcoin mining difficulty rate is 1.023 trillion, which first broke the 1 trillion mark on November 5. The next Bitcoin difficulty adjustment is expected to take place on December 2.
Bitcoin miners have yet to yield, and Bitcoin has set a new price record.
Despite the challenges posed by high Bitcoin mining difficulty and lower block rewards, Bitcoin miners have yet to yield due to the ongoing rise of the cryptocurrency market.
According to CoinGecko data, as of the time of writing, the trading price of Bitcoin is $95,364, up 154% over the past year. Since the last Bitcoin halving event on April 20, 2024, the price of this cryptocurrency has also increased significantly, rising by about 45%.
According to a report from European cryptocurrency investment firm CoinShares, despite the rise of Bitcoin in 2024 increasing the block rewards in USD, Bitcoin miners have been taking steps to reduce costs and adopt artificial intelligence.
CoinShares stated in an October mining report: 'The Bitcoin mining industry is facing significant challenges this year, with both revenue and hash prices declining.'
In July, when the BTC trading price was around $56,500, Bitcoin mining company TeraWulf considered merging due to lower profit margins.
Some major cryptocurrency mining companies, such as Marathon Digital, sold a large amount of mined BTC after the fourth halving this year, citing efficiency and competitiveness. Marathon also shifted to actively purchasing Bitcoin, announcing the issuance of $250 million in convertible preferred notes in August.
On the other hand, El Salvador is intensifying efforts to find alternative Bitcoin mining methods that utilize geothermal volcanic energy.
