The fourth halving on the Bitcoin blockchain occurred on April 20, sparking several memes. The first block after the halving was the most expensive in history, bringing miners 40,751 BTC.
When 840,000 blocks were added to the Bitcoin blockchain network, the reward for miners for calculating a new block was halved, decreasing from 6.25 to 3.125 BTC. The “jubilee” block recorded a 40.751 BTC (~$ $2.6 million) reward. The reward went to members of the ViaBTC mining pool.
The most expensive transaction included in the block cost the sender $510,760. The increased demand for block space was provided by users of Ordinals and Runes protocols, who sought to fix digital artifacts in the “anniversary” block. It’s worth noting that the average cost of adding a block after the halving roughly doubled, according to Bitcoin Explorer.
Immediately after the halving, it became known that members of the Bitcoin community in Switzerland created a petition to hold a national referendum on the inclusion of BTC among the reserve currencies of the country’s central bank. If the petition gathers 100,000 signatures from Swiss citizens within 18 months, the authorities will be forced to hold a national referendum on amending the constitution to include BTC as a reserve currency.
BTC practically didn’t react to the halving. During the last seven days, as of 13:00 (GMT+3) on April 22, 2024, its price dropped by 0.6%. According to CoinGecko, within 24 hours before the halving, BTC increased by about $4,000, after which the quotes remained sideways with a volatility level ranging up to $2,000. Just less than a month ago, BTC quotes grew significantly, after which they set a new all-time high at $73,737.
Many members of the cryptocurrency community are joking about the fact that the fourth Bitcoin halving fell on April 20, which in the United States is written as “4/20” and is considered an unofficial “Weed Day.” Moreover, BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF recorded its 69th consecutive day of steady asset inflows on April 20, which also sparked a wave of jokes.
It’s worth noting that since launch, spot Bitcoin ETFs collectively accumulated more than 834,000 BTC (~$55.2 billion), which is about 4.2% of Bitcoin’s current supply.
The BTC ecosystem is actively developing, as the Bitcoin startup sector attracts high interest from venture capitalists. For example, the Bitcoin Name System (BNS) protocol received mechanisms for direct interaction with the Domain Name System (DNS), which is the basis for Web2 domains.
