The Bitcoin Halving Approaches: Whales Accumulating as Demand Surpasses Supply
As the Bitcoin Halving on April 20th approaches, BTC whales, those massive cryptocurrency holders, are in a phase of intense accumulation. This period leading up to the reduction of the block reward to 3.125 BTC reflects a growing demand from these large investors.
Data from analysis firm CoinGlass reveals that demand from ‘permanent holders’ has surpassed the supply of new Bitcoins on the market for the first time. This indicates that the amount of new BTC produced through mining is no longer sufficient to meet the demand of cryptocurrency investors.
The increased demand from whales and the inflow of Bitcoin into the spot market are likely to exert upward pressure on the price. In the medium and long term, this trend could contribute to pushing the value of Bitcoin even higher.
Historically, every price surge has started months before the halving, in anticipation of the reduction in BTC supply. After the halving, the price of BTC tends to increase significantly due to the reduced supply and widening imbalance between supply and demand.
The Bitcoin Halving also impacts miners, who are responsible for verifying transactions and adding new blocks to the blockchain. Each halving cuts in half the amount of BTC miners earn, thereby increasing the cost of producing new BTC.
Currently, the average cost to mine one Bitcoin is around $49,000, which is profitable at the current trading price of about $70,000. However, after the halving, BTC prices will need to exceed $80,000 for miners to continue operating profitably.
However, ahead of this crucial event, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), a fork of Bitcoin, is issuing a warning, urging traders to reassess their expectations of an immediate price surge post-halving.
The BCH rally has lost momentum after its halving on April 4th. Since then, the price of BCH has dropped 15% to reach $604.
