Bitcoin Halving Cuts Miner Rewards to 3.125 BTC, Fees Surge as Price Hits $63,000

Apr 20, 2024, 12:26 AM

Bitcoin has completed its fourth halving event, reducing the block reward from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC as of block 840,000. This milestone, which occurred at 8:00 on April 20 UTC+8, is part of a scheduled mechanism to decrease the number of bitcoins issued, aiming to preserve its value by limiting supply. The halving has significant implications for miners, as the reward for mining each block is now halved, potentially affecting their profitability. Despite the reduced block reward, the first five blocks mined after the halving saw substantial transaction fees, with one block alone garnering 37.62 BTC ($2.4 million) in fees, indicating a possible shift in revenue sources for miners from block rewards to transaction fees. The Bitcoin price was at $63,000 at the time of halving, and block 839,999 was mined by SBI Crypto. Approximately 1.4 million bitcoins are left to be mined. Notably, transaction fees have surged, with a single transaction incurring a fee of $429,831 and another $500,000 to mine the last BTC block of this epoch.