Bitcoin’s upcoming mining rewards halving has long been looked upon as a fundamental event that would help bolster its underlying strength and catalyze some immense upwards price action.
This sentiment has been largely rooted in historical precedent, as the benchmark cryptocurrency has long seen immense bull-favoring volatility in the time directly preceding and following this event.
It doesn’t seem as though the same can be said for the halving that is occurring in just a few weeks from now, however, as this is the first time in Bitcoin’s decade-long history that it is entering the halving with a negative 90-day return.
Bitcoin’s Halving Fast Approaches and Investors are Taking Notice
At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s mining rewards halving is slated to occur in a mere 25 days, taking place on May 12th.
This event cuts the rewards that traders receive for producing blocks in half, subsequently decreasing the cryptocurrency’s annual inflation from 3.65% currently to 1.8% after the event takes place.
The halving is an integral part of Bitcoin being a deflationary currency and shines a spotlight on the importance of its existence against a backdrop of endless money printing and inflation.
It is also widely considered to be bullish in the short-term due to it catalyzing capitulation amongst miners, and potentially making them less apt to offload their BTC revenue.
Because of its potentially bullish short-term impacts on Bitcoin, investors are closely watching the event – a trend that is elucidated while looking towards the global search trends for “Bitcoin Halving” and “Bitcoin.”
The above Google Trends chart shows just how fast the search volume for these terms is growing.
BTC Sees Unprecedented Price Action Heading into Halving
Although historical precedent suggests the halving will catalyze bullishness, it is important to note that Bitcoin’s current pre-halving price action is unprecedented, suggesting that this time may be different.
Jack Purdy – a researcher at blockchain analytics platform Messari – explained in a recent tweet that Bitcoin is now entering the halving for the first time ever with a negative 90-day return.
“With the halving less than a month away, we’re poised to enter it for the first time with a negative 90-day return,” he said while pointing to the below chart.
He further notes in a later tweet that BTC is also nearly flat on the year prior, compared to its price more than doubling over the same time period prior to past halvings.
This could mean that Bitcoin’s previous bullishness around the time of halvings just stemmed from the macro uptrend the crypto was caught within.
Featured image from Unsplash.