Bitcoin's Fourth Halving: Countdown To A Non-Event

Sometime in 1H 2024, the rate at which new Bitcoin is put into circulation will drop by 50%, a change known as the "halving."Previous halvings have been followed by new all-time BTC highs, leading many to expect that this pattern will be repeated.Such claims cannot be justified empirically and the logical arguments for them do not make sense either.If there is a reason to hold Bitcoin, the next halving isn't it.It's starting to seem like the long-term support level for Bitcoin (BTC-USD) might just be zero. But Bitcoin HODLers remain undeterred by this year's cryptocurrency rout. For them, the current crypto winter must inevitably be followed by the next crypto spring, with the promise of higher highs in the six or even seven digits. A particularly popular narrative is that BTC isn't "dead" but rather following a four-year cycle driven by an event known as the "halving," or as some prefer to call it, the "halvening."Halving refers to a 50% reduction in the rate at which new BTC supply is put into circulation, a step-down in issuance that occurs every 210,000 blocks, roughly every four years. So far this has happened three times-in 2012, 2016, and 2020-and is next expected in the first half of 2024. (If you'd like a more precise date, check out this "Bitcoin clock.") Halvings will continue until the last bitcoin is mined, probably in 2040, at which point the supply will be permanently fixed at 21 million.Bitcoin bulls like to po...