The much-anticipated Bitcoin halving took place yesterday at approximately 7:23 PM UTC on Monday, May 11. The event has long been the talk of the cryptocurrency community.
However, the block reward halving that saw the BTC miners receive slashed from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC even made the headline of a popular email newsletter delivered to over 2 million subscribers each day.
Bitcoin’s Third Halving Is Now In The Past, Updated Newspaper Headline Added
Bitcoin is a relatively new financial asset. Born during the Great Recession, the cryptocurrency was designed as a stark contrast to the dollar.
USD can be printed at a whim, as is currently being witnessed at a record rate. Meanwhile, there can only ever be 21 million BTC that will ever exist.
The supply is slow-tricked out via a process called proof-of-work, or mining. Miners use expensive machinery and pay high energy costs to validate each block and keep the Bitcoin network running smoothly and securely.
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The reward for their efforts is a block reward that prior to the halving offered 12.5 BTC. Starting immediately after 7:23 PM UTC on Monday, May 11, that reward dropped by 50% to 6.25 BTC.
The “Genesis block” included a newspaper headline from the time, referencing the bank bailouts of 2008. The last block mined at 12.5 BTC reward, contained an updated headline, referring to the recent injection of USD from the fed, to the tune of $2.3 trillion.
The final Bitcoin block with a subsidy of 12.5 BTC was mined by @f2pool_official and contained the following message in its coinbase transaction:
?NYTimes 09/Apr/2020 With $2.3T Injection, Fed's Plan Far Exceeds 2008 Rescuehttps://t.co/9dtTrC8YH6
— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) May 11, 2020
That Just Halvened: First-Ever Cryptocurrency Reaches 2M Daily Subscribers
The inclusion of an updated newspaper in the pre-halving block is certainly an appropriate nod to the asset’s longevity. However, another headline this morning may have even more impact.
Each day, the startup The Morning Brew issues a newsletter featuring breaking world news, economic updates, and pricing on top stocks, oil, and gold. The rapidly growing newsletter expected to have reached over 2M subscribers by the end of Q1 2020.
But this morning, it wasn’t the stock market’s latest rally making headlines. It wasn’t the usual COVID-19 related updates. Instead, the newsletter simply read “It halvened.”
Inside the newsletter, lies a sub-section called “Well That Just Halvened,” a play on words of the pop-culture idiom, “well that just happened.”
RELATED READING | BITCOIN HALVING FACTS: PAST PRICE DATA MAY SHED LIGHT ON WHAT’S TO COME
A deeper dive into the subject is available, broken down into simple terms, and providing a look at Google Trends charts that Bitcoinist previously reported on.
While the headline may not seem significant to start, exposing Bitcoin to over 2 million daily subscribers who have a direct interest in stocks, gold, oil, and other assets, could raise awareness about Bitcoin just as the asset reaches a turning point in its lifecycle.
Each halving the past started a new bull market. With more eyes on Bitcoin and its halving than ever before, could this next bull market be the biggest yet? For now, Bitcoin price is trading at $8,800, down roughly $1,200 from the local high.
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Featured image from Pixabay
