Some crypto experts suggest the approaching ‘halving’ event, which will see bitcoin mining rewards decline by 50 per cent, could be one aspect behind the token’s positive price trend

The price of bitcoin has seen the strongest first half of a year since 2019, almost doubling in value since the beginning of 2023.

The world’s top cryptocurrency surpassed $31k this week, up from $16k in January, pushing its market capitalisation above $600mln for the first time in over a year.

Some crypto experts propose the approaching ‘halving’ event, which will see bitcoin mining rewards decline by 50 per cent, could be one aspect behind the token’s positive price trend.

Bitcoin’s halving happens around every four years, with the crypto’s price cycles seen by many traders and investors as being intrinsically linked to the event. Sometimes referred to as “the halvening”, the event is built-in to bitcoin’s technological foundations, and is aimed at making the digital currency anti-inflationary by lessening its supply.

The months before the halving have traditionally seen the beginning of a bullish trend for the market, therefore the market participants are carefully looking at H2 2023, Matteo Greco, a research analyst at the fintech investment company Fineqia International, told The Independent.

Riot Platforms, an industry leader in bitcoin mining and data centre hosting, declared a $162mln investment to buy 33,280 miners, planning to almost double its computational power in expectation of the next halving.

Greco pointed to the cryptocurrency Litecoin, once termed the silver to bitcoin’s gold, which typically sees its halving event a few months prior to bitcoin’s.

In the months leading up to Litecoin’s halvings in 2015 and 2019 its price witnessed huge gains, which were then repeated by bitcoin.

Litecoin’s next halving is currently set for 3 August 2023 and it is once again seeing a considerable price rise, exceeding wider market trends.

Litecoin often served as a sentiment metric on the bitcoin halving, Greco stated. The big rise in price, while most of the altcoin fall behind, indicates bullish sentiment is rising prior to the next BTC halving. Bitcoin’s halving is presently set for 26 April, 2024.